She Keeps Bees

12.10.09
She Keeps Bees as the final band in the "Opening Act" section of the Holly Golightly and The Brokeoffs show.
To be honest, I'm never the type to seek out the opening bands, which is largely unfair being in a burgeoning band myself, however a quick myspace music page hunt yielded gold. I was hooked at the first power chord, the spine crunching drum beat, and the dark, whiskey vocals.
She Keeps Bees is made up of one part Jess Larrabee, guitar and vocals, with one part Andy LaPlant as the driving percussion. The second they start playing, there is no escape. It drives your body into dance-like convulsions, or, if you choose to keep your cool, a very dedicated head nod.
Jess rocks out like she's been doing this her whole life. Andy dissolves into a cloud of perfect beats that pump the song through you like a good drug, and suddenly it's like New York in the 70's is alive again.
The band, Jess specifically, has drawn comparisons to Cat Power, Janis Joplin, etc. The Cat Power reference to me seems largely because she's a girl and has the same haircut...and I think it's a lazy comparison at that. She Keeps Bees has got a dirty, grunge edge that isn't trying to be anything else than what it is...a breath of fresh air in this Glam-Rock-Androgyny studded universe that is recently clouding the stratosphere.
This is a band to follow.
I am in love.