Electron w/ Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – 5/8/13 – Baltimore Soundstage

Well, well, well, where to begin with this one…

First, a little background of Electron’s origins.

The year was 2000. Things were changing, things were happening fast, no one knew what the hell was going on.

For whatever reason you want to believe, Marc Brownstein just wasn’t getting along with the rest of The Disco Biscuits, so they needed a little break from each other. A little time apart never hurt anyone, and thankfully it did happen, otherwise we wouldn’t be writing this, and we wouldn’t have some CLASSIC songs to sing along to (i.e. CWB opera, House Dog Party Favor, Grass is Green, etc.).

Brownie almost did away with the music biz all together, but luckily, he had a spark of inspiration and decided to call up some friends to get something going.

Electron began as Brownie (bass), Tom Hamilton of Brother’s Past (guitar), Aron Magner (keys, they still stayed friends), Joe Russo of Further (drums), and DJ Stitch on the 1’s and 2’s. They had been writing music for a few months, however, when they were ready to play their first show, Brownie had already reconciled with The Disco Biscuits. Fortunate, yes…but unfortunate for Electron, which many might consider as a legendary group now.

Marc Brownstein, Bass, Electron

There was just too much good material to not go through with it. So Electron played their first show and played a handful of shows after that, but everyone kind of had their own things going on, so they never really got back together. Some people had coined Electron, “The best band that never was”.

Fast forward about a decade, and here we are today. First Electron show all over again.

Probably the most anticipated show that we’ve had in a long while. Ever since April 17th, when Marc Brownstein dropped the word on his Facebook, “Who else thinks it’s time for a couple Electron shows?”, every person with even a pinch of Disco Biscuit fandom knew something special was going down.

Although there were some minor tweaks from the original group members, they still did a fine job of putting the pieces together. Still with Brownie, Magner, and Tom Hamilton, but throw in Lotus’ drummer Mike Greenfield, and you’ve got the ingredients for a modern day super group.

The time for the show couldn’t come soon enough, and to make the night even better, we had learned a few days before that Baltimore locals, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, were going to be opening up for them. I personally had never been able to see these birds in flight, but I can honestly say I only ever hear great things about their shows. They proved that right once again. Coming out in all matching striped pajama pants, these guys brought an amazing energy to the stage and got the party groovin’ as the dance floor continued to fill up.

Aaron Magner, Keys, Electron

Pigeons played a full hour set, and were able to squeeze in some fan favorites, closing out their set with F.U. (definitely had me singing along), into an amazing Talking Heads cover of “Crosseyed and Painless”, and back into F.U.!!! We were able to chat with these guys a little after their set, and they just couldn’t have been more humbled to be playing. You’ll be seeing more of these guys for sure, as they announced their new residency at The 8×10 in Baltimore every Wednesday night this July, and look out for our first ever exclusive artist profile of them coming soon…

10pm was the cut off time for their set, which left about 30 minutes before the kick-off to the reunion party. One by one they took their places, Brownie welcoming the crowd and even saying how great he thought Pigeons had just played, he was blown away just as I was.

Leading up to the show, one could only guess at what songs would be played. Rumors had it that they were digging deep into their repertoire, and putting “everything on the table”, so we were truly excited in every sense of the word. We all had our predicitons, and I just so happened to nail the opening song, with “Home Again”. I know, I know pretty fuckin’ amazing, but really no other song seems more appropriate.

After that it really was just pure bliss for the rest of the first set. Home Again > Little Lai, it was apparent we weren’t going to get a full performance of the “Chemical Warfare Brigade” rock opera, written specifically for Electron, but that was far from a disappointment. Plan B came after Little Lai, and even threw in the classic Sound of Music, “These are a few of my favorite things”, teases. The contrast of those songs comes together amazingly well.

Tom Hamilton, Guitar, Electron (Brother’s Past)

Second set was a straight up dance party in a can. There really can’t be enough good things to say about the cohesiveness of these guys playing together. Even though Magner and Brownie have had a little more practice with these songs, Tommy and Greenie came in and didn’t even miss a beat. You could really tell both these guys were having so much fun playing all the old songs and jamming off of each other’s energy. Who knows, maybe this won’t be the last chance to see this epic coming together of the guys we know and love from their already successful projects.

Electron put on a hell of a Wednesday night party for the city of Baltimore, with the help of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and the hospitality of the Baltimore Soundstage. I can tell ya no one left that venue that night without a smile on their face.

As mentioned before, getting to catch up with our new friends from Pigeons was a highlight of the night, good people just all around, so BE SURE to check out our first exclusive artist profile that will be coming this week.

Also, Brownie did mention that none of these shows were being recorded for soundboards, so if anyone has recordings or videos from any of the shows, share with the world. They play their last show of the run tonight, May 11, at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT, so if you haven’t been to a show yet and you got nothing to do tonight, I’d highly suggest doing what you can to make sure you can be there.

Peace and love to the world! Wook out!

PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG : BALTIMORE SOUNDSTAGE – MAY 8, 2013

Horizon, Drunk People, Pop Off, This is That,
Time to Ride>Jam>The Hop>F.U.>Crosseyed and Painless*>F.U.

* Talking Heads

ELECTRON : BALTIMORE SOUNDSTAGE – MAY 8,2013

Set I: Home Again, Little Lai, Plan B#,
Grass Is Green, Shelby Rose

Set II: Floodlights, Fearless*, Kameole Sands >
Ladies were the Rest of The Night > Kameole Sands, Confrontation

E: Brain Damage* > Eclipse*

# with “These are a Few of my Favorite Things” teases
* Pink Floyd