Who sings about Murder and being on the run?

Johnny Cash, maybe... The Builders and the Butchers definitely.

Night two of the Chestnut Productions Beep Repaired Showcase saw a gaggle of ragamuffins from Portland drive up to Seattle to close the evening and our tenure in the North West. The gig had started badly for us, as we were not allowed in to the venue for lack of appropriate identification. This meant we had to break in using the back entrance and hang out away from all bouncers and authority figures (policemen, teachers, doctors, dinner ladies and the like).

Slightly distracted from the proceedings, we had failed to notice the fact that we had never heard of the headline act. I had been expected to see McGovern Goldwater Ticket but was sad to learn of their plunge into the history books and their reincarnation as a progressive folk group The Builders and The Butchers. Ryan Stollee on vocals is responsible for being at the helm of many bands in his native Alaska and his surrogate homes in the Pacific North West (The Born Losers, McGovern Goldwater Ticket...), and was in charge of the entertainment on that damp February night at the Rendez-Vous Theatre.

The Builders and the Butchers have a style that can win any crowd. Their songs of murder and running away are delivered with such passion and emotion that one can’t help but be caught up in their whirlwind. Stollees unusual vocal style (paying no attention to microphones or using a cone to project his voice) adds to the performance of the group, whilst their instrument set up of acoustic bass, mandolin and random percussion makes for a genre pushing ideas and boundaries.

The band half way through a song passed out toys and instruments for the audience to play alongside them. Fun cannot describe fully what was experienced that night. For me it was an awakening of joy that such performers and music exists. Until the start of 2007 no electricity was used in their gigs. They would play wherever they wanted. Now, they are gigging more and plugging in has started to occur. Their closing number however, Find Me In The Air, shows the freedom that the genre they have created for themselves has. Leaving the stage and walking into the crowd, they are able to make a gloriously harmonic stroll out the venue doors and onto the Seattle streets, where their instruments and vocals drift off into the night air.

Sadly, our lack of proper identification meant we never got to see any of that. We merely watched the band and the crowd disappear into the streets to cap off a magical evening. Acoustic Country Progressive Folk can somewhat describe the style of The Builders and The Butchers. Fun, compelling and genius are more accurate analysis of what we experienced.

The Builders And The Butchers should be on the run near you at some point soon.   

(C) Chestnut Productions 2007