THE HANDSOME FAMILY + FRONTIER RUCKUS – KOMEDIA, BRIGHTON 22.5.24
On arrival at Komedia, we were greeted by the now familiar and always welcoming staff and Melting Vinyl promoters before making our way down to the sold-out show. Barely a seat left in the house, a low hum of conversation and anticipation hung over the audience before the support band took the stage.
Frontier Ruckus were formed between school and university by Matthew Milia and David Jones, with Zachary Nichols joining the line-up later. The band released their debut in 2008. Since then, they have built a dedicated following across the U.S.A. and Europe and played everything from Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo to the living rooms of fans. Their songs reflect on the minutia of Midwestern suburban life. ‘On The Northline’ is their sixth album.
As a newcomer to the support band’s music I was immediately charmed by the retro Americana of ‘Mona And Emmy’. Next came a song with a story ‘Everywhere But Beside You’ was the first song Milia had written for his wife even though he hadn’t met her yet. Explaining he was very depressed and writing songs when he came up with it. Adding that he was pleased to say his wife was at the venue with their child, so it had worked.
For the ‘In The Money’ Nichols picked a musical saw or ‘singing blade’. Milia confirmed that Nichols called his saw ‘Toothless’ before Nichols interjected “It’s not a singing saw, it’s a musical blade. I’ve only played a singing blade never a singing saw.” Jones deadpanned “He’s changed!”, and Milia added, “You’ve sold out man.” Pared back vocals from Milia on acoustic guitar with backup vocals from Jones on banjo, while Nichols played the musical blade with a violin bow. The pared down finger picking, and the sound of the saw were beautiful giving an ethereal air to the song.
Next in the set was ‘Silverfishes’. Milia explained the inspiration. “This one is an older tune. You guys know the insect known as the ‘Silverfish’ you guys have Silverfish? No? I wrote a song about them using them as a metaphor, but what is a metaphor for?” Jones interjected, “I heard from you it was about summertime Lust!”. Milia answered, “Yeah! because when I think of lust I think of insects because they slither”. The audience chuckled as the opening bars of the song started. The trumpets returned, with a more upbeat instrumental, Milia’s vocals rising higher. Nichols then played ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ on the musical saw accompanied by Jones’s banjo. Milia uttered “That sounded pretty” it did indeed sound beautiful.
After the outro Milia acknowledged the audience who had given the band their rapt attention from the opening note. “You guys have been lovely, it was almost unsettling how attentive you are!” He then suggested to Jones and Nichols, “This feels like the right crowd to do the next one unplugged”. To which Jones responded, “Yeah, maybe get unruly?”. The last song ‘The Latter Days’ was completely unplugged as discussed. The singing saw and trumpet making an appearance, a guitar under the main vocal joined by backing vocals and banjo building to a crescendo before the final verse played out. Set concluded, the band thanked the audience and informed them that they would be at the merch desk.
Frontier Ruckus:
Matthew Milia – vocals
David Jones – banjo
Zachary Nichols – trumpet/ musical saw/ melodica
Frontier Ruckus setlist:
‘Mona And Emmy’ (from 2009 ‘Way Upstate And The Crippled Summer’ EP)
‘Everywhere But Beside You’ (from 2024 ‘On The Northline’ album)
‘In The Money’ (from 2024 ‘On The Northline’ album)
‘Silverfishes’ (from 2023 ‘Deadmalls And Nightfalls’ album)
‘The Machines Of Summer’ (from 2024 ‘On The Northline’ album)
‘On The Northline’ (from 2024 ‘On The Northline’ album)
‘Beautiful Dreamer’ (cover)
‘Where You Are’ (from 2008 ‘Orion Songbook’ album)
‘The Latter Days’ (from 2008 ‘Orion Songbook’ album)
The Handsome Family – The songwriters and marital partners Brett and Rennie Sparks have been shining a wry light on the darker gritty underbelly of Americana as The Handsome Family for over three decades. “We’re astonished to be breathing,” Rennie says about their longevity, “Let alone still be inspired to write songs and sing together. There’s been a lot of smashed coffee cups in our house over the years, but we’re still unable to resist the urge to make music.” The band are THE go-to for those who like their Americana with a heavy dose of the gothic, or as Brett puts it “Western Gothic”. Their eleventh studio album ‘Hollow’ (released in 2023) delves into the natural world that encroaches on the man-made.
Brett composes the music; Rennie is the lyricist. Their catalogue of work has been covered by multiple artists including Jeff Tweedy, Andrew Bird and most recently Phoebe Bridgers. Their song ‘Far From Any Road’ from the 2003 album ‘Singing Bones’ is best known to many as the theme song for the first season of the HBO series ‘True Detective’. The song, band and show are perfectly paired by subject matter and tone.
The Handsome Family’s live performances are something special. The interplay between Brett and Rennie as musicians and partners is a pure joy. There is no script. Brett holds centre stage, a compelling presence with a sonorous baritone. Rennie frequently wanders into seemingly entirely unrelated stories and recollections while introducing songs, yet somehow, she retains an overarching theme. The two bounce off each other with their trademark dry humour and wit throughout their sets a wry smile never far from their faces. The often-self-deprecating patter serves to enhance the live performance of these talented multi-instrumentalists. Rennie swapped between banjo and bass while delivering vocals. Brett on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards.
Rennie and Brett were joined by regulars Alex McHahon (keyboard/ guitar) and Jason Toth (drums/ percussion). As the band arrived on stage Rennie and Brett immediately engaged with the audience as they adjusted instruments. The couple started talking about reading from a diary, and Brett pondered what would have happened had they pursued anything they were less qualified for than performance. Meandering from the point as the thought hit her Rennie offers “Taylor Swift for President, as she’s the only one who can best Trump”, pondering, “What would her agenda be? ‘All bad boyfriends to jail!’ ‘Everyone must be sparkly!’”. Brett playfully offered counsel to stop the character assassination before they played the song ‘Joseph’ from the album ‘Hollow’.
Brett explained that the next song came from something Rennie screamed in the middle of the night. She responded, “It’s ancient Jewish magic, I come from a long line of Jewish screamers.” he countered, “You’re a very brave woman.” Rene and the keyboardist then asked for their monitors to be turned up. Brett confirmed he was fine before introducing the next song. “The next song is about a hole. A deep dark hole.” The audience acknowledged this with a few random claps. “Well, that’s six who’ve heard it.” Brett deadpanned. An audience member asked, “Is it Bottomless?” Brett replied, “Well, you’ll have to listen to the song again”. They then played ‘The Bottomless Hole’. Rennie broke the respectful silence “I prefer to think about ‘that’ song as the way I got rid of my first husband.” Resulting in a few knowing chuckles.
Smiling to herself Rennie then announced, “This song is about Christmas”. “When I met him, [Brett], and he was a young man, he even seemed old then”. Brett explained “So last Christmas Phoebe Bridgers covered this song. And then the Taylor Swift comparisons started, and the family started to ring asking for tickets to Taylor Swift.” He paused, “As if I have the power to do so, I only have so much…” They played the beautiful ‘So Much Wine’.
Rennie spoke “The doctors say I need to play this banjo for two hours a day or I won’t get better”. Brett “And that’s why we have the greatest health care in the world”. Opening the next song, (which I don’t think was related to the previous patter). The drummer started the song with wire brushes, while Brett whistled the opening of ‘The Loneliness Of Magnets’. In the next song, ‘My Sister’s Tiny Hands’, Toth played the guiro, sounding like a cricket. McHahon swapped over to the slide guitar. As with the support the band had the audience’s rapt attention, there was a reverence that you could only respect.
Brett “Alright, Rennie, it’s your turn…” Rennie, “What do you mean it’s my turn?” Brett, “Say something.”, “You mean I can say something, and you won’t immediately start talking?!” Taking her opportunity Rennie ran with it, “This song was inspired by my niece. She confessed that she didn’t know what anti-clockwise was, or clockwise for that. And I realised I could tell her anything about the 80s and she’d believe it.” The song was ‘Back In My Day’. It is the recollection of a world long gone, and how unbelievable it might now seem to even those who lived it.
Moving to the next song Rennie spoke again, “This song is about a sunny day in Albuquerque when the white-winged doves gather in the back garden to mate”. ‘King Of Dust’. The song is testament to the couple’s ability to conjure landscapes the listener may never visit so completely they might feel like they have.
Rennie took the lead again “I hope all of you are familiar with Matlock. This is the theme tune from the first season. Some say it was the best season, Van Dyke was in his prime.” The patter is a tongue-in-cheek reference to ‘Far From Any Road’ used as the season one soundtrack for ‘True Detective’ and they launched into the now familiar song. They had to stop the song briefly due to the ongoing dispute about who played Matlock best and then restart. At the end of the song. Rennie pondered aloud, “What was the show with Scott Baio and Van Dyke?” my companion confirmed “Diagnosis Murder” to Rennie’s grateful thanks. Brett then sat down to play the keyboard. Accidentally knocking something. He deadpanned, “In this part of the show we smash everything.” For ‘Two Black Shoes’ Toth had pared back his kit, using his snare only and shaker single maraca Rennie’s banjo returned as did McHahon’s slide guitar.
Brett “Does everyone remember the episode of ‘Diagnosis Murder’ where the octopus takes over the hospital?” paused for the audience to respond “Luckily, we have a song about the situation”. They played ‘Octopus’. Rennie introduced the next song, “This is a song about the tallest man who ever lived. By the time he was six he was over six feet tall. His parents were quite short.” Brett interjected “This is a song made famous by Andrew Bird. I never really understood the song until Andrew covered it.” The song was ‘The Giant Of Illinois’.
McHahon then fitted an electric device to the slide guitar while Rennie introduced the final song before the encore, ‘Frogs’. “Now we’re just gonna play a song about frogs and mud things I think about in the desert.” Toth produced sleigh bells, cymbals and xylophone, Rennie on her bass and McHahon returning to slide guitar as well as lead. After the track played out the band stood and left the stage for the encore.
On the return to play there was a short amount of discussion and a few suggestions from the audience at the band’s request. Brett turned them all down flat. Rennie confirmed that he already knew what he wanted to play and was just waiting for someone to shout it out. Out of the three viable propositions on the set-list ‘Arlene’, ‘Scared’, and `D.nite’ they settled on ‘Arlene’ between themselves. It was sad to say farewell to what had been a blissful interlude immersed in another country, but the outside world beckoned.
The Handsome Family:
Brett Sparks – vocals, guitar, keyboards.
Rene Sparks – vocals/ bass/ banjo.
Alex McHahon – Keyboard/ guitar.
JasonToth – drums
The Handsome Family setlist:
‘Joseph’ (from 2023 ‘Hollow’ album)
‘The Bottomless Hole’ (from 2003 ‘Singing Bones’ album)
‘So Much Wine’ (from 2000 ‘In The Air’ album)
‘The Loneliness Of Magnets’ (from 2009 ‘Honey Moon’ album)
‘My Sister’s Tiny Hands’ (from 1998 ‘Through The Trees’ album)
‘Back In My Day’ (from 2016 ‘Unseen’ album)
‘The King Of Dust’ (from 2016 ‘Unseen’ album)
‘Far From Any Road’ (from 2003 ‘Singing Bones’ album)
‘Two Black Shoes’ (from 2023 ‘Hollow’ album)
‘Octopus’ (from 2013 ‘Wilderness’ album)
‘The Giant Of Illinois’ (from 1998 ‘Through The Trees’ album)
‘Frogs’ (from 2013 ‘Wilderness’ album)
(encore)
‘Arlene’ (from 1995 ‘Odessa’ album)
