As far as Tourist Season goes, they are about as indie as indie can get. They aren’t on Spotify. They have three songs, total, online through their Bandcamp site.
Their show on Thursday January 7th at the Velvet Lounge was not listed on the Velvet Lounge website, nor does Tourist Season have a website.
Their show was tucked away in a small corner of South Williamsburg next to the famous Peter Luger’s restaurant. The band was tucked away in the back of the room.
And yet also tucked away, somewhere beneath a bit of distorted sound and mediocre acoustics is great band, a prospective gold mine waiting to be discovered, shared, and managed.
We’ve caught Tourist Season, well, early in their season, so to speak. We’ve caught the next St. Lucia, the next Paper Kites … if only we could hear them right.
In person, the haunting echoes, multiple layers, and intentional sounds they’ve delicately and expertly produced on their recorded tracks are lost amongst the bricks of the bar. Even, RUN, a true stand-out track just begging to land on a Spotify playlist, gets dulled here at the Velvet Lounge.
The lounge is so small that you can’t see anything: the “stage” is on the same level of the bar. It’s a glorified living room with glorious cocktails, which for some bands would be a great find and a perfect venue. For this one, they can do better.
You can hear it, almost taste it (unless that was the cocktail). Perfection in their songs is so unbelievably close. Amongst the back of the Velvet Lounge could be a sound as smooth as velvet if we could only hear it.
It’s fair to say that I might have been one of the only members of the press at Tourist Season’s NYC debut which gives me a unique and rather large obligation: To try and make the band popular and polished.
So below are some notes that I scribbled (er, let’s be honest, “typed fervently on my iPhone”) to help make every season Tourist Season.
- Actual first note: “This place has two tv screens, which playing two different games. There are two beers on draft and two dozen patrons. Do good things come in twos?”
- Your songs are SUPER catchy, and I want to hear all of the elements (guitars etc). Drums have a tendency to overpower in this kind of a small space. Here’s my actual note: “You can hear the promise in this work. They just need someone to take them to the next level. They need to open for someone big. They need access to huge gear that won’t cause headaches but will cause melodies and harmony and sustained happiness.”
- At one point, my toes were tapping and I ate up the guitar work. The music primed people to move. Excellent!
- Your third song is your single. Also excellent!
- You deserve better than a living room set up.
- You guys LOOK great.
- Consider a monitor so you can hear other. Not being able to hear each other can lead to people sounding off tune or playing the wrong tempo.
- Your crowd had a great time! You had quite a following! Even people who were not there for the show trickled in from the bar. Well done.
- The Velvet Lounge would be an awesome after-show party place. After all, you’ve done your NYC premiere. It all goes up from here. ; )
- Speaking of which, THANK YOU for putting on a free show in NYC. That is the rarest of rares.
- I want to hear you at your best. Which is why I’m invested in your work, and this list.
Guys: Let’s make every season, Tourist Season.
And please keep us updated on your progress.
