Originally published August 28, 2003
by Jedd Beaudoin
The second most important show of my life (so far)
...The Couch, down from Lawrence to open for Split Lip Rayfield at John Barleycorn's, raised that glow a bit, thanks much to their unusual musical diversity. Calling the band stylistically restless would be inaccurate because they don't frequently shift actual musical styles as often as they take listeners through the last 35 years of rock and roll in the course of about 40 minutes. Songs such as "Bitch," "Lawrence" and "Hop A Long' are reminiscent of 90s rock bands such as Pearl Jam and their umpteen imitators, albeit once those bands realized (as some never seem to have) that just because you dislike handguns, domestic violence and Republicans, it doesn't mean people want to hear you moan about it all night long.
It's not that The Couch aren't serious. Vocalist Andy Smith may have introduced the band as both AC/DC and GWAR and he may have said, about halfway through the set, "Okay, we only have 79 more to go," but he sang his ass off, to the point that what you focused on was not whether he was funny but that he was, well, singing his ass off, coming across like a lucid, sober Joe Cocker who'd mated with a perpetually drunk — and jovial — college freshman. (Smith was aided in his mission by guitarist Tony Collette, who sawed the air with wicked awesome guitar lines, which he performed while wearing a wig and a mask, looking ever much like the spawn of KISS's Paul Stanley and an opera star, bassist Jeff Romines, who took off his shirt and kept his head down, and drummer Mike Baker.) Anyway, funny or not, it was moments such as "Space 2069," the band's take on vintage David Bowie-era theater rock, not only for the fact that the song managed to capture the glorious bloat of space and art rock, but also because Smith and company did it so damned authentically. (The spirit of late Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson was very much alive, well and lurking under Collette's mask and wig during that number.)...
Visit http://www.f5wichita.com/index.php?pubdate=2003-08-28&story=603 for the remainder of the review.
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