Precious, strong, unassuming, haunting, fantastic …these are the first words that come to mind when I think of the Dupree family that make up the band Eisley.
Precious – They hate being called precious, but please -- look at them! By just appearances they look so adorable …like a family of dolls (granted they used to all have much edgier haircuts, but right now that isn’t the case). And then add their pleasantly sweet voices to the mix…precious is a word that they should just come to terms with.
Strong – “We’re not precious, we’re tough”, said Chantelle. That has to be true too, or I don’t know how they would still be in the music business after 10 years of performing, starting at such a young age no less. But strong can also describe their voices, which solidifies to me why that is the best instrument in the band. You know how people always comment about babies “how could so much come out of something so small”? Its kind of the same thing with these girls…you would be knocked off your ass at how they could produce such a powerful sound that rang so sweetly in your ears if you didn’t already expect it. Listen to Sherri do Marvelous Things live and you’ll know. That family got some damn good genes if you ask me.
Unassuming – Just like I said before, you would never guess these girls would have it in them. They look like they would be shy small town kids, but then put them on stage and they are personable with cynical undertones and delightful with a bit of a rock star edge hiding underneath.
Haunting – In certain songs like Just Like We Do and I Wasn’t Prepared, Sherri’s falsetto gives me goose bumps, I don’t know why. And their youngest sister not in the band, Christine, sang back up for one of the opening bands…and it seemed so unjust to put such voice in the background…but she actually was shy and wasn’t ready to sing lead quite yet, although she's got the pipes that are ready to take charge.
Fantastic – both as a praising adjective as well as a synonym for whimsical. Sherri even joked about how their lyrics, written as kids, had no deep meaning so they just used their imagination to write stuff, but they have since been critiqued as being mystical and whimsical. Specifically, they make a point to mumble the lyrics “mermaid entwined shrubbery” because they are kind of embarrassed by it now. But that seems only fitting to their band name. Since it wasn’t just the family’s last name, I Wikipedia-ed them to find out the origin of why they chose Eisley. Turns out they named themselves Moss Eisley for a while, after a fictional location from the fantasy movie Star Wars. But when the record deal happened they dropped the Moss part to avoid any legal issues (and that was even after considering the name “Neverland”). I personally hope they don’t completely lose their mystical charm.
Megan L. and I felt a little inspired to get going with our band after seeing these girls up there. One thing we’d be sure to do, though, is video tape ourselves before getting on stage. That is something the opening band, Quiet Company should’ve done. Sound is like a wannabe Ben Kweller but the lead singer tries too hard to add the “I’m a coke addict” edge. He was better off sitting at his keyboard because he couldn’t jump around all spastic-like.
And the other opener, Wesley Jensen, just didn’t impress. Especially with his rolled up jeans, penny loafers and reverse mullet hair do (party in the front and business in the back). I zoned out most of the time until Christine Dupree came out for the last 3 songs. Too bad she had to sing such pitiful lyrics.
M.L. and I were hyper critical of the first two bands and wished we could’ve just shown up at 10pm for Eisley…but with the “special seated show” we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to sit 5th row center. Eisley made it worth the long wait.
News you can use: their new album, Combinations, comes out today, so you should get it. They will be on Conan August 30th, and then they’ll be back in Austin November 8th at LZR with MuteMath. I’ve already got my tickets!
Songs to listen to: "Just Like We Do", "Good Golly Sandra", "Marvelous Things"
