The Envy Corps hail from Iowa and are currently "flipping around Europe" on tour. They've the same management as The Killers and the ever handy myspace let us figure out that they even sounded pretty similar. With that in mind, we thought we'd give them a looksee when they graced the infamous White Heat clubnight at Madame Jojos with their stomping brand of post-indie/post-pop/post-rock.
We're guessing it must be a bit frustrating to fly thousands of miles across the ocean and end up playing to 30 strangers in a basement and this seemed to come across in their performance.... "Hi everybody, we're a band called Oasis, you might have heard of us" quipped lead singer, Luke, upon ascending the stage.
Beset by problems, the band seemed to manage admirably. Lead guitarist, Brandon Darner, appeared to lose a string (and then his temper as he threw the guitar across the stage and grabbed another one, Luke commenting "Noel here sometimes loses a guitar"...), then the drummer, Scott Yoshimura, bass pedal needing replacement mid song.
But still, whilst pretty much note perfect, their performance seemed to lack a bit of, well, performing. Maybe it was nerves, or maybe just the crowd not really digging it getting to them, but guys...you can't all just stand there and watch your guitarist jump around, get into it!
Saving the best till last, as the audience, having doubled in size, seemed finally to start to "get" them - our only musical niggle was that the band seem to wear their influences on their sleeve a lot. They didn't really seem to us to have an overall sound of their own.
Their studio tracks really do sound good though — so whilst on the strength of their performance tonight we'd not have been overly impressed, we think they're probably worth a look, especially if you're a Killers fan. They've got one album under their belt already and who knows, maybe given some time they'll be making us all envious of their success.
Words and photo by Scott van Looy.
