Photos + Words by Omar Kasrawi
Have you ever seen lightning strike indoors? Where the electricity is being shot off stage and surging throughout the audience. The kind of energy that no matter how thick the four walls are, or how sturdy the floors remain, or how well built the roof is, or no amount of soundproofing can help to contain. Well, that’s the kind of maelstrom Black Pistol Fire unleashed the Music Hall of Williamsburg last Wednesday.
First up was Canadian Evan Konrad who was the calm before the storm. Konrad cultivated a moody and deliberate atmosphere. There’s an emotional chord that is evident in not just his lyrics, but the music they manifest in. Konrad just released his debut single, “The Long Way Out” earlier this year and plans to follow it up with more music throughout the year.
And after that, the storm really began to come at the audience. Austin’s Emily Wolfe brought her full throttle shredding and bluesy rock in waves. Wolfe has a mastery of her guitar and the howling vocals to match. She strutted back and forth across the stage as she veered in between delta blues and “I’ll melt your face off guitar licks”. And for good measure, she made Lemmy and Motorhead proud with her cover of “Ace of Spades”. Wolfe’s energy and sounds are not to be missed and for this night she was the perfect jolt to prime the audience for what was next.
Then it was a blur. There was one moment of calm that was Kevin McKeown and Eric Owen of Black Pistol walking out on stage, and then it was no mercy. They say Canadians are supposed to be nice, but this duo didn’t let their fans catch a breath during their category five set.
The band may be only two men, but they manage to make sounds that seem to be the work of many more. Remember when Marty McFly sent himself flying in front of that giant speaker at the start of “Back to the Future”? Well, that’s child play compared to the sound McKeown and Owen are able to summon up.
This is a band that is built around speed. McKeown moves and plays with a blurry quickness while Owen is the ferocious demolisher of drum kits. But even with all that speed, they never seem to lose track of the song or their audience. McKeown is also the instigator of the band. Whipping the crowd into a moshing frenzy right before he either jumps on top of them and crowd surfs his way around the venue, or when he’s right in the middle of the pit.
Black Pistol Fire gets more impressive with each successive concert and are continually refining their blues-influenced rock with every new song they deliver. This is the kind of band you have to catch whenever they come to your town.
Evan Konrad:
Emily Wolfe:
Black Pistol Fire:
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