Mink – 4/10/08 – Niagara Falls

From Down Under to Over the Falls – Mink plays NF
Mink in Niagara Falls – apblake.com
Provided by: buffalo.com/yourhub Andrew Blake

Contributed by: buffalo.com/yourhub Andrew Blake on 4/14/2008

“There’s a lot of love in the room tonight!” exclaimed an optimistic Neal Carlson. If love was people, by my count the number would be somewhere around forty. That is, that’s the amount of people who had the esteem fortune of catching Carlson’s group, Mink, perform from the stage at Niagara Fall’s Hard Rock Cafe. Even if most of the love in the room was focused on Jim Morrison’s framed pants, Mink treated the show as if it were a packed house. Even a packed house that served ten dollar hamburgers.

Fresh from a stint opening for Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party and even a slot on his coveted Lollapalooza festival in Chicago last summer, Mink is continuing to tour the states in support of their self-titled debut album, which included a stop at the Hard Rock on Friday.

In under an hour, Mink managed to tear through most of the material from their album, including “New York Summer” and “Dematerialize.” Despite the lack of a large crowd, the overly energetic wait staff and the few who made the show danced for the group’s first single, “Talk to Me,” putting several fifteen dollar margaritas at risk of destruction.

While most of Mink’s music is best categorized as straight up rock and roll, their performance of “American Authors” could easily had been passed off as Buzzcocks cover thanks to Carlson’s tremolo vocal delivery. “Pressure Pressure” took new form as bassist Grant Fitzpatrick led the tune into a new direction, carrying the song on a bass-line that transformed the song into an epic trance, worthy of Farrell’s old group, Jane’s Addiction.

For their encore, the group covered David Bowie’s “Suffragette City,” doing the song way more justice than one would imagine. Such a risky cover could be considered blasphemy by some, especially had the group not been able to rip the tune as flawlessly as they did.

“My friends ask me what they sing, and I tell them ‘Nothing you would know,’ but they’re great!” explained Susan Swiatkowski, sales and marketing manager of the Hard Rock, who likened the group to fellow Aussie-imports Jet. While not many people had the pleasure of catching the group, perhaps just because they also don’t know who they are, the few dozen that put down their forks for a minute certainly enjoyed it.

“Did you hear that? Someone said ‘Good job,’” remarked percussionist Stella Mozgowa from the drum riser. Even if it was quiet enough for the band to pick out each audience member’s remark, clearly those on the stage and off were enjoying themselves.

-Andrew Blake

I know that’s an old story, but I just added photos today.
You can check them out here

Also:

Mink in Toronto

Mink in Cleveland