Brigitte Calls Me Baby and The Montaines – DC9, Washington, DC
February 16, 2024
Actress Kim Darby in the role of suburban mom-extraordinaire Jenny Meyer in Savage Steve Holland’s cult favorite “Better Off Dead” delivered one of those movie lines that would stick in my mind for the rest of my life. This hysterical, twisted high school coming-of-age movie tells the story of how Monique, a sassy French exchange student (played by Diane Franklin) in a sticky situation cures the hopelessly broken heart of Lane Meyer (played by a very young John Cusack). Jenny Meyer (Lane’s mother) is also a hopelessly bad cook, yet she hosts dinner at the Meyer home to welcome Monique to the neighborhood.
The well-intentioned-but-slightly-misguided Jenny prepared for her guests consists of “FRAUNCH fries, FRAUNCH dressing, FRAUNCH bread.” Then Jenny holds a bottle of Perrier out for all to see. “…and to drink, TA DA!! PERU!!!!!!!!”
A lot of people have come into my life as a result of my Internet sharing of music and photography. A precious few remain in contact with me to this day, one of whom is indeed FRAUNCH and lives a couple of hours outside Paris – we’ve exchanged a lot of tips about one band or another over the past decade or so. It is a one-way ticket to Hell for me to admit that (a) I have not learned to speak or write French any better than Google Translate has allowed over the years – thankfully her English is better than my French will ever be until I actually take some lessons and (b) I think of Kim Darby’s little dinner introduction every now and again when we exchange emails. However, it is to this venerable friend of mine that we owe this review, because she sent me the link to the video “Impressively Average” by Brigitte Calls Me Baby.
I must have listened to that song ten times before I started looking into the band a bit more. The band is as FRAUNCH as Chicago is – that is where they are based – and lead singer and songwriter Wes Leavins, whose mystique adds to his stage presence – comes from a small town in Texas. I’ve read interviews with Wes in which he discusses his love of French fashion and movies. The name of the band itself is, of course, a reference to Brigitte Bardot. The quintet features Jeremy Benshish (drums), Trevor Lynch (guitar), Jack Fluegel (guitar), Zach Lentino (bass) and, of course, Wes Leavins as vocalist and frontman.
Walking on to Bobby Vinton’s rendition of “Blue Velvet,” the band claimed the stage and took unrelenting command of it for the next 75 minutes. Their 13-song set, which included one perfectly chosen cover, was powerful, moving, and energetic. Wes’ stage presence made an instant connection with the audience in the packed DC9 Nightclub. There is a video of this performance on YouTube in which you can see a little girl of maybe 9 years old dancing, singing along and clutching a setlist that guitarist Jack Fluegel gave her as he was tuning up before the show. But the songs appealed universally to the wide age range in the room – their sound is fresh and original, and the band is not shy at all about revealing their influences in their work – Wes’ voice croons like Elvis Presley’s or Roy Orbison’s. The guitars chimed like Johnny Marr’s work in The Smiths. There were rhythmic and melodic hints of The Strokes and The Cars. But the recipe is all their own. Were that stage a kitchen, Julia Child could not have done better.
Brigitte Calls Me Baby has a five-song EP called This House Is Made of Corners out – vinyl copies were available for purchase at the show – and I got my digital copy of the record on Bandcamp. You should get yours, and do not miss them if they come to your area. https://www.brigittecallsmebaby.com https://brigittecallsmebaby.bandcamp.com/album/this-house-is-made-of-corners
DC indie-rockers The Montaines (N. B. Montaine is a homophone for the FRAUNCH word for “mountain”) opened the show with an exciting, solid 30-minute set. The Montaines are comprised of lead singer Alec O’Brien, guitarists Jack O’Brien and Luke De Cresce, drummer Ryan Damico and bassist Seamus Mulcahy. This show was my first exposure to them, and it is great to see the kids today still making the rock ‘n’ roll the way these guys do. Looking forward to seeing them around the scene a bit more. Find more information on the Montaines here: https://themontaines.bandcamp.com