Radio Exile | Plushgun (5/19/09, T.T. The Bear’s Place, Cambridge, MA)

Plushgun (5/19/09, T.T. The Bear’s Place, Cambridge, MA)

By Holly L. Perry May 26, 2009 Post a comment | Email the author

If you plan on seeing Plushgun [Official Site, MySpace] live, be ready to dance your heels off! If you have their album, Pins and Panzers, you already know that it’s pretty much impossible to not bop around to it wherever your iPod may take you (laundromat, crosswalks, your local ice cream establishment). They’ve been compared to The Postal Service, but they’re better. Lots. Better vocals, better beats, better lyrics, better hooks. Synth has never been so much fun.

In April they opened in for The Cliks at T.T. The Bear’s Place in Cambrdige, MA, but they really should have been the headliner. The day after the gig, I went on vacation to the sunny Dominican Republic, and planned to write up a little somethin-somethin on them while poolside sipping Coco Locos. I held off, because one day when checking my email in between sunscreen applications, I saw that they were playing again in Cambridge, in a month. This time they were headlining. Price of admission? $7. Cheaper than a Sam’s Seasonal at The Garden, my friends. So, I did what any rational person would do: tickets all around!

The show was again at T.T. The Bears. During the performance, Plushgun tossed handfuls of glow sticks to the crowd, which seemed to be a natural progression for the show. Don’t envision your rave days in warehouses with chemical aphrodisiacs – this was a gesture to create pure joy. It was like when you were given a glow stick as a little kid on Independence Day, and you’d jump around with it to whatever music was playing at the cookout your parents took you to. That age before you knew embarrassment. Caution to the wind. Giant toothy grin. Dancing about. This is just a little of what Plushgun brings to the table.

It’s quite apparent that the trio has the time of their lives on stage, and that there’s no place at that particular moment that they’d rather be. Lead singer Dan Ingala jolts and jitters happily about – he just may jump out of his skin one of these days, with the way the music owns him. Guitarist Taylor Armstrong should be a role model for the indie community, in his mannerisms and attire – understated, but so rock and roll. He also pulled off these slick little solos in some of the songs, which seems like it would be tough thing to do, given the indietronic nature of their music. It was cool. And let’s not forget the drums – yep, they’re live. From listening to the album, you may think for a second or two that there’s a loop or machine involved, but don’t be fooled: drummer Matt Bogdanow is very much real, very smiley, aaannd he wears aviators the whole show. Plushgun’s nonstop frenetic energy makes you lose all sense of social inhibitions. From the first few “Pong meets a rubber band” notes of their opening track, “Dancing in a Minefield,” you become an arm-swishing, head-bopping, hip shimmying, dancing fool. It’s great.

They played every track from Pins and Panzers. It’s hard to choose a favorite song, but I especially liked “Just Impolite.” To wrap up the show, they stayed true to their album and strung “14 Candles” together with “Without a Light.” It was at this point when Ingala jumped off the stage and danced amongst the crowd. With the emphatic ending of “Without A Light,” the crowd immediately started chanting, “One more song! One more song!” After a moment or two, the band came back, and Ingala threw his arms jokingly in the air and said, “Alright alright!” They obliged with two more songs, the first being “Let Me Kiss You (And I’ll Fade Away),” and then a cover song from Ingala’s former band, the song best described as “the 80’s song” (this may or may not be the actual name, I forget). During the encore they invited anyone who wanted to come dance up on stage with them. I have never seen this happen. Ever. Checkmate.

It’s really only a matter of time for these guys. Plushgun is spreading faster than germs in a subway. Trust me when I say get on board and catch them.