Show Review: The Explorers Club

The Explorers Club played with Gringo Starr and SUNBEARS! at The Pour House in Charleston on Friday, March 2

Good music that comes from the South is always a great thing. Since moving here, I’ve started to respect the South’s music scene a whole lot more than I used to. We’ve got some really good music down here and this talent was definitely prevalent at Friday’s show. The Explorers Club are straight out of Charleston, SC with Gringo Star coming from Atlanta, GA and SUNBEARS! from Jacksonville, FL. Whoever booked this show knew what they were doing. I’m assuming since it was Explorers Club’s album release show that they picked the bands, especially since they mentioned that they were big fans of both of them.

We unfortunately arrived late just to catch the last song in SUNBEARS! set which was much like entering a magical world. They had brilliant, synthy music that sounded reminiscent of Radiohead with some shiny visuals coming off of a projector and flashy, colorful lightning. It was very intense and we were all super depressed about the fact that we missed most of their set. BUT, seeing just one song of their set provoked me to buy their album (BUY IT HERE) and it’s pretty great. The next band who played were Gringo Star. They sounded like a whole bunch of different artists throughout their set including R.E.M., Arctic Monkeys, Animal Collective, and even Bad Religion. It was pretty crazy. All the members of the band switched instruments and vocal responsibilities and they were all fairly impressive. Some of the songs were a tad boring but most of them kept me pretty interested. One of the singers, the “main” frontman had a voice similar to Panda Bear from Animal Collective, and he was definitely the most talented of the bunch. All in all, there were two great opening bands leading up to a well-loved headliner.

The Explorers Club took the stage with a large crowd cheering for them, and they definitely deserved it. They had a 9-member band who all knew their instruments well and seemed excited to be doing what they were doing. I would say that the highlight was unofficial member Clay White who played trumpet, xylophone, tambourine, and countless other instruments. He won the show, I would say. I’m not super familiar with their newest album Grand Hotel but I know that their set featured most of these new songs, which makes sense since it was an album release show. I would have to say that my favorite part of the set was when they played Daydream Believer by The Monkees. It was a very good rendition of the song and most of the crowd knew the words to it. All the members in the band were very talented and had a chance to showcase their particular talent. I think this band are playing the right genre for the moment, especially with The Beach Boys making a comeback. They are not really alienating any type of demographic since young and old people alike can get into this music. I think these guys are going to do quite well for themselves.

You can check out their website right here: http://www.rockridgemusic.com/explorersclub/

All photos were taken by Chris Sim