Tuesday serenade: The Weakerthans, performing with two other punk bands, brought Obies and non-Obies alike to the ’Sco.

Although it’s great to go to a show with friends, it was refreshing to see an audience at the ’Sco last Tuesday night that was not all College students. A diverse crowd, with more high school age students than Oberlin folk, filled the ’Sco to hear three traveling bands: Murder By Death, Lucero and The Weakerthans.

Murder By Death, a relatively straightforward rock band, opened. They had an appealing setup, with an electric cello and keyboards complemented by metal style guitar and loud bass to create a full sound. However, I overheard a younger guy in the audience say during the set that he couldn’t help but make a comparison between the singer’s voice and that of Creed’s vocalist, a not-so-favorable comment that resonated with me as well. Nonetheless, there were some people who knew the lyrics and were singing along—always a good sign at a show.

After Murder By Death, the somewhat older band Lucero played. If I’m not mistaken, Lucero came to Oberlin two or three years ago for a house show—it seems to be a common progression for bands to swing through campus for a basement show and then show up at the ’Sco a year or so down the road. In this sense, Oberlin has developed a reputation for hosting bands about to break the scene not only at the ’Sco level, but also the step before that, when bands are striving to tack on to larger touring acts as openers.

Lucero’s website tells their story as a Memphis country band that intended to piss off punk rockers at hardcore shows, but ended up playing “southern” punk covers. This fusion of punk rock with other genres such as country is quite common and popular, going off into various directions such as acoustic folk punk. Lucero’s set was entertaining, although I had a difficult time placing them—I wanted either more rock or more country.

As soon as the Weakerthans started tuning up on stage, a bunch of Oberlin students who had been waiting in the hall rushed in and packed the ’Sco tighter than it had been for the other bands. Finally, some faces that I recognized... The Weakerthans are another result of punk sub-divisions. John K. Samson, formerly of the well-known political punk band Propagandhi, had quit the music industry to write and start a publishing company (in fact, the band usually sells books at their concerts, but the representative was unfortunately not around on Tuesday). Samson later got together with some friends in Winnipeg, Canada for a more melodic, indie rock style. The singer actually opened by saying they were a punk revival band from Canada.

The Weakerthans, although sometimes pejoratively labeled as emo, combine introspective lyrics with talented instrumentation. Besides the usual setup of two guitars, bass and drums, they have a guy on synthesizers in the back. One song (my favorite) takes the perspective of a cat talking to her owner, critiquing their human lifestyle and hinting about her crush on a tabby cat that lives next door. It ends up being an inspirational song, encouraging the human to be strong—despite the band’s name.

Some songs caught my ear more than others, but this could have been an issue of familiarity. The band played a four-song encore, taking the show almost until 1 a.m.—proof that they, too, were having a good time on stage. The three bands together managed to draw a decent group of people for a Tuesday night, and I think that most of them were pleased that they had come out.