last night saw stegosaurus? play a show at the musically named sus2 bar on dingxi lu. stegosaurus are focused around the twin vocal and guitar attack of cousins josh and levi. they are joined by bren on the bass and tyler up back on the kit.
most of their set last night was originals but there were a few very loose and original covers including the theme from batman as you’ve never heard it and a chinese children’s song about two tigers missing eyes and a tail respectively. how amazing!
i know how much we all hate comparing bands to other bands in terms of sound. but a frame of reference can be a useful tool to get an understanding of how a band sounds without actually hearing them. so here’s what i heard in last night’s show: the kinks, the la’s, mr. bungle and the shaggs. you just try to put those disparate influences together in a meaningful way… stegosaurus did it last night. bass player, bren explained to me that one of the reasons for such a wide variety in the sound is that they all write songs and bring them to the band. the result is an exhuberant pop that changes directions in fun and unexpected ways. if their music were a child it would have AD(H)D (and it would be incredibly likable).
the band began around two years ago as Mirror Mirror – a duo formed by the left-handed josh and his right handed friend, joseph. joseph seems to be partly in the band, partly support act – i am not sure and i don’t think that these guys are sure either.
stegosaurus are clearly fans of the fender curves – you can see josh and levi mirroring each other with their squier strats , and bren is playing a fender precission bass. there wasn’t a lot of music technology at play last night – there was only one pedal on stage used by josh:
it looks like a danelectro fab tone distortion pedal. don’t be lonely, lonely pedal.
edit: nice flyer too, designed by bren.
#1 by Josh on September 3rd, 2009
Wow, thx for the write up! Yeah…we’re not too sure what Joseph is either. We hope to get more usage of pedals and stuff when we get rich from excellent publicizing like ur fine website!
#2 by Fan on September 3rd, 2009
I really love this band!
I was delighted to learn that this band has been recognized as a famous band in China.
I believe that this public recognition will contribute to elevating the industry standard, and I wish you many more years of continued success.
#3 by ossi on September 3rd, 2009
?????by the way, is the cousin gaining some weight?
#4 by Tristan on September 4th, 2009
Wow!! that is sooo cool, congrats Sus2! totally jealous, im glad you made it to the bigs, and left wonkaface in your shadow…your small small shadow.
#5 by Tammy on September 4th, 2009
By cousin do you mean Josh or Levi? Cool you guys are doing so great. Paupers Field died when you left. Hope you get some of your music posted so we can hear it…Great article and I love the flyers! GJ Bren!
#6 by Caleb on September 6th, 2009
hey!!! wow!!! it sounds like you sound good!!! ya nice write up!! wish there was a way to hear you guys!! get famous for me!!
#7 by joseph on September 18th, 2009
not officially part of the band?? Nooo!! Right when they’re starting to get awesome. I should have photoshopped myself into the pictures to show to friends back at home. Mirror mirror forever!