Michael Rank: Acoustic AND Early
Michael Rank’s KIN has been in our heavy rotation with the disc bouncing back and forth between the truck and the house. An excited phone call from my wife Anne told me Michael and KIN collaborator Marc E. Smith were playing an acoustic show at the Cave that evening and she wanted to, expected to go. I wanted to go too but weekday shows are tough with an alarm set for 6:30 AM. A quick check and a rumored 8:30 PM start time convinced us to roll the dice and make the short drive from Durham to Chapel Hill. We walked in to the bar just past 8:30 and were immediately treated to acoustic versions of several tracks from KIN, a cover of Little Steven’s “Men Without Women” and three new songs one of which sounded like it might be (but wasn’t) a Chris Knight cover.
It’s a real treat for a fan to hear live what the stripped down demos for a favorite album must have sounded like. I know I’m getting old and this sounds old but at this point it doesn’t get any better than hearing some great music and then heading home with my ears not ringing sometime before 11PM. A big thanks to the Cave and Michael Rank for putting on an early show during the week and here’s wishing more clubs (and bands) follow suit!
Here’s the setlist:
Straw Man
The Goat
Men Without Women
On The Bleed
new song/untitled
Demolitions
Gun Breaths
new song/untitled
new song/untitled
Sea Measures
Numb Into You (from the album Love Is Dead /Snatches Of Pink)
Upcoming NC shows for Michael Rank:
Thursday June 28th Rank and Smith acoustic duo at The Station/Carrboro ~9:30
Friday June 29th Michael Rank with a full band gig at Sadlacks/Raleigh~7:30
FYI: KIN is available as a “name your price” download deal here and you can also download almost everything Snatches of Pink ever recorded from the same page. Read Michael’s NoDepression interview here.
This video was recorded before KIN was released but it gives you an idea what a Michael Rank acoustic show delivers. Enjoy!