Last Thursday I had the pleasure of catching Brooklyn’s Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears at the Subterranean in Chicago. I was not very familiar with the material going into it, but had heard of the band through a close friend who checks them out down South. Said friend played me their new Flight of the Knife (out April 4 on Black and Greene Records) earlier in the week, and a surprisingly large amount stuck after only one pre-show listen.

Flight of the Knife is a sprawling epic about The Knife, “the greatest flying machine to ever sail the skies” which no one had seen. The record follows Venus Ambassador on his quest to save the flying machine from the “furthest reaches of the world” where it teeters on a cloud. I don’t think I’ve listened enough to fully grasp the continuity of the plot (which I can only assume is there), but the songs themselves are delightfully poppy while remaining musically interesting and grounded in familiar sounds. They tumble and shift in erratic ways that end up making perfect sense, providing for an incredibly diverse listen.

On the whole, this record plays like Alice Cooper and Ziggy Startust arguing over McCartney melodies, while listening to Frank’s Freak Out having just finished some Gabriel-era Genesis and Beatles (you know, just as George was starting to become a forceful songwriter). Read on for more about this exciting new band…

The aforementioned friend also warned me their stage show was “unlike anything [he’d] ever seen before,” a comment which I wasn’t sure what to make of until show time. Upon seeing the rich backdrop tied-in with the album art and the treasure chest of props on stage, things started to make a bit more sense. The only comparison I could think to make was something similar to an early Alice Cooper (when that was the band name)-type thing. Once their (too short) set began, everything fell into focus.

Frontman, Bryan Scary, used the props to shift the narrative perspective, as necessary, while the style-bending and nearly-spastic band followed with precision. To call this band “dramatic” is definitely an understatement. Both in performance and song, the Shredding Tears are a band that shifts visual and musical landscapes constantly.

I’m usually not one for the whole 3rd person/persona frontman and band thing, but they sell it on the strength of the underlying songs. There is just enough gimmick to give the air of being a full-blown production, but the whole thing remains centered in a rock band on stage playing their tunes which keeps the listener focused.

Definitely check them out if they hit your area:

March 29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw
April 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Sound Fix (in-store)
April 5 – Toledo, OH @ Frankie’s Innercity
April 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar
April 7 – Madison, WI @ The Annex
April 9 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
April 10 – Seattle, WA @ Nectar
April 11 – Portland, OR @ Towne Lounge
April 13 – San Francisco, CA @ Red Devil Lounge

Bryan Scary Homepage
Flight of the Knife Homepage (streaming audio)
Bryan Scary Myspace