Kaz of PWRFL PWR might just win the award for best between song stage banter of any local musician. It’s rare that the audience is equally as entertained by what the performer says in-between the songs as during them. He played a new song last night: “I think I’m going to call this song ‘Peach Song.’ It’s about falling in love with a 16 year old girl. Don’t think that I’m creepy, I’m just trendy. Dating 16 year olds is the new trend.” Like all of Kaz’s songs, it was pretty, funny, and kind of sad in a heartsick way, with the first lyric: “I need a fake ID that says I’m 16.” After the song he explained the chord he used that represented the question of “Should I date a 16 year old?” It was a full sounding, beautiful chord until the last note, which made it become uncomfortable and awkward.

Philadelphia’s Capillary Action sound like if the Locust were a lounge band. Singer Jonathan Pfeffer has a twinge of Mike Patton in his croon (though he insists he doesn’t like Patton and isn’t emulating him), his voice changing into pants and screams as the music rapidly jumps between genres. The band is incredibly tight live, as they seem to never stop touring together. They blend together spastic rock, jazz, lounge, and metal in a way that is undeniably unique and equally impressive.

The boys of Capillary Action are so talented in fact that ex-Fugazi bassist Joe Lally picked them to tour and play as his backing band. In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that a) Fugazi is my favorite band of all time and b) Capillary Action keyboardist Kevin McHugh has been one of my best friends since age 7. I will not focus on the swell of pride I felt watching a good friend performing with an idol, which was significant, but rather on Lally’s solo songs, of which I had no idea what to expect coming into the show. Obviously the songs were bass driven, with Capillary Action filling in the background with a mixture of manipulated distortion, reverbed guitar accents and intricate keys. I was especially impressed after the set when I learned that the backing band is completely improvising the songs behind Lally, the set sounding different in every city.

The songs were low key - very reminiscent of the slower tracks off of End Hits or the Argument. Lally’s voice was strong, as were his songs, and there is no question as to his ability to lead his own band with his own compositions. There is no point lamenting the loss of Fugazi - they’re gone and they’re not coming back - but it is nice to know that one of their members is continuing on in the same vein that they left off. This is not to say Lally is relying on that “Fugazi sound” to still further his musical career; the only part of his band that sounds like Fugazi is his bass, and he invented that sound, he can use it as long as he likes.