The Explorers Club and The Never rock Duke Coffeehouse

Charleston band The Explorers Club played the newly remodeled Duke Coffeehouse Friday night with local bands The Never and The Huguenots.

Unfortunately I missed The Huguenots, but I've heard from reliable sources that they're excellent. Next time guys.

The Never took the stage as a three-piece with no proper drum kit or bass. Noah was on acoustic guitar, Joah was on keys and electric guitar and Johnny played a floor tom, a snare, a wooden stomp box and various hand-held percussion.

The set was phenomenal and included a bunch of new tunes from the band's forthcoming album. Even with the sparse set-up, the band was as energetic as I've ever seen them, if not more so. I think they should play that way more often.

The last band of the night was The Explorers Club. I had not seen the band play live since November 2006 when they opened for Zach Galifianakis at the Cat's Cradle (read/view here and here). Since then, the band have grown from a sextet to a septet and their live show has become a force to be reckoned with.

The group has the presence of a band who have toured the country over the past few years, which they have. People got up and danced thanks to a few guys from The Huguenots getting things started and the set evolved into a big party with the band seeming to to feed off the crowd response. Even sound problems that plagued the set did not hinder the band's performance. Oh, let's not forget the music. The band's 60s inspired sound shimmered and the vocal harmonies were as good as ever.

You need to see The Explorers Club live and check out their album Freedom Wind.

A photo post will follow shortly.

The Explorers Club set list:
Do You Love Me?
Forever
Don't Forget the Sun
Lost My Head
Kind of a Drag (The Buckinghams)
If You Go
Hold Me Tight
Carry Me
Honey, I Don't Know Why
Last Kiss
Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)

[photo by Kevin Norris]