Matrimony and El El in Nashville, TN

Hey there! If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a fan of music and boy, do I have a story for you! It starts with a guy who’s sort of a dork (me) catching 2 bands at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley (making me a little bit cooler?). I’d only heard of one of them from listening to “Nashville’s independent radio” Lightning 100. The band Matrimony has a great song out called “Last Love” and when I heard tickets were on sale for this weekend, I jumped at the chance. I suppose it can all be summed up this way: both bands delivered! Very different in their music and I came away from it with an appreciation for both.

First up was a band called El El (like the letter… L L).

This band was great. My friend there with me said they had a Jamaican/islandy vibe on some of the songs and I’d agree. Tonight they had 8 band members playing everything from the bass guitar to the triangle to trumpets, a sax, drums, and cowbell (Christopher Walken would’ve been so proud). They put on a good show, and of course, when you have 2 drummers, that’s an automatic win in my book. At one point they even had 3 guys banging it out, so that was really cool. They reminded me at times of a band from the 80s I only came across recently, Boney M. Like music that could be popular all over the world, that kind of appeal. A lot of their songs were anthemic. Not to mention they were really fun to watch: the bass guitarist was so animated, the guys playing brass (and the triangle, can’t forget that) were great, keyboards, drums, they all did great. I also thought the song they finished with was about as perfect of a choice as I’ve heard in a long time. But for the life of me I can’t find the title. It was about bees and beehives and girls. It was really good. If I can find the title, I’ll edit it in here: [ ]

Once El El finished it was time for Matrimony.

They call themselves a family band and without getting into my sappy personality (remember I’m a dork?), I’m big on family so I love that they’re all related (most by blood, one made it in through marriage). I had only heard “Last Love” on the radio and purposely didn’t do much online listening before tonight’s show. I like to hear music for the first time live so I have limited expectations going in. So for this band, since I’d heard one song, I was expecting something along the singer/songwriter lines. But what I got was so much more… it was rock! All their voices matched well with their style, and the lone girl, her voice definitely has a great singer/songwriter quality to it, which I love. Think Duffy mixed with a little Taylor Swift. Plus, when you can toss in a guy who plays banjo really well it’s pretty much an automatic score, especially in Nashville. It’s like, yep, pass Go and collect $200!

Not to mention they all had a lot of tattoos that looked awesome. If I had to pick one song that stood out, of course it would be “Last Love” but if I had to pick two, it would be the anthem “I Believe in Love.”

And since you’re still awake, might as well take a look at this video from the show. It’s Matrimony performing “Last Love.” Enjoy and thanks for reading!
-Out of the Wilderness