Woven Bones and Beach Fossils American Express's River to River Festival rivertorivernyc.com/events/ South Street Seaport July 2, 2010 Written by Joshua Williams Photographed by Amy Davidson Opposite Photo: Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils

Summers in full swing, and American Express's River to River Festival is back in full swing. We were at the Seaport to see Woven Bones and Yellow Fever, who were scheduled to appear as part of the traveling Taste of Texas Tour.

Unfortunately for Yellow Fever, they were detained at Houston’s airport. More specifically, Jennifer Moore, who like many musicians has to have a day job, left her work at a BBQ joint, rushed to the airport, only for it to be discovered that she had absent mindedly left a chefs knife in her bag. So thanks TSA, from saving us all from a musician who knows her way around a brisket. Last minute replacements Beach Fossils were called in to save the day.

Andrew Burr of Woven Bones

Andrew Burr, Carolyn Cunningham and Matty Nichols of Woven Bones

After a DJ set, Woven Bones opened up the show. They are a three piece, rooted in minimalist punk with splashes of melody here and there. The bass contained just the perfect amount of distortion and was up front and center. The drummer is the real charm. Using just a snare, floor tom, and big ass Bonham sticks, she proved you don’t need much to keep the beat rocking. The vocals were heavily reverbed, and the guitar had just the right touch of delay. It was all very Stooges meets Dick Dale meets mid eighties death rock on a current Cramps fix.

Beach Fossils of Brooklyn came on to close the show. Since they seemingly borrowed all of their equipment from Woven Bones, I’m not sure if they normally only use a two piece drum kit. But in any event they handled themselves nicely. The sound was similar to Woven Bones, with the exception of an extra guitarist, and I really want the short scale SG bass that was used. They were less rock oriented, more moody. No big chords, just basic bass lines interwoven with single string melodies.

Even though Beach Fossils wasn’t originally on the bill, they complemented the opening act quite well. And with that, it’s off to another summer of River to River.