(image from a previous show, photo credit)
This past Friday night The Deep Vibration stopped through town, playing the ballroom of Southgate House as an opener for Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles. While the crowd arrived early, the tables and chairs were out which prompted most folks to sit throughout the entire evening, even for the headliner.

The four piece band the calls Nashville, TN home took the stage dressed warmly and started with a few slow ones to ease into the set. While the band’s lone release, an EP titled Veracruz, reflects heavy Americana influences lead singer Matt Campbell sounded more like Thom Yorke during the first few tunes than anyone else in the Americana space.

Without much acknowledgment of the crowd, The Deep Vibration started to let things open up a bit as the quiet openers yielded to more blues soaked rock songs slowly building on one another. As the volume picked up so did the interest from the crowd especially after we were invited to go to Mexico and the band launched into “Oklahoma City Woman Blues (Veracruz)”. This tune really seemed to swing the audience and the band must have felt it as they continued on showing more energy & engagement from this song on.

One of the other highlights of the night was the song “Jack Was a Robber” which took the blues influenced rock even further. This one was a singable tune with a great hook that seemed take a nod to the stylings of Tom Morello. Undoubtedly the song was not as intense as a Rage tune, but one could not help but hear his influence here.

As the set ended, it was clear that the Southgate House crowd was fairly impressed with The Deep Vibration, a band most had likely never heard of before they took the stage. What appeared to be an indifferent audience at the start of the show was definitely more attentive and appreciative by the end, even if most did not get out of their seat.

As for The Deep Vibration themselves, these guys appear to have a bright future ahead of them. Given that the EP was released fifteen months ago, we can only hope that a full length album showcasing the band’s talents will be put out later this year. If so, a local headlining stop at a smaller venue would seem to be a logical next step and you would do yourself no harm by heading out to see what these guys have to offer.
(review by Dave Rolfes)