Story by Michael Cremin | Contributing Writer
Photos by Toto Sripunvoraskul | Contributing Photographer
Every Monday, MT SPARE hosts a live concert in the KUC Theater. This Monday was the last Music Monday of the semester and featured the psych-rock, seven member, student collaboration named Wet Flag.
As Wet Flag walked out, I started to count the number of band members and simultaneously I began to look around for what instruments they could be playing. Upon first impression I see someone tuning a guitar and getting their drum kit ready, it did not end there. One-by-one, a band member walked onto stage and grabbed an instrument until we had three different guitarists on the melody, a drum player, someone on a six string bass, someone on the keys, and finally someone playing both the bongos and the trombone.
Wet Flag opens with a couple different original songs that are reminiscent of a more exuberant King Krule single. A jam band having so much resonance that includes that many different instruments was a sight for sore eyes. As the night progressed a couple instruments were swapped out so that more peculiar ones could take the spotlight.
Eventually the lead singer put down the guitar in favor of the harmonica, one of the highlights of the evening.
The bongo player stood up, and started playing the trombone. It was definitely a weird twist that resulted in a pay off as the trombone ended up serving as the backbone of many tracks, similar to the way the bass would. Accompanying that backbone was the six string bass player who seemed to blow the whole crowd out of the water.
Mike Sevell, musician and Music Monday alumni, found the bass to be his favorite part, “He was incredibly tight to the rhythm of the drummer, and those two combined are the backbone of every song 100%. He also had a very clear understanding of jazz technique and played some wild chords high up on the neck while still playing the low notes to keep the mix nice and full.”
Wet Flag wraps up show the same way it started, full of liveliness and stage presence. The audience gets their encore and the lead singer counts his band down from four to end not only the last song of the night, but also the last Music Monday of 2021.
