From Chicago....Molehill

Just want to give a brief bloggy shout-out to some cool cats I met tonight at Indy's Melody Inn: Chicago-based rockers Molehill.

I talked to these guys after their set tonight at the Melody. Co-founder and frontman Peter Manhart refers to their sound as somewhere between Muse, Maroon 5, and Sublime. I heard a little bit of Coldplay in there, too, thanks to the trippy, sometimes Pink Floyd-like keyboard work of Greg Van Zuiden. Backed up by the hard-core drum and bass work of Devin Staples and Trevor Jones, respectively, these guys seem to cross genres, bordering on punk at times, but seeming to be most comfortable in a bluesy, soulful, almost theatrical zone where they reside for most of their tracks.

Personally, I think these guys seemed to tap into something when they let loose and veered closer to punk, letting Manhart unleash his full lead guitar chops. Granted, I'm a garage/guitar rock kind of guy to begin with, but I'd like to see them let loose a bit more and tap the potential of Jones a bit more on the bass.

These guys head to Morgantown, WV--where bassist Jones went to college (and where this blogger has spent many drunken nights)--before heading to play at Arlene's Grocery in SoHo, New York City.