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Live Reviews

Out: One Night Band flexes Boston’s musical muscle — and dexterity

NIGHT MOVES Sir-Vix-a-Lot were one of many highlights of Saturday's One Night Band.

If the theme of last year's One Night Band was fun, the theme this year was star power. The four-year-old musical match-maker's 24-hour creations (in which 40 musicians are randomly paired into eight quartets with a day to write new songs) leapt over walls to find a balance between their newfound diamond-studded band mates. Some at the Middle East Saturday night did it better than others. Grandfather Time Bomb rocked exquisitely but couldn't get out of singer Walter Sickert's grimy goth-and-shock shadow. The Walls, driven by Aaron Perrino (the Sheila Divine, Dear Leader), Mariam Saleh (Fat Creeps), and astounding drummer Kyle Rasmussen (Phantom Glue) did a better job of finding a balance, but their spools of delay and classic-alt leanings sounded a lot like a Perrino project. "For me, that's my guitar sound, Kyle definitely plays how we play," says Perrino, hinting towards how scrambling musicians must rely on their innate skills. "We all just did what we do while trying to write within everyone's abilities."

In the special-interest department, Big Head Big Ears cooked up a conceptual alien/cat-themed set that found keyboardist/singer Peter Moore (Count Zero) speaking in mock-German, guitarist Eric Edmonston (Full Body Anchor) fronting a Queen-esque ballad, and guitarist/vocalist Candace Clement (Bunny's a Swine) fronting a Miley Cyrus cover that she won't soon forget. "You kind of just go with the moment," Clement said, "even if the moment comes out of nowhere."

The highlight was the all-female Sir-Vix-a-Lot, who brought together the "fuck it, let's party" attitude of sax/drums/singer Melanie Bernier (Fagettes) and the balls-out (breasts out?) vocal-chops of Call of Duty-celeb Elena Siegman (BrownBoot). While self-consciously invoking both the uniqueness and awesomeness of being the first all-female band at One Night Band (Girl's Rock Camp Boston shares a charity donation with ZUMIX from the evening's proceeds, which this year came in at more than $3000), Sir-Vix-a-Lot delivered on a shambolically delicious cover of "Blister in the Sun" and song-of-the-evening/romantic lover's plea, "Baby Turn Your Dick Down." With a drum machine and twin saxes blowing a low-fi disco groove straight out of "Funky Town," what really could go wrong?