Have you ever listened to a bands recordings and brushed them off, only to completely rethink that move after seeing them live? That was my experience after seeing All Get Out live at The Stuffing. After listening to both their eponymous EP and their first album The Season, I have to say I was not that impressed by this South Carolina foursome. Of the 6 songs on the EP, only one, “Water and God” really stuck out to me and the same carried over to the album. Although some of the songs did have some interesting vocal work, they were just a little too pop-y with a little too much of a country twang for me to be interested. Essentially, I thought they were unique, but not really my taste.
When they played during The Stuffing however, I was able to match the music to the people. The first thing that struck me, before they even started playing, was that singer Nathan Hussey talks exactly the same way he sings. He’s got a melodious good ol’ southern boy drawl that is not in any way exaggerated or changed when he sings. It’s just him, and knowing that made the bands general sound seem less forced or gimmicky. Second is the wonderful poise of Mel Washington, guitarist and vocalist, who I described to my boyfriend when I first saw him as “a man of few words but a lot of dignity.” How accurate that is remains to be seen, but what can be said is that he is a presence. He looks incredibly stoic when he’s not doing anything, but then he smiled and joked around and became an incredibly personable human being.
And these were even before they started playing. When they did play, you could see how much passion the members, including Hussey, had for their music. It was really endearing watching them play because they seemed to be really invested in what they were doing. So I had to go back on my original assessment and re-listen to them. I heard a lot of great parts to the music that I didn’t notice before, like how well constructed the melodies are. I would suggest giving them a listen, all the way through because it would be a shame for others to unjustly brush off this talented band like I did.
