Progressive band entertains students

Doug Fell Down exploded onto the forty-strong crowd at Oxfam caf?© last Friday night with their distinctive blend of psychedelic-laced, slightly agitated rock, and down-home country blues. Oxfam provided an intimate venue with a good heart for the band's performance.

Cries of, "Do it Doug!" and the less inventive, "Doug, fall down!" were bellowed from the loyal Dougists in attendance. The students sprawled about the couches to listen to the band were also in for a treat, as the Band never hesitated to surprise their audience.

One of the first surprises in store was Andrew Kambour's combined performance as the band's lead singer and drummer.

"He's a real multi-tasker!" said Krissy Katzenstein, an Oxfam volunteer, as she watched Kamour wail away on a bluesy track. Kamour also plays the guitar, but it was behind the drum set that he really shone. His powerful, fast-tempo, pounding contrasted with his lyrical style, which some compared to the more aggressive, sullen, and philosophical style of the Barenaked Ladies.

Kambour felt extremely positive about the show. "We played tight, the crowd was into it," he said. "This bodes well for the rest of the year."

The concertgoers echoed his enthusiasm. Fellow musician senior Even Fishbein, was very impressed. "These guys ignore presumptions about how rock music is ordinarily played, or how musicians are expected to alienate themselves from the audience," Fishbein said. "The band's genuine nature is their music and personality _ it's really [expletive] appreciated."

Doug Miller accompanied Kamour on guitar and Evan Chakroff assisted on the bass. Miller's guitar style exercised breadth and ingenuity ranging from slide guitar that evoked feelings of turn of the century Mississippi Delta blues, to formless free-expression, Ornette Coleman style.

At one point, Miller played a solo with his feet. Chakroff on the bass, and occasionally guitar, provided the rhythmic glue that kept Doug Fell Down cohesive. He also stepped up to the microphone for a few strong tracks.

All of the songs were originals, with the one brief exception being a short interlude adapted from The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Halfway through the set the band called up a student named Dave, the loudest contributor to the "Doug fall down!" chant. Dave contributed an impassioned reading of a Nietzsche passage on sin to an instrumental accompaniment that began in a fashion reminiscent of the Doors, before blowing up into a climax of sheer aggression.

Though the reading received varied opinions, some, like Laura Gutierrez, manager of Oxfam Caf?©, really appreciated the tone the reading set. "[The song] added a new dimension because, although I couldn't quite hear what was being said it sounded quite moralistic," she said.

Not everybody, however, was "feeling it," and some had few kind words to say of the performance. "You don't have to tell me about the concept of sin," said Linus Paolantonio, a visiting student from Wesleyan."Get off the stage."

Paolantonio's criticism was the exception though, as the remainder of the crowd could not get enough of what Doug Fell Down brought to Oxfam. It was clear that a majority of the patrons were acquainted with the band and were fully enjoying the music.

Throughout the performance, the crowd pleaded with the band to play "Shallow Grave." When the band finally played it, the crowd erupted in applause.

Kambour bellowed his lyrics for all to hear: "I get drunk but you get depressed; you thought naked lunch got undressed. I thought I was being so blessed; you traded your soul for your perfect breasts."

Another crowd-pleaser was "Amsterdam," a song that is about one man's relationship struggles. His difficulties with the opposite sex lead him to burn out his brain in a certain Dutch city.

"I'm chasing windmills in an absinthe haze; I'm out of guilders losing track of days. I'd fly to Rome if I could find my way; I'd stumble drunken down Parisian lanes. These women call me from behind red lights; I've been seduced by the perpetual night," the band members sang.

The show also received praise for bringing students into Oxfam, a non-profit organization whose profit goes to the eradication of world hunger and starvation.

John Meckler, a newly won-over fan and senior at Georgetown University, thought they were extremely progressive and "very brave to perform" their brand of innovative and sometimes experimental material. Kambour attributes the free ability to "play what (they) want" to their relative obscurity on the Tufts music scene. Perhaps Doug Fell Down will not remain obscure after a few more performances.