For fans of music that can get all those butterflies in your brains herded up and moving in the same direction, Thank You Scientist oughta do it. Notes come from all directions and flourish, whether they’re brass, strings or percussion, and they demand your attention. All this coming from the six! musicians while vocalist Salvatore Marrano delivers alto vocals that might have you thinking of Michael Jackson reincarnated as a melodic metal singer. Their music is quite dramatic, with big uplifting bridges and choruses that resolve into either jazzy breaks or down right progressive metal foot stompers. Guitarist Tom Monda, is a technical clinic and a joy to watch execute his parts. And for good measure, we also have violin, trumpet and saxophone that can all pull off perfectly synced 16th note passages with perfect fluidity. Now, we’re talking about all this in the live environment and (7 musicians) packed onto the postage stamp sized Beat Kitchen stage.
Thank You Scientist has a growing, loyal fan base as evidenced by the wall to wall to wall crowd at the Beat Kitchen, for a Sunday night show. Polite and attentive too, as I experienced in a brief interaction with one fan up near the stage who drove all the way from West Virginia, specifically for this show. I was taken aback by this and expressed my appreciation for the dedication, to which he replied that, well, it was closer than Philly. Regardless, it’s a haul either way, so that’s one dedicated fella. For a fan like this, I made sure to get my photos, then get out of the way…this guy deserves front row for sure.
It’s really great to see a band like Thank You Scientist as they’re on the rise and in such a small venue. Being this close to such wizardly in the live setting is very fulfilling for a music aficionado. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only music nerd there studying the chops and trying to count out all the meter changes, with visions of fractions dancing in the night. Whether live or on record, Thank You Scientist is a solid bet for a rewarding musical experience.
