Siran BabayanWhat: Gayngs
Where: Lustre Pearl, Austin, TX
When: March18
Amid constant crowd chatter, the second of retro dance-pop Gayngs' SXSW shows at Lustre Pearl was a another festival example of right band, wrong venue. There was a lot to see on up there. Twenty-five artists contributed to the Minnesota collective's 2010 debut, Relayted, and the people on the club's outdoor stage included 11 musicians and singers, and a few others whose purpose seemed unclear.
Har Mar Superstar; Credit: photo by Siran Babayan
Though they opened with one of the album's original tracks, “The Gaudy Side of Town,” it's clear the members were breast fed on '70s and '80s soft rock. And 10cc just might be the reason for Gayngs' whole existence. The band landed on the radar last year with an even more haunting and stark cover of Godley & Cream's “Cry,” whose morphing video, you may recall, predated Michael Jackson's “Black and White.”
Somehow we knew L.A.'s Har Mar Superstar (collaborator and fellow Minnesota native) would pop up. And there he was, the poor man's Ron Jeremy with his overexposed beer gut and white cape covering George Michael's “One More Try.” (Hasn't the man suffered the enough?). To his credit, he was able to get the crowd to sing along. Surprising, considering most of the audience looked barely old enough to remember Michael's first arrest.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.