Man, am I pissed with myself for forgetting my camera last night.

I’ve seen Ken Stringfellow play with The Posies and R.E.M. many times over the years, so I knew going in that he was an energetic live performer. However, with The Posies, Ken is somewhat limited in terms of how crazy he can get by the fact that he plays guitar; and with R.E.M., he’s merely a supporting player whose his job-title requires him to stand in the back corner of the stage and play tasteful keyboards.

Not so with his new band however.  With The Disciplines, Ken’s only responsibility is to sing – he leaves the guitar-playing to his bandmate Bjørn Bergene – and, more importantly, to entertain. And holy crap does he get the job done. When he isn’t running from one side of the stage to the other, or running out into the crowd (and even upstairs to the second level of Subterranean) to sing directly in the faces of people in the club, he does some of the most debaucheristic (is that a word?) rock and roll dance moves I’ve ever seen. Imagine a real-life Aldous Snow (Russell Brand’s character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and you’ll have a sense as to what I’m talking about.

As a result, the music almost becomes secondary.  And, frankly, that’s ok.  I like The Disciplines’ debut album, Smoking Kills [buy], but with the exception of 2 or 3 songs, most of it kinda blends together to me. But when you add the band’s (well, Ken’s) rock and roll stage shenanigans to the music, it becomes a wholly compelling live experience. And one I really, really wish I’d had a decent camera for. Instead, you get iPhone pics.