Former Friends of Young Americans, The Tremulants
The Lost Leaf
Thursday, June 30

There's something to be said about Arizona's music scene when you can slip into a local watering hole and find great local bands like The Tremulants and Former Friends of Young Americans just hanging out, playing a casual set.

That was the scene last night as Marco Holt of The Tremulants and Toby Fatzinger of FFOYA competed with bar patrons for airspace as they each represented their respective bands with solo sets at The Lost Leaf.

"We'll be back with the full band on July 21st," Fatzinger said. "Hopefully then I won't have to worry about playing over anyone."

A handful of people huddled around Holt as he strummed acoustically and steadily stomped a kick drum as the bar slowly swelled with customers. It was a mellow set that ran more than 30 minutes before Fatzinger sat in to play a couple songs. Unfazed by the ebbing voices that resonated incoherently, the two carried on until the late night hours.

By the time Fatzinger took over, the bar-side crowd was buzzing as people burst out in laughter and chugged back beer and wine. It's a shame more people didn't direct their attention to the music playing in the background, as they would have found themselves caught in FFOYA's shoegazing sound.

Without the backing of his band, Toby intricately fingerpicked his electric guitar and tapped on various effects pedals to create echoing swaths of reverb to accompany his uneasy lyrics. By the time he hit "Anomaly" he was in full stride, plugging away, regardless of who was or wasn't listening.

Before leaving for the night he imparted a warning to any would be bar-hoppers in the vicinity later this month. "I don't know how we're going to do it but, we're going to be here and we're going to be loud," he said.

Critic's Notebook:

Last Night: Former Friends of Young Americans, & The Tremulants

The crowd: Typical downtown beer sippers, more in attendance to drink than for music on this particular night.