Sparrow Bellows

At the appointed hour, Sparrow Bellows’ mighty triad stormed the Courtyard Cafe’s area rug-sized stage and tore up the joint with a ferociously fun set of Power Pop. Because of a year’s worth of confusion with the Japanese Emeralds and perhaps to delineate the difference in the band with the departure of guitarist Peter Underhill, the remaining Emeralds (vocalist/guitarist Ric Hickey, vocalist/bassist Sammy Wulfeck, drummer Brian Kitzmiller) decided to rechristen themselves as Sparrow Bellows.

For now, all that matters is that Sparrow Bellows is still Rock solid as a three-piece, and while Underhill’s presence in the Emeralds’ lineup made them a formidable Pop force his absence truly underscores Ric Hickey's incredible guitar talent. There are very few guitarists who can convincingly shift from rhythm to lead without tripping on the transition (Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend and Eric Johnson come to mind) and Hickey managed to do so without missing a step. Hickey channels his love of Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew, The Beatles and the Stones into every amazing phrase he wrings out of his Telecaster.

The only thing keeping Wulfeck from erupting into John Entwistle-like bass realms is his important role as co-frontman, singing lead on a good many of the band’s infectious numbers. And as Sparrow Bellows’ big man in the back, Kitzmiller anchors it all with thundering whimsy, providing the perfect percussive atmosphere for the band’s infinite variety of moods. A lot of the Emeralds’ old favorites — and when I say old, I mean dating back to their birth as a band in April of last year — were interspersed throughout the set (“Bout Time,” “Miss Linzy,” “Tiny Face Talker”) but the new songs are bound to become every bit as memorable once people start digging into the band’s just-released self-titled debut. Sparrow Bellows, like their green-tinted former incarnation, are T-shirt-and-tennis-shoe simple with a wild streak of Art Rock complexity and Power Pop ferocity. And when they throw it all together on stage, they rock harder than a coke boner. The Emeralds are dead, long live Sparrow Bellows.

- Brian Baker, Sept 27, 2009

- Cincinnati CityBeat