It took Jon Gray – like every member of The Mae-Shi singing and playing various instruments – quite a lot of effort to climb into the empty container that they had chosen for their performance, just to realise that there was an open door making the access far more easy for his three band mates. Still, Jon didn’t waste too much energy on sporty exercises as the stomping and frenetic rendition of “Nickel Arcade” shows. The Los Angeles based Mae-Shi were founded in 2002 and are since then – despite or because of an often changing line-up – continuously spreading their experimental and somewhat crazy approach to Rock’n’Roll music, consisting of strange electronics as well as beautiful vocal harmonies, lunatic live performances and the use of rare instruments such as the omnichord. Calling themselves a “surrogate family for our culturaly extended childhood”, the band always manages to get the fun and freakiness across to their audience. Even after their street performance of “Run To Your Grave” they further entertained watching passers-by when they started to play cover versions, only to burst out laughing a few seconds later.

mae-shi.com