Richmond - Once again I was headed over to Legend Brewery, this time the band on my mind was Haze and the Transients.  As I crossed the Manchester bridge, dark clouds loomed over the brewery.  So much for my hopes of a show on the deck.  But when I arrived at Legend, the rain appeared to be holding off and the band was doing their sound check out on the deck.  I grabbed a beer and a front row table that had mysteriously remained empty despite the fact that most of the other tables had been filled long before I got there.  As my photographer, Travis Ely, showed up the band was just finishing their sound check.  Things were looking good, but my hopes of an evening out on the deck were once again washed away.  Just as the band broke into their first song, the sky opened up, and everything had to be hastily dragged into the barroom. These are the sort of things that sour your mind to a band even before you hear the first set.  But I was easily consoled by the bands decision to set up in the barroom, and after a second sound check Haze and the Transients got down to the business of the evening: good music and good beer.  The show must go on even if the weather does its best to foul things up.

The atmosphere of the evening was drastically different than it would have been out on the deck.  Instead of the cool enjoyable damp of the river breeze we were thrust into the chilly air conditioning of the barroom, but after a couple beers the change in environs ceased to bother me and I was able to start really getting into the music.  And there was plenty of it.  Haze was the only band playing and despite several set breaks which seemed to last forever, they managed to play a great deal of music.  They played a wide variety of songs while keeping a consistent and distinct sound, that being strongly melodic and somewhat minimalistic.  John Dacey, playing only a snare and high hat, set an upbeat tempo along with subtle help from Rick Myers on the upright bass, while Chris Ludwig played lead guitar.  But the real attention grabber of Haze's music was the vocals.  Lead was split primarily between Jolie Harrison, who also played tambourine, and Kirsten Hazler, who also played guitar and keyboard.  All of the band members pitched in on harmonies at some point throughout the night.

Both Kirsten and Jolie had very distinct voices.  Jolie's was somewhat more powerful, deeper and sultry.  She sounded amazing singing the bluesier numbers as well as some of the songs that had a dixieland feel.  Kirsten, on the other hand, had a light, airy voice.  Relying more on subtle melodic shifts she  was equally as captivating as Jolie, but by entirely different means.  Kirsten's voice was perfectly suited for the folksier and more country feeling numbers.  While one vocalist or another may have stood out as the lead on any particular song, the other members of the band created beautiful harmonies that perfectly bac ked up the main vocal melody.

As always Legend proved its worth as host to great music and delicious beer that managed to salvage the evening despite the rainy weather.  It may not have been the evening I was looking forward to throughout the day, but it was well worth looking forward to anyway.

HazeAndTheTransients.com

MySpace.com/HazeAndTheTransients

By Editor (Managing) and Correspondent: Robin Marschak

Robin Marschak was born and raised in Richmond, VA. After a brief attempt at attending an engineering school in Claremont, CA he returned home to study English at VCU, an endeavour he is currently still engaged in. One thing that has remained unchanging throughout his life is a love of music. He was raised on local bands such as the Ululating Mummies and Dogs New Clothes as well as more classic mainstream bands such as the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. As a teen his tastes shifted towards the punk scene and bands such as TSOL, Operation Ivy, and Rancid, and while he maintains a deep love of this style of music he has broadened his listening palette quite a bit in recent years especially into the realms of country and old time music. His favorite bands currently are Popebear, a blues-funk fusion band out of Pasadena, CA, the Hot Seats, a string band from Richmond, and the No BS! Brass Band, also from Richmond. As far as more national acts go he tries to catch shows by bands like Umphrey's McGee, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the Belleville Outfit whenever possible.

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