Surrogate, The Americas, Brighten & Casing the Promised Land

August 31st, 2007--Café Coda is one of a dying breed of intimate, all-ages venues that still caters to all types of local and regional music. Regardless of its size, Café Coda can still rank up there with the best of them as one of Chico’s favorite epicenters for the indie rock scene. Surrogate’s long awaited debut album, Love Is For The Rich, was set for release last Friday night, and a sizable crowd spilled out onto the streets of Humboldt Ave in anticipation of the show.

    To begin the night, Chico’s own Casing the Promisedland performed an acoustic set that kicked off around 8:15. The friendly café was crammed with people who tolerated the heat and humidity while singing along to Ben Tietz’s heartfelt singer/songwriter lyrical style. “Breathe Easy Tonight” and “All That You Are” were among a few of the well received songs performed that night as the audience clapped along to the trio’s genuine and sincere performance.

    Brighten took the stage next and it was obvious from the start that they had a huge draw from Chico’s underage music fans. During their acoustic set, the whole front three or four rows consisted of kids all sitting on the floor, watching in awe as their local superstars performed an almost private show for the local high school kids. “Treasure Island” was among the number of songs Alex Draper and Justin Richards sang in the tightly packed Café Coda. Their set ended to an uproar of screams and applause from the crowd; afterwards many of the younger fans departed home, foolishly skipping the rest of the show.  

    The Americas brought the noise for the third act. The first of the non-acoustic sets, Casey Deitz and Travis Wuerthner blew the minds of the audience with their fantastically mesmerizing drum rhythms and ambiently transient guitar melodies. The heat of the café was palpable as Travis dripped sweat from his appendages while wailing away into the microphone. Particularly impressive was a new song titled “Ninety Ten,” which like most of the Americas songs isn’t something you can sing along to, yet the insane syncopated rhythms and dynamic tempo changes left the audience standing in wonder.

    In celebration of their new release, most of Surrogate’s set consisted of songs from Love Is for the Rich. The band unleashed full fury with songs such as “Fix Another,” “Paper Trail,” and “Easy Come Easy Go.” Lead vocalist Chris Keene maintained a confident stage presence, likely honed over the course of the band’s recent national summer tour with Emery. The entire performance emitted positive vibes prompting the audience to dance along to the music. Surrogate concluded the night with a brilliant version of the up-tempo “15”; keyboardist Daniel Martin could be seen dancing on stage in between parts as the night’s performance came to a climax of positive fanfare and gratitude for the exceptional concert.

See more photos of the show at the Synthesis blog. 

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