The Alchemy Festival
Words: Crystal Farina

Appeared:
April 22, 2007
Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa

It was Earth Day and Skipper's Smokehouse was filled with people of all ages. Children were mesmerized with their auto-bubble machines, and they twisted themselves about in the sand without any adult supervision. It isn't needed here. As I dangle my feet from a high bench in the corner and bask in the sun with a fizzy Corona, I ready myself for some music to begin on the stage. The five-piece known as Have Gun, Will Travel sit idly with their instruments. Once they began, a folksy Southern sound filled the space, and while many of the lyrics speak of past times with words such as: "Here's to our friends we've lost along the journey," their music is deceivingly light. They have a new self-titled EP out with another song that they performed live called, "Now I Lay Me Down." The phrase, "On the way to the funeral, don't forget your umbrella," is the first of the songs, and suddenly, their lightness disintegrated, and I focused in on the unraveling of their darker tones.
The Human Condition took a while to find their way to the stage, and once they do, I was instantly made aware that they are for casual listeners only. In a local newspaper review by Cooper Levy-Baker, he quotes, "Indie-rockers may wish for more dissonance," and I couldn't have said it better myself. Nothing occurs during the performance that distinguishes them from other adult contemporary/acoustic music.
Auditorium saved the day with an explosion of energy, a dancing synth-operator, and a dancing duck… that was interesting. Once the 7' tall duck exited stage left, I was able to focus on the music again. Joran Slane, the lead singer, named the festival after his daughter, and she bounced about with a red bow in her hair to her father's expressive voice. Auditorium has gone through some vocal changes the past year. The new back-up female vocalist still couples Slane's voice harmoniously, even though he stresses himself at some points. Nevertheless, his honesty seeped through the raw sections of each song.