Review: Muscle Beach Brings European Expressionism to the Zebulon

I took off to Zebulon on a recent Friday night to catch Agender's record release show (you can read the write-up I did of their set here). Prior to heading out, I took mild notice of the opening band Muscle Beach. By mild notice, I mean I glanced at their Instagram page just so that I knew what the band looked like. I walked into the venue not having a clue about what to expect. My assumption was that they were likely a punk band or based on their band name perhaps something in the line of Bonavega. 

Muscle Beach at Zebulon

I was so wrong. The band has an eclectic experimental style that the Zebulon enjoys booking on occasion. The band is a combination of Los Angeles DIYers Groop and Laena Myers with the dancing of Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (you can see a Youtube video of her dancing here).

I honestly am not exactly sure when the band started off their set. I happened to notice that lead singer Jane Paik and drummer Neil Young were doing a unison crazy rhythm akimbo dance at the front of the stage. I wasn't sure if this was the start of their performance or if they were just having fun while waiting for their set to start. 

Muscle Beach at Zebulon

The two eventually did go on stage along with guitarists Bennett Koss and Maisy. The band does have a 7 song album out so the band has distinct songs out, but I couldn't really tell when one song started and the other ended. If I were forced to guess, I would say they played 3 songs during their 30 minute set. The guitar play was as if they were using synthesizers instead of electric guitars. Koss spent about as much time facing the amp as the audience. Young went wild on the drum set. At times, it appeared that he was using his left elbow on the snare drum. Other times, he took out the hand drums. 

Muscle Beach at Zebulon

As for Paik, her vocals were beat poetry in nature, but taking a back seat to the experimental playing by her band mates. What did take the center stage was her dancing. As mentioned, the dancing was a 2020s update to the 1950s European expressionist dancing. It got her tangled up in her microphone wire, having to stop the set at one point to untangle.      

Muscle Beach at Zebulon

You knew that Paik would eventually do what follows next. Around mid-set, she jumped out into the crowd and took her expressionist dancing to the floor. Did she keep the frenzy dancing going? Of course, she did. She would disappear for a few moments into the crowd and then reappear near the stage. At one point, she would be sitting with her back against the stage, kicking her feet and waving her arms. At another point, she'd mini-race up and down the two-step that was strategically placed near stage center. And at another point, she even body slammed your reviewer and photographer. 

Comment of the set: I found out today it was spring break.