Bike Thief: Live @ Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR [05.29.14]

The band has only been in Portland for a couple years, and have been moving along at an incredibly fast clip. It’s been a busy year for Bike Thief as the band has changed some members all while working on a new record that will be out later this coming August. On Thursday, May 29th, I was able to make it down to Doug Fir to see them play their new stuff, and in spite of the date I brought with me, I had a great time.

If you saw Bike Thief last year, you need to see them again. In less than a year they have successfully transformed from the jangling, folky, moody, mostly acoustic sound of their Ghost of Providence EP, to electric and dynamic rock ‘n’ roll…and I love it. Hitting some higher notes this time around, lead singer and songwriter Febian Perez has pushed his voice to another level on these new songs, using falsetto that’s full of vibrato in the spirit of Jeff Buckley. Yes, he does it THAT well. I would never throw around the sacred name of Jeff Buckley if it wasn’t warranted. But that’s what I heard.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Bike Thief still sounds like Bike Thief, just bigger, louder, and more electric. The moody violin/viola of Greg Allen trades off and intermingles perfectly with the new guitar leads that weren’t there on the Ghost of Providence. Greg and Febian are up front and center and harmonize vocally into one mic like Springsteen and Stevie Van Zandt in the “Glory Days” video. Now that I think of it, wasn’t The Boss playing a natural blonde telecaster in that video? And wasn’t Febian Perez playing a natural blonde telecaster May 29th at the Doug Fir? Well, yes he was. There is no way in hell that is just a coincidence. Febian Perez is the next Bruce Springsteen.

With the debut full length album coming out in August, and decent sized slab of tour dates coming together in the Fall, this could be the year that Bike Thief gains some wingspan and flies out of Portland just as fast as they flew in.

Learn more about Bike Thief, and check out some of their tunes at the following links:

http://bikethief.bandcamp.com/

www.facebook.com/bikethief