On October 4, 2009, two of Tulsa’s most promising indie bands performed in an epic battle of creativity and musical innovation. “The Panda Resistance vs. Ptiaradactyl” showcased two of Oklahoma’s most innovative and talented bands in a musical event enhanced by costumes, lights, signs, comedy and a slide projector. This audio-visual experience at one of Tulsa’s hippest bars, the Soundpony, seemed to mark a growing trend within the local music scene where bands are pushing each other to new levels of creativity by being innovative and creating a sense of community, even if bands within this community are engaged in musical and creative warfare.
These two bands are quite different in their sound, style and performance, though both have an indie, artsy feel and both perform with some type of costume – the Panda Resistance wore their trademark panda hats and members of Ptiaradactyl wore lighted headpieces and are known to wear other outlandish getups. The Panda Resistance has an atmospheric, upbeat indie rock feel, with impeccable musicianship and symphonic layering of sound effects and bright melodies. Clay Welch on guitar, Bo Halford on bass and Andrew Bones on drums and percussion are an instrumental trio who sound like a trip-hop group inspired by exotic melodies. With the tightest rhythm section in Tulsa, the group can truly hold down some amazing grooves, and with Welch’s ear for tasty reverb-dripping melodies they can also buildup to incredibly powerful moments through atmospheric layering of sound.
Ptiaradactyl, on the other hand, is much more avante-garde, leaning more towards a punk/electronic sound that is raw and energetic. The band has played at Tulsa’s Dfest music festival, toured fairly extensively and has even garnered some national attention. The group plays mostly instrumental rock-inspired jams that are slightly dark with an obvious punk and indie influence. The songs often change tempo and feel multiple times within a song, creating a sense of orchestrated but raw and energetic musical expression.
This is the type of event that helps a city’s music scene expand and evolve. The epic battle-like feel, the lights and props, the costumes and comedic banter all added to this experience that was unlike any other concert I’ve seen in Tulsa. The broad-ranging musical styles and impressive audio/visual performance was amazing and somewhat unexpected, but Tulsa could use more of these types of events. The very fact that this was promoted and hyped up as something more than a concert with two different bands helped this night stand out for many people, and the actual show did not disappoint one bit.
“You know Pterodactyls lived during the Cretaceous period right?” Hallford asked the crowd during a song break. “You know what they didn’t have during the Cretaceous period? Music lessons! …Or showers!”
Hallford and the Panda Resistance really got into the battling mindset during the show, projecting slides on a wall at the side of the stage while they played with drawings of a Panda beating, threatening and degrading a Pterodactyl, followed by cheeky comments, jokes and digs at the other band between songs. It was all in good fun, though, and the whole aura of a musical battle seemed to make both bands play better and allow the crowd to become more of a participant in this crazy, over-the-top musical experience. There was an even a point towards the end of the night when a huge Chinese-dragon-like Pterodactyl was paraded in front of the crowd with the help of about a dozen people. This concert was more like musical theater than just two bands playing music… the visuals, costumes, crowd interaction, the undercurrent of two great bands locked into musical and creative warfare all added to this imaginary mystique that made me feel like I was witnessing something special. I still feel that way, and Tulsa should have more bands doing things like this.
There should be more Flaming Lips style enthusiasm in the local scene where the circus atmosphere and incredible visual experience forces everyone in the crowd and in the band to have a good time. These aspects may seem like gimmicks to some people, but this is the type of event that can truly excite people and get them involved in the increasingly creative Tulsa music scene. A Flaming Lips show wouldn’t be the same without the mass amount of confetti, the blinding lights, the props and the hamster-ball contraption that Wayne Coyne always opens the show with by walking out on top of the crowd. These things create an experience that makes the music that much more powerful and emotional, and bands that can pull this off are always on people’s list of must-see concerts. The whole point of going to a concert is for an experience, and when all these aspects are combined in a creative way, fans can have an almost spiritual sensation that makes music unique and powerful like nothing else. This epic battle was on a smaller scale than a Lips show or a festival-type show, but these two Tulsa bands really know how to create an amazing event rooted in fresh, original music and artistic expression.
**Thanks to Brian Horton for the videos**
