It only takes about 12 minutes, but Bendy Straw’s three-track demo does a fine job of painting the tape with a picture that shows listeners what it’s like to be borderline broke and totally confused by life in your mid-20s.
There’s “Champagne Sunday,” an unofficial brunch rallying cry where ice-cold buckets of bubbly are waiting for you on your porch or your favorite late-morning coffee shop/restaurant. Sadness is doled out with a side of memory loss on “Blacked Out Blues,” where friends drink all the gin and then proceed to fall down stairs and find puke in their hair before trying to remember the face of the person they may or may not have had sex with in the car (not to mention the source of bruises on knees or the location of the keys). And lest you think that it’s all stinky bags of weed and sacks of beer or barbecue, “HPV” is there to remind you that all of that promiscuity often comes at a price.
MUSIC ISSUE 2018
Meet 30 young Tampa Bay musicians who are (re)making a scene
All of it is delivered by a tight-knit five-piece that features Evan Cooper strumming on his ukulele with a shorter, equally punchy Katherine Mata at his side, screaming into a mic and beating the shit out of a tambourine.
Bendy Straw has been bringing its high-energy, wildly inappropriate, drunken bullshit to audiences in Tampa since 2016 and was founded by Mata, 26, and Cooper, who were roommates in a random Ybor City shanty. Together they drew inspiration from textbook depression and gnarly hangovers and soon attracted fellow degenerates guitarist “Uncle” Keenan Sivitz, drummer Tyler “Axel” Mauriello, and bassist Ryan “Ya Makin’ Me” Kersey. You could describe the band’s sound as folk-pop if you want to get kicked in your genitals, but you’re better off just calling it anti-folk or punk after witnessing a live show where the salacious lyrical content has been known to induce laughter, tears, vomiting, and violent fits of rage for its sadly relatable nature. You don’t get to see the band play out as often as other outfits in this issue, but you may see Bendy Straw on the road sooner than later.
Next show: The Grateful 8 — The Bricks 8 Year Anniversary Party w/Radarmen/The Tim Version/Sun Signs/Bendy Straw/more. Sat. Aug. 18, 7 p.m. No cover. The Bricks, 1327 E. 7th Ave, Ybor City. bendystraw.bandcamp.com.
This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2018.