Review & Photos: The Werks & Twiddle Twerk In San Francisco

The Werks & Twiddle :: 11.13.15 :: The Independent :: San Francisco, CA

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”81″ gal_title=”20151113 Twerk Tour”]

The Twerk Tour came to San Francisco’s The Independent on November 13, and though it was Friday the 13th, the show wasn’t scary at all. Instead it was filled with heads ready to get their faces melted.

The stage was adorned with an elaborate lighting set up and despite it being a co- billed show, someone had to begin the night, and The Werks took the stage first with fervor.

Even without their keyboard player Dan Shaw, the band seemed warmed up and on point as they started their set, beginning with heavy psychedelia-infused rock jams to get the crowd going. Shaw made the choice to head home in the middle of the tour to be with his family as his mother faces cancer. Ryan Dempsey from Twiddle quickly stepped in to help out The Werks for the rest of the tour and kept pressing on. That sentiment was no different in San Francisco and the band seemed to be gelling quite well despite the last minute lineup change.

I spoke with The Werks’ guitarist Chris Houser during setbreak and he shared a bit of detail on the tour and how the band has been coping without Shaw. “As soon as we noticed Dan was speaking with his mom every day, and it could have been getting potentially worse, we all knew there wasn’t any other logical choice but to send him back for the rest of the tour to be with family.”

Houser went on to discuss how the band misses him but knows that this will only strengthen their bond as friends and bandmates in the future. Houser also spoke a bit about some of his main influences – Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and Trey Anastasio, and how it has shaped his playing and style today. I could certainly see many of the parallels, and The Werks seemed to have a song that was representative of each guitarists’ style throughout the set. They ended the set with the familiar “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (“2001”). Their playing and songwriting drew many similarities to Phish – for example, a song early in their set contained lyrics about singing a song which seemed goofy and whimsical in the same vein as Phish and Tom Marshall’s songwriting.

After the brief setbreak ended, Twiddle took the stage with what seemed to be a bit more heavy, rocking and punchy sound when compared with the lighthearted jams from The Werks. The lighting and production for this co-bill was leaps and bounds above most shows I’ve seen at The Indy – and (not to dig on their house lighting) but the Twerk Tour certainly brought the eye candy with an impressive display.

Twiddle’s sound was dark and heavy, and they were off to a lightning start at the beginning of their set. They worked in some Primus to one of their originals as a sandwich of sorts featuring Primus’ “Too Many Puppies.” I did get the feeling throughout the set that their bassist, Zdenek Gubb, was heavily influenced by Les Claypool. I felt the set overall was a mixture of dark and heavy rock, and I really enjoyed their originals. They ended their set by inviting The Werks bassist Dino Dimitrouleas and Houser up for the encore, “When it Rains, It Pours.”

Overall it was a great show with a diverse array of musical influences performed by the two bands. The venue was packed with a dynamic crowd ranging from old to young and although it was not sold-out, it surely felt like it at points. The Twerk Tour definitely brings people together through collective shared taste in music.