World in White and Dinosaur Lightning Perform at Stood

On October 17, Purchase’s Student Center, a.k.a. The Stood, hosted the usual crowd of pool players, ping-pong fans, and throwbacks to 1980’s arcaders, but it also played venue to two bands that added a fresh taste of live music.
As most bands playing at the Stood do, World in White (www.myspace.com/worldinwhite) and Dinosaur Lightning (www.myspace.com/dinosaurlightning) changed the atmosphere with each song, but with a zing of talent.
“It was very fun, probably among the best of the Stood shows I’ve seen,” said Manuel Bova.
Up first was World in White, a rock/indie/power-pop band from Bridgeport, IL. Their sound was something of a mix of Coheed & Cambria and The Clash. From songs dealing with the need to flee small towns to “make-out” songs, World in White offered up good tunes that almost anyone could relate to.
“It was a good time,” said Nathan Sovdi, the band’s drummer, sitting down with his brother Shane Sovdi and guitarist Kehrt Etherton after the show.
The “make-out song” that Charlie Ash, the band’s vocalist, spoke of was just the kind of song that could make people want to grab someone and either make-out intensely or slow dance to. The song was called “Resonate” and it appeared to be the crowd’s favorite – with great guitar, bass, drums and vocals blending into a ballad-mix of sweet goodness.
World in White has been together for three years as of this month. The band plans on keeping away from one another when they’re back home as an anniversary gift to each other.
Being on tour has been a learning experience for the band. In Louisiana, they were hit on by drag queens and heard stories from a drunken man named Bobby who liked to shout.
They’ve run out of gas, learned about bathing in sinks, how to use baby wipes to get clean and that “truckers are nice people.”
World in White has spent the past two weeks traveling for their “Hope Like The Blade Tour 2007,” visiting WY, TN, MO, OK, LA, KY, WV, and on Friday, October 19, they’ll be in Asbury Park, NJ. Their mode of transportation: a box truck, like a U-Haul, converted into a tour truck complete with bunk beds and a carpet in the back.
After World in White finished up their last set, Hee-Young Kang – voaclist, percussionist, and keyboardist for Dinosaur Lightning – started setting up for their performance along with the rest of the band.
Dinosaur Lightning took stage with an aroma of caffeinated joy. The sound of Dinosaur Lightning was of pure, lighthearted fun. With a ska-ish, funk sound to their more upbeat songs, the happy and catchy lyrics, combined with unique vocals, guitar and bass, and youthful sounding keyboard, got the crowd to clap, tap their feet, and dance. Their music is playful; the kind of music you’d love to jam out to.
 “I like them because they are musically more gifted than a lot of bands you see,” said Sam “Snakes” Plotnick. “People whose talent is bigger than their ego.”
One of the songs featured meowing and another told the story of a red blood cell truck driver. A couple of songs were about sports, one was about diners, and one was an acoustic song about eating people.
 “I enjoyed the subject matter of the songs greatly. No – immensely,” said Bova. “Their talent showed through in their song-writing and their musicianship.”
While some enjoyed Dinosaur Lightning, others had a different view.
 “See, I’m the opposite. I didn’t like the show,” said Josh Klafehn. “And I thought that they sounded kind of like a Christian rock band. No, take that back, not a Christian rock band, kind of like a Christian acoustic session.”
Klafehn continued, “But I do like the acoustic version of ‘MMMBop’ by Hansen, if they had played that I would have been overjoyed.”
One of the band members tried to encourage the crowd to take some free CDs out of a green dinosaur purse, but the crowd grew bigger the more Dinosaur Lightning played and the CDs went fast.
“It went well,” said Keith Burgun guitarist and vocalist for the band who, for the majority of the night, played the drums.  “The audience had fun.”
Burgun was recently interviewed by The New York Times for an article dealing with an anti-piracy code being widely spread around the Internet. The article on the Times’ website has a link to Burgun’s YouTube.com video called “Oh Nine, Eff Nine” (youtube.com/watch?v=L9HaNbsIfp0), where he sings the numbers to the code.
Burgun explained that the arrival of a new code on the Internet inspired him to create a sequel song and video called “Four Five, Eff Five” (youtube.com/watch?v=msdmJ8HkEis), but that video didn’t get as many views as the original which had been a #1 video for a day with over 300,000 viewings.
“I’m glad everybody came,” said Gabriel Rattiner, guitarist and vocalist for Dinosaur Lightning. Both Rattiner and Burgun agreed that Purchase was a fun place to play, and then described the hardships of playing in the city.
“People hate us in the city, because we like to have fun,” said Burgun with a laugh.
While Dinosaur Lightning has played out of state in CT, Burgun mentioned that they would like to tour.
Both bands, World in White and Dinosaur Lightning, took a boring Wednesday night and injected it with unique lyrics, great music, and overall, a fantastic performance.