A mere three-and-a-half months after The Early November’s farewell show, and a little over a year since the release of that band’s triple-disc album, The Mother, The Mechanic, and The Path, ex-TEN frontman Ace Enders is working on a new record. Under the name “Ace Enders and a Million Other People,” the release can be expected sometime in the fall [NOTE: This never actually happened, although Ace did recently release a free record summer '08], but fans gathered at the Trocadero Balcony Aug. 18 got a taste of what to expect from Enders, with tour support from openers Pete Nischt and Paper Rival.
Nischt awkwardly got the show started with jangly folk pop. Recalling a mix of John Mayer and Ryan Adams, tunes like “Things You Said” and “Life Is” came VH1-ready, which is a nice way of saying they were kind of bland. While the crowd was polite after each song, Nischt did little more than kill time while on stage. Perhaps the guy needs to indulge his Springsteen-ian need for the epic rock gesture a little more.
Paper Rival stirred the crowd with a little more emphasis; but, again, the audience needed Enders in its veins ASAP. All the same, though, Paper Rival proved an interesting indie/emo group, ethereal but emboldened. Frontman Jacob Rolleston was a bizarre blur on stage, as unsure and unsteady with his hands as his characters are in his songs, but in a cool, rock star way. A decent amount of the band’s material came from the new-ish self-titled EP, such as “Alabama” and “A Fox in the Garden.” Passionate and powerful, if not a little lyrically ridiculous, Paper Rival shows great promise.
The room was abuzz with conversation after Paper Rival’s set; but once Enders, accompanied by his wife, Jenn, took to the stage, silence prevailed. Enders has always been charismatic and endearing, both onstage and off, and tonight was more of the same in the most entertaining of ways. With a smile and a nod, he began his hour-long set with a new track from his upcoming solo disc. Similar to the bluegrass/rock dynamic of Enders’ side project, I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business, the song was a perfect pop confection.
Enders would unveil two more new tunes, “From a Daze” and “Emergency,” throughout his set. But, for the most part, he stuck to his back catalog, performing tracks like “Hair” and “The Best Happiness Money Can Buy” with panache. Enders also provided anecdotes in between songs that were almost as entertaining as the songs themselves.
“Great story,” a fan said after one tale. “Speaking of stories, ‘Every Night's Another Story,’” he said, referencing TEN’s most popular song.
“You are correct,” Enders said, before stating that the song would not work in an acoustic form. Granted, that’s not true, as the tune does appear in acoustic form on The Early November’s The Acoustic EP, but Enders did serve up other old TEN songs like “I Want to Hear You Sad” and “Sunday Drive.” Other highlights in his set included “Salvi,” a song about Enders’ grandfather, who was in attendance, and set ender “Ever So Sweet.”
While Enders did not play an encore, he did pose for photos with fans. The artwork for the Ace Enders and a Million Different People album will consist of these pictures. Whether or not Enders will find a million other people for the record is debatable, but his set at the Trocadero Balcony that night was unquestionably a fine, intimate event.
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