Stacy DuPree and Darren King of Sucre perform at Houston's Fitzgerald's Live. Deanna Mendoza/www.sevensixtyeight.com
When Sucre made their Texas debut last Sunday in Houston at Fitzgerald’s, the best part of the whole show for me may have happened before the band even took the stage.
And no, I’m not talking about Houston’s own The Ton Ton’s opening. But while we’re on the subject, if you live in Houston and you’ve never seen or heard the Ton Ton’s, then what exactly have you been doing with your life? The four-piece has some great songs and an even greater stage presence, thanks to lead singer Asli Omar. Her perfect afro is a monument. Her style is killer. And when she performs she does a lot of dancing with her hands while she sings, so it’s like part interpretive dance-performance art, part rock show. It’s impossible to stand still with The TonTon’s — they’re a good time.
But before they took the stage, I spotted Chauntelle DuPree, guitarist of Eisley, supporting her sister in the audience. Since Chauntelle is literally the sweetest most approachable person, I started up a conversation as we both anxiously waited to take in our first Sucre show. I mentioned how I had been to Sherri’s solo show a couple months ago, as well. “Now, your solo show is next!” I said, referencing a solo project Chauntelle had hinted at some time ago, but hadn’t mentioned since.
Here’s the scoop: Chauntelle promises it’s definitely going to happen, but the catch is she’s not giving this project a timeline. That’s because she doesn’t want any added pressure or distractions from putting everything into working on Eisley’s fourth full-length album.
This is huge news when you take into account that Chauntelle hasn’t done main vocals for Eisley in years. Hearing her sing more than a chorus these days is a rare event, and fans pretty much lose their shit whenever she does. Basically she said for a long time she was scared to sing, but she’s tired of being scared.
But that’s not all − she also dropped this bomb on me: she has written two songs that will be on Eisley’s next record. Since Stacy and Sherri DuPree are Eisley’s songwriters, I jokingly asked how they felt about this. Unsurprisingly, she said they were completely supportive and encouraged her to write. Eisley starts working on their next album this month.
As we talked I noticed the audience turnout left much to be desired. I might blame this on poor advertising, considering a friend of mine who I ran into at the show told me she actually had no idea Sucre was in town until she saw me spamming my review of A Minor Bird online hours before the show. Hmm, I’m thinking I should be on Sucre’s payroll.
Stacy DuPree seduces the Houston crowd. Deanna Mendoza/www.sevensixtyeight.com
The good news is that as the main act started, Fitzgerald’s did significantly start to fill up with more people. For this show Stacy DuPree, Jeremy Larson and Darren King were joined on stage by a French horn player as the only additional accompaniment. Yes, it was kind of a bum out for me that they hadn’t decided to travel with a full string section of an orchestra, but I quickly got over that.
Of course something is lost from the record when you don’t have those beautiful live accompaniments, but the band made the absolute best of it. Don’t misunderstand me, just because it was a little different doesn’t mean it was bad.
I think DuPree’s entrancing vocals alone may have been enough “magic” to make it work. But couple that with King’s insane percussion work and then add in Larson’s talented multitasking skills on the keyboard, guitar, and even some additional percussion. Finally, sprinkle in those big brass sounds coming in compliments of the French horn. Are you starting to see what I mean?
Sucre played the entirety of their debut album A Minor Bird, with the only exception of “The Cliff Waltz.” The 10-song set meant the show itself was very concentrated, and surprisingly there was no encore. Part of me expected the trio to throw in their cover of Stevie Nicks’ Silver Springs, the first project they worked on together which spearheaded the idea to start the band.
Even with her family band, Dupree has always seemed shy on stage. She holds minimal interaction with the audience and for much of her performance her eyes are closed. If you see this as rude, you’re wrong. The reason she does this may be because she is trying to create an atmosphere musically. She wants her audience to stay focused and keep a steady balanced mood so her music has even more dynamic in that sense.
For you romantics out there, the most adorable moment of the night came when Dupree introduced “Persuasion” as the song she had written for her husband, King. “Yeah. It’s my favorite song,” King said smiling. As she sang “With your very sweet persuasion/I couldn’t dream you up,” King sat behind his drums watching her in the sweetest way. The love was very palpable that night.
That should come as no surprise, especially after the couple announced this week some very big news – they’re expecting.