Masters Preach And Teach At Cafe Nine

New Haven was experiencing its third night in a row of torrential rain, and the streets were pretty quiet for a Thursday, but the sounds inside of Cafe Nine more than made up for the gray and gloom surrounding it. Presented by Please Kill Me, a website based around the works of authors Legs McNeil and Gilllan McCain and dedicated to culture and entertainment, from music and art to books and movies, the night’s inaugural show featured the debut of a local band and a return of a legend.

First to the stage was the New Haven-based Killer Kin, in their first show ever. It was the first time performing for guitarist Chloe Rose Klimczak, who along with Brendan Toller on guitar, Dan Soto on bass, Chris Parisi on drums, and Mattie on lead vocals, put on a performance that would not have let on to anyone that this was their debut.

The music was tight and the mayhem was refreshing. Mattie coaxed the crowd along as he jumped off the stage and made his way through the audience, seemingly never not in motion. He physically embodied the onslaught of rhythm and guitar. This band had a blast, and the crowd went along with them. Songs like ​“Bad Bad Mind,” ​“Born Too Loose,” and ​“Long Haired Woman” — which Mattie said he wrote about Klimczak — felt fresh yet familiar. When Mattie asked the crowd if they were going to dance, he didn’t wait for an answer. He simply jumped off stage and started moving with them, including a dance with this reporter (I don’t have any pictures of that; sorry). Afterward the band told me that they would be recording the songs, all written by Klimczak and Mattie, in a month, and they were looking forward to booking more shows.

The next band took to the stage without their leader Tav Falco, but he slowly made his way up there, parting the crowd like rock ​‘n’ roll royalty. Falco and the Unapproachable Panther Burns are celebrating 40 years of tearing up stages everywhere they go, and last night was no exception. Falco was the consummate entertainer as he sang, played guitar, and danced his way through over an hour’s worth of bluesy rockabilly fun. He was part poet, part preacher, and in command of it all. When he sang ​“burn, burn, burn,” it actually felt like Cafe Nine got hotter. With songs like ​“Master of Chaos” and ​“Jungle Fever,” Falco and his band played the kind of rock ​‘n’ roll that you feel with every part of you. The bass and drums shook your bones. The guitars made you sway like a snake being charmed. The audience members ate it up as Falco and the band thanked them all repeatedly, even inviting Klimczak from Killer Kin up to the stage to sing along with them. It was a testament to the enduring attraction of this kind of music, its ability to captivate and carry the audience along with it. Killer Kin knew, as the band stayed front and center for Falco and Panther Burns’s entire set, dancing and singing along.

“I’m taking notes,” Soto told me as Falco shimmied across the stage. As he should, for the best are there to not only entertain us, but teach us.

At the end, Falco jumped off the stage while the band continued to play, once again parting the crowd, and sauntered off to the back of the bar where his fans eventually followed. A legend.

Falco and Panther Burns continue touring through next week. For more information please visit his website. Killer Kin updates can be found on both their Facebook and Instagram pages.