Photo by Alex Herzog.
Her teeth draw me in – the wild unhinged smile both demonic and friendly that brings joy to my heart whenever Dani Miller takes the stage. Teeth are suppose to say hello and be nice but then when some are missing and the eyes are opened a little too wide you think maybe the smile is there because they’re going to kill you. Dani’s definitely happy, it’s just not clear why.
But then I overcome my fear and stay for her growly vocal stylings: she sounds like a cross between Darby Crash and a demented prom queen. Her convulsive dance moves and her outfits are always great and tonight is no exception. She throws her pink sparkle-fringed cowboy hat to the floor during the first song and lets her hair flail wildly with her ponytail necklace and giant star earrings. Her bright orange eyes sing like a siren’s serenade. After a few songs she wades through the wall of cameras to reach the truth of the pit. The gentle people there hoist her aloft and then carry her back to the stage, where she is comforted by mud-covered Ruby Aldridge of Diet Choke.
Behind her Sean Powell beats the living snot out of the drums while Alex Kilgore and David Head Jr. open up a twin-barrel guitar attack. If riffs are bullets every photographer in Brooklyn is dead now.
The show is to celebrate the release of their new 7” Bort to Death, which has my favorite Surfbort sing-along song on it, “Hideaway” (“The judge told me to stay away/ 500 yards or I’d have to pay/ I seem to love you more each day/ la la la la la la la”). The EP is great, the band is great, and singing along with a maniac is a lovely way to spend an evening.
