Beechwood at Berlin

Guitarist Gordon Lawrence and drummer Isa Tineo met through a common hobby, skateboarding, but playing music together was what solidified the friendship in 2012. Lawrence was born in Manhattan, grew up in Leonia, New Jersey, and now lives in Manhattan again; when he was eight years old his dad taught him a couple of chords on an acoustic guitar and by the time he was 11 he was jamming those two chords on an electric guitar to Ramones albums. Tineo was born in Queens and raised in New Jersey, where he met Lawrence; his father sang in the Beatnuts, and the youth sat at his dad's drums and learned to keep a rhythm. Bassist Sid Simons was born in Sydney, Australia, and moved to Brooklyn when he was 12. The band Beechwood is named after the street where Lawrence lived and where the band started rehearsing. Beechwood released its third album, Inside the Flesh Hotel, on June 8, 2018.

When Beechwood came on stage at Berlin tonight, Lawrence and Simons looked like androgynous models preparing for a fashion shoot, and Tineo looks like the tattooed guy who was going to steal your car while the others distracted you. Once the trio started rocking, however, Beechwood was all about high-energy rock and roll with garage-style simplicity and raw, sweaty bravado, Beechwood carved a sound that was as charming as it was rudely aggressive. At times the songs seemed to start with inspiration from 1960s pop, but by the time they reached the bridge, they transformed into basic, humming chords that hammered the glam start into a gritty groove that borrowed from British punk and shoegaze. Beechwood has a unique, drilling sound that could take the band far.