What a difference a new singer can mean to a band. When Shiny Toy Guns’ singer/keyboardist Carah Faye Charnow left/quit the band earlier in the year, there was a public outcry on message boards. Enter new singer Sisely Treasure, a longtime friend of STG’s, who stepped in to join the band and record vocals on their upcoming second album, Season of Poison. Probably due to Treasure’s brush with reality TV on Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For The Next Doll, sentiment among fans was guarded and expectations low. On their first NYC in over a year, the foursome tore through a set of hits from their ubiquitous debut, We Are Pilots, opening with the urgent electro-rock of “Starts With One.” Amid a barrage of blinding strobe lights and smoke, Treasure sauntered onto the stage and used the duration of the show to confirm she is twice the presence of the band’s former singer. Sometimes jogging in place while she sang, other times strutting like a diva, she was often poised right at the front of the stage—something her predecessor was loath to do. When she belted out new single “Ricochet!,” articulating every single lyric, a throng of Jersey/Long Island teenyboppers poised by the front of the stage were jumping in unison with her. The finale was an obvious bookend: a rousing rendition of their mega-hit, “You Are the One,” and it was good to see everyone remembered the song’s lyrics. Though their set began and ended with old hits, Shiny Toy Guns have turned a page on their career. At last they can finally concentrate on their next chapter.
Words & images: Darren Ressler
Sisely is horrible.
Sisely is horrible.