Solid Gold get wild

Solid Gold come across as serious musicians. They're more the type to wear jeans and a t-shirt than suits a la Interpol or Franz Ferdinand, yet they are clearly very visually-oriented. Keyboardist/guitarist Matt Locher designs and screen-prints their own hyper-cool t-shirts (available for purchase at their Myspace page), and his brother Bryant contributes his lo-fi yet brilliantly-designed light boxes and neon tube lights to the band's staging. They're the ultimate DIY-ers while maintaining a high-design aesthetic.

[Image by Alex Uncather for Vita.mn]

Last weekend's show at the Minnesota Zoo was no exception. Inspired by the unconventional surroundings provided by the Zoo's outdoor Amphitheater, the band took a decidedly less-serious look, coming onstage in hoodies (screen-printed with the Solid Gold logo, natch) with various stuffed animal heads attached to the top. Slide guitarist Shon Troth told me after the show that it was Matt's idea. "He asked the band, 'What is your spirit animal?' Apparently, mine is an elephant." Onstage, frontman Zach Coulter attributed the animal heads thusly: "We tried to get live animals onstage. They wouldn't let us. So we had to make our own animals." My favorite was Matt's Teddy Ruxpin that was custom-fit with flashing neon lights:

[Image via Mossipblog.com]

[Image via Mossipblog.com]

[Image by Alex Uncather for Vita.mn]

Check out their video for "Biblethumper":



Check out the full gallery of images from the show at Vita.mn.