Langhorne Slim at the Blind Tiger. (photo by Keith T. Barber)
Langhorne Slim, AKA Sean Scolnick,and his band the Law took the stage at the Blind Tiger around midnight on Sept. 23 as a capacity crowd roared its approval.
“Sit all day pissin’ away my time,” Scolnick belted out in the band’s opening number, “Back to the Wild.” “Lookin’ into a crystal ball and I don’t know why/ Livin’ too fast, to live too
long, and I don’t want to die/ but I don’t know yet where I belong.”
The upbeat number had the audience moving and grooving before the band launched into “Restless.” From the opening chord, Langhorne Slim fans sang along with the lyrics.
“I just don’t know what it is/ Just don’t know what it is to be free,” they sang in unison. Many of the band’s female fans clasped their hands together and gazed upon the stage with pure adoration.
The show hit its first peak as Scolnick and band mates Malachi D’Lorenzo (drums), Jeff Ratner (bass) and David Moore (keyboards & banjo) jammed to their hard-rockin’ number, “Honey P,” as Scolnick violently strummed his acoustic guitar.
Meanwhile, the Blind Tiger turned into a dance club as Langhorne Slim & the Law’s innovative style of rock and roll whipped the audience into a state of bliss. Then Scolnick and the band slowed things down a bit with their ballad “Collette.” Moore’s performance on the banjo brought a nice bluegrass feel to the song as Scolnick crooned.
Backstage before the performance, Scolnick graciously answered a reporter’s questions about the origins of Langhorne Slim & the Law. Born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Scolnick started playing guitar and piano at the age of 15. He never joined a band in high school and started his music career as a solo artist. He took the name “Langhorne Slim” as a tribute to such blues legends as Lead Belly.
“These guys had just really cool names,” Scolnick said. “Even though I’m from the suburbs of Philly and white, I thought I should do something similar.”
The show transitioned to a rock and roll performance as Scolnick strapped on his electric guitar midway through the performance.
Scolnick and his band mates kept the energy level up, and the young lead singer pushed his vocal chords to the limit, at times shouting lyrics rather than singing them, much to the audience’s delight.
As the show wound to a close, the band eased into its marathon version of the song “Mary” and then wrapped up with a couple of heartfelt ballads, including, “Blown your mind.” The audience danced, clapped and roared its approval as Scolnick and his band mates took their final bow. Scolnick gave a heartfelt thanks to the audience and bid Langhorne Slim fans adieu “We tour about eight or nine months out of the year and that’s been for at least five or six years,” Scolnick said. “North Carolina has been a really great state for us throughout the years of touring.”
“With our band, it’s been just a slow build, a slow progression so I feel that the people who are interested in us and do follow us are there because they’re really into it,” he continued.
The good news for Langhorne Slim devotees is the band is getting ready to head into the studio to record its fourth album. Scolnick said this album should have a much more collaborative feel than the first three records.
“It seems much more like a band experience and a group experience,” he said. “This time, I feel like the songs are coming to life altogether.”
