How it grew from two acoustic singers to a full-blown revue — or a "pornival," as Lazar calls it — makes more sense when you add in that Sickert is also a visual artist (the fantasy-inspired line drawings on their CDs and posters are his), that Edrie ran an art collective in Cambridge, and that both had creative friends who wanted to get into the act. "When the numbers grew, it just became like a baby's head growing," says Sickert. "Our fontanelle just fell into shape."
It also didn't take long to figure that writing self-pitying break-up songs was far less fun than, say, singing about a convicted robber shouting abuse to the crowd as he makes his way to the gallows (that would be "Sam Hall," a song Sickert learned from a Johnny Cash record). Or a twisted codependency song like "Heroin Pig," the closest thing to a love ballad on last year's Steamship Killers. Sickert now finds himself writing songs that sound almost like alternative rock — "So I put a stand-up bass in them before it's too late." He's also working on a set of songs about a radio transmission from the Apocalypse. "I'd say it was a musical. But that might make you think of Cats, and we can't have that."
WALTER SICKERT & THE ARMY OF BROKEN TOYS + ROB POTYLO + CASEY DESMOND + SECOND DAY VENOM | T.T. the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge | February 10 @ 8:30 pm | 18+ | $8 | 617.492.0082 or ttthebears.com
Related:
Blackshaw's good vibrations, Teddy Thompson becomes his own man, Photos: 2012 Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Prelim Round Night #5, More 
- Blackshaw's good vibrations
Blackshaw's low-key career has evolved as organically as one of his songs: at 28, the Londoner has amassed a body of instrumental guitar music that defies tidy categorization. What he does isn't really folk, jazz, or new age — and it's far too accessible to be mistaken for avant-garde.
- Teddy Thompson becomes his own man
Sometimes a writer winces at the thought of having to ask the obvious but necessary question. So I'm grateful to Teddy Thompson for answering before I can even ask.
- Photos: 2012 Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Prelim Round Night #5
The Bynars + Bow Thayer & Perfect Trainwreck + Brownboot + Pray for Polanski at T.T. the Bear's' Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Prelim Round #5, Friday, April 6, 2012.
- Photos: 2012 Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Prelim Round #6
The Grinds + Sherman Burns + Motherboar + Streight Angular at T.T. the Bear's' Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Prelim Round #6, Saturday, April 7, 2012.
- Photos: Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Semi-Finals Night #1
Thick Shakes + Bow Thayer & Perfect Trainwreck + Cask Mouse + Motherboar played T.T. the Bear's Place Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Semi-Finals Night #1, Thursday, April 12, 2012.
- Photos: Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Semi-Finals Night #2
Sherman Burns + Garvy J + Ghosts of Jupiter + The Rationales played during T.T. the Bear's Place Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Semi-Finals Night #2, Friday, April 13th, 2012.
- Photos: Rock 'n' Roll Rumble Finals
Bow Thayer and the Perfect Trainwreck, Garvy J, Motherboar, and the Grown Up Noise compete at the finals for the Rock n' Roll Rumble at T.T. the Bear's Place on April 20, 2012.
- Out: Bow Thayer remains Perfect in the 2012 Rock 'n' Roll Rumble
When Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck were announced as the 2012 Rock 'n' Roll Rumble champions, I wondered what the judges were smoking, and where I could get some.
- The folk battlecry of Bryan McPherson
There's no shame in baring your soul for the pleasant old folkees who haunt open mic nights at your favorite independent coffee shop.
- Amy Allen travels to Neptune
There were a couple directions Amy Allen could have taken to follow up her 2010 pop-lovely debut EP, Honey, released just as she headed off to the big city for college.
- Homegrown trans rocker Evan Greer keeps her music political
Last month, when Tommy Gabel of Against Me! announced via Rolling Stone that she's transgender (and will now go by Laura Jane Grace), I immediately wondered what Evan Greer might be thinking.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Somerville, T.T. The Bear's Place, T.T. the Bear's, More
, Somerville, T.T. The Bear's Place, T.T. the Bear's, folk, Cabaret, music feature, Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, Less
