Live Review: Make Out rocked The Mercury Lounge

Danish music veteran Jesper Mortensen and New York upstart Leah Hennessey brought their glam-punk rock band Make Out to The Mercury Lounge on December 16 and the results were very promising. Capably assisted by band mates Anders Christiansen on bass and Olivia Aliminiana on drums, the thrash, bash and pop quartet delighted a dancing, animated and sometimes moshing audience that included non other than NY Doll David Johansen. Hennessey confidently took command of center stage, while brains-behind-the-project Mortensen slashed pop chords and harmonized to the lyrics he wrote. The band just released the single "I Don’t Want Anybody That Wants Me", which finds Leah singing with a sneer in her voice about being on the prowl to "find a lover tonight," only to petulantly reject all interested parties. Jesper’s four chord chorus (and primary hook) precisely marks out the vocal melody as Anders strong bass line is punctuated by Olivia’s sharp percussive accents. Their debut EP is due out February 2011. Dave Cromwell