What mae is doing for their fellow man

Soft rock band, Mae, out of Virginia Beach, VA has more on their minds than just putting on a good show. They have taken up the cause of Habitat for Humanity. After every show this current tour, the band has played an acoustic set which sole purpose has been to raise extra donated money for the organization. After the tour the money will be pooled together and used for the band to build a house. Monday night’s show would not be any different.A multi-sensory aesthetic experience, that is exactly what Monday night’s show at The Door in Dallas was from cool rock band Mae.With a crowd of about 200 head-nodding teenagers Mae put on a show that was an absolute delight not only to the ears but a flashing light picture show adventure for the eyes as well. Although most of the crowd may have thought the majority of songs were from their newest album Singularity in August 2007,the set was rich with songs from former albums as well.Opening with a crowd favorite, “Embers and Envelopes” from their 2003 release Destination: Beautiful, Mae started a show that would not be soon forgotten. On the backdrop began a barrage of images like that from a kaleidoscope and then transitioned into a home video like collage of film clips.As the show progressed the crowed, who for the bands prior had only been nodding their heads to the beat began to show signs of life with dancing and jumping with the music. The girls and guys with long hair were flinging it around to show that they were quite in tune with the atmosphere of the show. The home video film clips would turn into time lapsed clips of driving down the road with signs and cars flashing by. Toward the middle of the show, the audience seemed to have really connected with the vibe of the band with swaying and singing along, accompanying the jumping and nodding. It was easy to pick out the die-hard fans from the rest because they were singing along to every song and making facial expressions to show their passion toward the emotion of the songs. Standing in the front looking back, it also was easy to point out the number of guys who had made the trip to Dallas to take their girlfriends to see the show as they spent the entire concert hugged up against their dates as thought they wanted the show to be over to reap the brownie points for their efforts. After a good bit into the show, lead singer Dave Elkins promoted the acoustic set benefiting Habitat for Humanity that would follow that night’s performance. Elkins also let the crowd know that at the acoustic set, fans would be able to request songs for them to perform. It was then when a male fan from the crowd cried out, “I’ll crap my pants if you guys play ‘Tisbury Lane’,” to which Elkins replied, “Well, we don’t want that happening!” After a little laughter the performance continued.Toward the end of the set, it was apparent the toll that the night as well as the tour had taken on Elkins’ vocal range. That’s not to say the sound equipment couldn’t have been better, but all in all the vocal diffusion did not take away from the show.Instead of going out with a bang, Mae decided to end the show with the softly sung ballad, aptly named, “Goodbye, Goodnight.” The fans sang along until the very end and then Elkins reminded them of the soon-to-come acoustic set, then said goodnight.Band members Dave Elkins, Gehring, and Jacob Marshall then slowed the tempo down for a small group of fans and took their requests to hear songs not played in their regular set.Zack Gehring, lead guitarist, mentioned that a big inspiration to him as well as the band is the opportunity to be creative. And with the opportunity given to be creative to such a wide audience, there comes some sense of responsibility to give back.That is why Mae has been doing acoustic sets at all of their shows this tour to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. They felt like it was their duty as a band with the platform they are given that they needed to give back as well as get the message out.”Habitat for Humanity is different because we’re using it to send us somewhere since we have a platform to do something about it. It’s a way to connect with fans at a different level,” lead guitarist, Gehring said.