Emo kids, guys in kilts, awesome music: A night at the Enchanted Forest

~OFF intern and Southeast Missouri outsider had a task last month -- go to the Enchanted Forest and tell us what you see. Here's the result.

Nestled in an upstairs room accessible from an easily overlooked doorway off Broadway, the St. Louis post-hardcore band Sophomore turn up the gain on their amps and kick off their set at The Enchanted Forest, Cape Girardeau's best local music venue for minors.

The Forest is set up like the ideal teenage bedroom. In one room the band plays with an open space for the sizable crowd to huddle around, while the next room offers several worn couches and a pool table amid artwork and band posters on the wall. It's the perfect blend of music venue and hangout spot.

After a short 30-minute set, Sophomore certainly looked the rock n' roll part but sonically did not pull it all off. In their place, the next act, local emo band Catatonic wheel their gear in with astonishing haste.

During this lull as the crowd fragments into separate groups, I find out the Enchanted Forest is in the same location that American Legion's Teentown was held some 50 years ago, where high schoolers would get together and dance on the weekends. Today, the Enchanted Forest resembles a strange reincarnation of Teentown, where kids look like blossoming hipsters rather than aspiring football stars.

Through the idle chatter in the room, Catatonic frontman Lance Ferell, sporting a Conor Oberst style haircut, charismatically beckons everyone into the playing room, where he starts the band into their set with some extraordinary emotional wailing.

The music being played also reflects this generational shift, offering the more alternative and experimental music you won't see drunks swinging their beers to at the bars on Main Street. Without the Forest, such interesting touring acts like opener Brooklyn UK, an art-punk band from Memphis, would not be welcome in Cape Girardeau.

"The Enchanted Forest is really a blessing for young people," says Brooklyn UK vocalist Brandon Jazz, "Where I'm from, shows like this would normally take place in random house basements, usually when the parents were out of town."

Enchanted Forest owner Mike Seabaugh knows this about young musicians -- how difficult it is for them to find places to practice and hang out. He has three sons who are in bands, one who is singing for last act emo/progressive rock powerhouse Fists of Phoenix.

For him, its all about the music and the kids. There is only a meager $5 cover charge at the door for five hours of music, and bottled water is sold for an insanely inexpensive price of 50 cents, especially for a music venue. This leaves enough money for the kids to support the music, if they so desire, by purchasing T-shirts and CDs, displayed artfully along a string of tables in the front room.

Brooklyn UK's merch guy Travis, a friend of the band who is tagging along for the adventure, adds that bands always get more support from all-age venues, probably since the alcohol at bars eats up the spending money of the patrons. Here, there's no alcohol or smoking, and a team of uniformed security men are always patrolling around, enforcing the substance ban and breaking up moshings that get too out of hand.

Between sets, a big chunk of the crowd gathers outside to escape the stifling and sweat-filled air. Some go out for gas station snacks and some are even inspired to venture down to Shivelbines to drool over the guitars in the storefront, likely dreaming of when they will one day be fronting a band.

The inspiring nature of the Enchanted Forest is an added perk that Catatonic singer Lance Ferell comments on in a shy manner, only 30 minutes after rocking the crowd to a cover of Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name."

"This kind of music scene really hasn't existed until recently," says Cape Girardeau native Ferell. "The Enchanted Forest really has brought out this crowd from all over into one place and has made it more popular."

And quite an eclectic crowd it is, I think to myself, as I go back up the stairs to find the instrumental progressive rock band featuring an electric fiddle Think Thank Thunk jamming away. Some boys standing around the band are wearing girls' jeans, while a whole assortment of band T-shirts can be noticed, all together enjoying the same music, from classics like Zeppelin and The Clash to newer groups like Arctic Monkeys and Underoath. Thirteen and 14 year olds scamper about as older legal age adults sink towards the back of the room.

Then, of course there is the strange man in the kilt wearing a "Ghost in the Shell" shirt, while a guy sporting a shirt with the ironic message "Myspace Ruined My Life" socially swims through the various clusters of people. The crowd is just as worth seeing as the musical acts who perform for them.

In this way, the Enchanted Forest also provides kids a very valuable place to first experience live music, seasoning them to enjoy the larger college venues more where the big time indie acts visit. In addition, the breadth of music that is welcome at the Forest allows kids to be exposed to new styles and bands.

And for those who are interested and committed, the Forest gives the rookie local bands priceless experience in doing a gig and networking with other bands.

Catatonic has been playing the Cape Girardeau area for the past couple of years, and next year are planning on setting up a regional tour. Finally, the last act, local group Fists of Phoenix, starts their sound check. A large banner proclaiming their name hangs in the back, and their CD is proudly featured on the wall. An unbridled excitement previously unseen throughout the evening brims from the audience.

And they totally delivered! Layering a psychedelic, cosmic soundscape over the air with hard riffs intertwined with shattering guitar fills, Fists of Phoenix rocked the place without a bassist, ending a great night of music on a high note.