Come for the party, stay for the music (and the party)

Seattle band Head Like a Kite has played Yakima enough over the past few years that at this point you kind of know what you're going to get -- frontman Dave Einmo whips the crowd into a frenzy, then shepherds them, like Pan, through a blur of rhythm and energy, dropping them out on the other side, sweaty and spent.

There will be dancing. There will be costumes. There will be, in other words, one hell of a party. And Einmo, alongside bandmate Trent Moorman and guests like rapper Tilson and electro-indie-funk compadre Graig Markel, will lead the march, playing electric guitar and presiding over the scene in his trademark feather boa.

"It's gotten to the point now where the boas don't last more than one show," Einmo says in a phone interview earlier this week.

And that should give you some indication of how raucous the Head Like a Kite shows -- to call them "parties" would be more accurate -- can get. But, while there is a sense of abandon at a Head Like a Kite performance, both on stage and in the crowd, there's also a sense that Einmo et al. remain at the helm.

"It's up to the performer to dictate what the vibe is, rather than wait for the crowd," he says. "What I do is try to energize that audience."

And he's a master at that. But to dismiss Head Like a Kite as just an energy-driven party band would give short shrift to how adventurous Einmo and company are musically. That such a genre-misfit could find a home at a major record label, as Head Like a Kite did with the November re-release of its album "Dreams Suspend Night" on Roll Call Records (an EMI imprint), indicates that there's more than just energy there. Indeed, the album, which Einmo previously self-released in April, is stellar. It's the third Head Like a Kite album, and it includes the usual list of collaborators. But it's less indie-rock and more dance driven, which has freed Einmo. More than anything, it sounds like Beck or Prince back when Beck and Prince were BECK and PRINCE.

The lyrics, too, exhibit an evolution for Head Like a Kite. They're playful as always but perhaps more introspective. The standout track, "We're Always On the Wrong Side of Sunrise," is a lament that sounds like a party anthem. Or a party anthem that sounds like a lament. It's alternately a warning against and a celebration of overdoing it on your nights out: "Shoulda stopped way before I got to this point/ But I been here before/ So I open the door/ Walk inside/ Knowing I'll leave something behind."

It was written on one of those days when Einmo and crew found themselves "still out drinking scotch" at 8 in the morning in Vegas.

"There was this realization: We gotta wake up the next morning and a video-shoot, no, a photo-shoot, in an hour and a half," he says. "We certainly got to that point where we said, 'OK, that wasn't the best idea.' But we never seem to learn from it."

Which is a relief, because much as we appreciate the moral complexity of the lyric, we in the audience want Head Like a Kite to be the party. We want Einmo to be the ringmaster, to be Pan.

As he puts it: "It's always New Year's Eve for Head Like a Kite."

That might sound contrived, but the way Einmo and Moorman and the rest generally end up mixing with the crowd, feeding it as well as feeding from it, makes it plain enough that they are not only running the party but participating. Yakima, in particular, has embraced the band for that very reason, something Einmo says he looks forward to on each return trip.

"In some ways, we have kind of a punk rock ethic in that -- obviously, we want to play our instruments as well as we can -- we want to interact with the crowd. ... What I like about the Yakima shows is, right out the gate, I feel like people are ready to embrace the whole party atmosphere," Einmo says.

Among those embracing the band at its early Yakima shows was Gabe Figgs, who for two years has owned New Yak City, the downtown skate-snowboard-apparel shop. Figgs has taken Head Like a Kite out on the town after its previous shows here, and now the band is returning the favor, playing at the New Yak City-sponsored Christmas Came Early concert tonight in the back rooms of The Seasons Performance Hall.

Doors open at 6 p.m. for that concert. Head Like a Kite goes on at 7 p.m., followed by hip-hop outfit Dyme Def, DJ Crime and DJ Databank. It's an all-ages show, though a bar area will be set up for those over 21. Tickets, available at New Yak City and Off the Record in Yakima and Mosaik in Ellensburg, cost just $4.

If there's a good turnout and things go well, Figgs says he plans to sponsor more shows in the future -- even though he doesn't expect to break even financially on this first one.

"We're eating quite a bit of (the cost)," he says. "The premise is to see if we can actually do the kind of events we want to do."

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.

If you go

WHAT: Head Like a Kite.

WHEN: 9 tonight.

WHERE: Yakima Sports Center, 214 E. Yakima Ave.

COST: $5

ONLINE: www.yakimasportscenter.com, www.headlikeakite.com

ALSO: Christmas Came Early party featuring Head Like a Kite, Dyme Def, DJ Crime and DJ Databank at 6 p.m. today at The Seasons, 101 N. Naches. Ave. Cost is $4.