Eons, Rocky Mountain District, Banned Books, Rollersnakes and Hot Lava @ the Red Room (5/13/13)

A press release that I received piqued my interest in this show.  A band who makes "beautifully damaged avant-pop music" and opened for Deerhoof, tUnE-yArDs and Delicate Steve?  Sounded like they'd be worth a shot at least.  Also, I'd never seen Hot Lava before and wanted to see how Rollersnakes struck me a second time around.

There were about fifteen people at the Red Room when I arrived.  I don't think that the audience ever rose above twenty for the entire night.  So it goes on a Monday, I guess.

Hot Lava kicked off the night's music.  This young local band sounded a little stiff here and there--their lead singer admitted that they hadn't played in a while--but overall, they got a more than decent groove going.  They had plenty of other stuff going for them too: well-crafted songs, chugging bass, charging beats, rousing riffs.  I guess you could call them pop-punk, but that doesn't sound quite right.  Power-pop, maybe?  Halfway between late-seventies punk and early-eighties "new wave"?  In any case, good stuff.

Rollersnakes played next.  Their fuzzy guitar, bashing drums and unvarnished vocals proved every bit as enjoyable as they did at last January's Rich Hands show.  Probably more, actually, since I could reflect on just how sharp their riffs and tunes are.  Also, while they still seemed a little shy, they looked and sounded more comfortable and confident than I remembered.

Up next was Banned Books.  I was tempted to call this Philadelphia group what Deerhoof might sound like once the Blue Fairy turns them into a real band, but that's a touch too snarky and not entirely accurate besides.  Still, their jerky, lurching grooves called Deerhoof to mind, and their robust rapport and smoothly crooned vocals topped them.  I don't know how Deerhoof fans would feel about their gleefully ear-wrenching guitar and synthesizer.  Me, I liked them fine.  The meager crowd seemed to as well: almost everyone stayed close to the stage for the duration of the set.

After Banned Books came Rocky Mountain District, the first of two Utah hardcore bands who got added to the bill at the last minute (a gig at the Shredder had apparently fallen through due to some scheduling mix-up).  This may be the only hardcore band I've heard where the silence around the tumult resonated as powerfully as the tumult itself.  Not that this duo's frantic drums, bipolar guitar and howled vocals weren't respectably tortured and furious.  It's just that their penchant for ominous, ambient drones and the spaces in their spare sound gave the music a fascinating screaming-into-the-cold-void feel.  Arty, brooding, lonesome stuff.

Eons closed out the night.  This quintet's sound was more straight-ahead melodic hardcore than Rocky Mountain District's: relentless rhythms, raging guitars, bellowed vocals.  They concentrated most of their power in the bass and drums, however, and their limber groove helped win me over.  It was also nice that they didn't feel the need to show off their chops too much.  Seemed like awfully nice guys as well: they joked around a bit, thanked the audience more than a few times (particularly the Boise friend who'd helped them get this gig), urged people to support Banned Books and movingly disclosed how one song was inspired by a close friend killing himself (condolences to lead singer Matt Wiley).

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Wes Malvini and the Red Room.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 could go a long way.

Caspian, Native and Ditch Tiger @ the Red Room (3/7/13)

This show caught my interest because it featured three bands I'd never seen before, two of them from out of state.  Then I read up a little on Caspian and got even more interested.  They've been making a name for themselves--European tour, SXSW gig, album review in Spin, stuff like that.  This show started to look like one of those deals where the band plays some small venue one year and then plays someplace like the Knitting Factory the next.

I counted something like twenty-five people when I arrived at the Red Room.  When Caspian played, I counted a little over fifty.  Modest, but not bad.

Local band Ditch Tiger opened the show.  Usually, I don't care for screamo-ish metal/hardcore, but these guys proved an exception.  It helped a lot that their pounding riffs, intertwining guitar lines, snaking basslines and rumbling drums emphasized groove over preening melodrama.  You could've even danced at a few points.  Their barking vocals didn't seem to fit the music sometimes, but I imagine that they'll work that out (not at the expense of the groove, hopefully).  As for the sound as a whole, it was good and loud but not so much so that any instruments drowned out the others.

Up next was Native.  Here was surprise number two of the night.  This Indiana band's howled vocals, pulverizing chords and machine-gun drumming managed to be dramatic but not overbearing.  The trick, I think, lay in how their bass sounded more thunderous than their clean, ringing guitars.  This enabled them to infuse their raw power with an agreeable lightness and airiness.  Similarly, while their stage act was as fierce as you could've wanted (lunging back and forth, swinging instruments like weapons, big lights flashing when the vocals came in), their joy and gratitude came through strongest: they thanked the audience at length for showing them love on 1) their first time in Boise and 2) their first tour in a long time.

Caspian closed out the night.  If somebody ever makes a film adaptation of Dante's Paradiso, he/she should hire these guys to score it.  This Massachusetts band's soothing drones, driving beats, guiding basslines, whirring distortion and chiming/roaring guitars were by turns ominous and rousing, turbulent and serene.  Their assured playing and unfailing sense of drama kept the audience enraptured for the entire set.  Like a waking dream.  Highly recommended to fans of Talkdemonic and Red Hands Black Feet.

A nice little aside: I glanced over to the sound booth at one point and saw Blake Green (Wolvserpent) nodding gently to the beat.  Skill recognizes skill.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Wes Malvini, Evil Wine and the Red Room.

Negative Approach, Bad Antics, Raid and 1d @ the Venue; Sun Blood Stories and Ronnie and the Reagans @ the High Note Cafe (2/15/13)

I was seriously pumped for this show when I first heard about it.  Initially, the headliner was OFF!, the current project of former Black Flag/Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris.  Then word spread that they had canceled the gig due to health issues and that tickets would be refunded.  That bummed me out in a big way.  Not long afterwards, however, I received word that the other acts on the bill would still play.  Since a couple folks whose taste in music I respect were more excited to see Negative Approach than OFF! anyway (they've got a pretty impressive history too), I said what the hell and headed over to the Venue.

I only counted about twenty people in the crowd when I arrived.  That number would build to about fifty-six or fifty-seven as the night progressed.  Not the number that would've turned out for Keith Morris, I imagine, but respectable enough.

Local hardcore band 1d opened the show.  Their buzzing and squealing guitar, their rumbling basslines and their flailing drums all sounded sharper here than they did at the Rich Hands show.  Nonetheless, their yelping-dog vocals, manic stage presence and haphazardly constructed songs still felt too rote and received.  Granted, it's a bit unfair to ask a bunch of teenagers to have all their crap figured out.  Also, the fact that they're getting out there and doing something like this is probably a good in itself.  Maybe I'm just getting cranky and impatient in my old age.

Local band Raid played next.  See?  I'm not that hard to please.  It's enough for me if you at least create the impression of coherence.  I caught exactly one lyric out of this entire set: "I WON'T GO QUIET!"  They weren't howling Dixie there.  But anyway, the solid rapport between their buzzsaw guitar, twangy bass and rampaging drums persuaded me that the songs would make sense with the volume turned down.  It helped too that their songs showed some sturdy construction and that their lead singer could bellow loud enough and clear enough that I could kinda make out the words.

Bad Antics, a four-piece outfit from Placentia, CA (it's to the northeast of Anaheim), played next.  I thought about describing Raid as hyperkinetic, but then I heard these guys and figured I oughtta save the adjective for them.  This band's piercing scream, furious drums, greased-lightning bass and face-melting guitar called to mind Motorhead's joyous relentlessness.  With all his strutting and hair flailing, their lead singer showed enough energy for two mortal frontmen.  The crowd matched him pretty well even if some of the folks in the moshpit started to wilt near the end.  Oh, and in case you were wondering what the lead singer's face looks like...

You're welcome.

Negative Approach closed out the night.  This old-school hardcore act didn't fool much with your standard jerky tempo shifts.  Maybe they figured that that crap would dilute their rage.  The only thing more fearsome than frontman John Brannon's slit-eyed glower was his blood-curdling growl.  His bandmates backed him up with some machine-gun drumming and yowling guitar noise.  As brutal and unyielding as their music was, however, they still managed to work in some tunes and a groove.  The crowd became a maelstrom of moshing, roaring and crowd-surfing during this set.  Brannon seemed to express his approval with a curt nod. Coming from him, that was downright heartwarming.

After Negative Approach wrapped up, I swung by the High Note Cafe to see if I could catch part of the show there.  I counted over fifty people, which made this far and away the best-attended show that I've seen at this place.  I managed to catch the tail end of Idaho Falls band Ronnie and the Reagans' set.  What I heard sounded pretty good: an arty, slightly skewed take on blues, folk and country.  Have to watch out for these guys in the future.

Sun Blood Stories played next.  The body heat was all-consuming as the enraptured crowd hollered and grooved to the hot molasses of the band's blues-rock.  The strobe light flickering behind the band added to the set's psychedelic feel.  Primal, sexy stuff.  Prophetic too--I just know that this is what it's gonna be like at Treefort.

photo by Keesha Renna

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.

Diluted, Mr. Gutsy, Rogue Gallery and Mind Shoes @ the Red Room (2/13/13)

Having finally popped my Built to Spill cherry on Monday, I decided that I should get back to checking out some lesser known bands.  This show seemed to be just what the doctor ordered: it featured four bands I'd never even heard of before.  They were all locals to boot.

As I drove down to the Red Room this night, I wondered if everybody was gonna be over at Neurolux watching the third of BTS's back-to-back shows.  Happily, I counted about thirty-five people when I arrived, most of whom stuck around for the whole concert.

New group Mind Shoes kicked off the night's music.  This was their first gig ever, and it showed.  Their lead singer spent most of the set with her fingers in her ears and her face a nervous blank.  Meanwhile, her bandmates stayed mostly on beat but never quite came together to form a cohesive whole.  Once they get more confident and comfortable, however, this group is gonna rawk.  Their songs fused grinding blues-based metal with jerky post-punk artiness and came bedecked with sultry vocals, fluid basslines, unassumingly intricate drumwork and shredding guitar solos.  I'll definitely keep an eye out for this band.

Next up was Rogue Gallery.  These guys liked them some old-school rock star swagger.  Frontman Scott Sweet strutted around and spent a good chunk of time standing at the very edge of the stage, guitar fully erect and vertical.  At least they had the music to back this stuff up.  Their thunderous riffs, fiery solos and lumbering grooves supported their catchy, well-schooled original songs and earned some roaring applause from the crowd.  They may have sounded a little ramshackle, but for the most part, that just added to this set's hang-loose appeal.  Until they tighten up some, however, they might want to rethink that "Pride and Joy" cover.

Mr. Gutsy played next.  If you're gonna name your hardcore/metal group something like Mr. Gutsy, you're probably gonna have a pretty good sense of humor.  Such was the case with this group, whose plodding tempos, brutal riffing and guttural, yelped vocals brought a grin to my face in spite of my ingrained distaste for this kind of stuff.  I mean, c'mon--how can you resist titles like "Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em" and banter like, "I just wrote this song yesterday, don't know what to call it yet"?  A handful of dudes got their mosh on during this set and collided like bumper cars.  Frontman Collin Wilkinson apparently got socked in the mouth, but he didn't seem to let that bother him much.  Good trashy fun.

Hardcore/metal group Diluted closed out the night.  I looked this band up on Facebook after the show and found this disclaimer: "if you take this bio seriously and brand us as devil worshipers; [sic] then you may want to visit your doctor and get checked for DSH (diminished sense of humor)."  Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.  This band punctuated their set with plenty of jokes and goofing around.  At one point, all the members took their shirts off except for guitarist Ben Little, who offered to show the crowd the sliding fee scale regarding the removal of his clothes.  Horseplay like this helped put the music over, although honestly, their buzzsaw guitars, pulverizing rhythm section and screamo vocals were quite enjoyable in their own right. I just wonder, are the Supremes really drummer/lead singer Ian Jones's favorite band?

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.