After a six-month absence from the Burlington YMCA, I walked into the 'oh-so-familiar' lobby, smelled the same chlorine and floor cleaner scent and saw the same faces at the front desk.
I walked up the red brick flight of stairs, opened the battered brown doors to the 'blue room/concert room' and saw the ticket table in the same spot. I walked up to the unfamiliar faces of the volunteers, informed them that I was "volunteering for photography" and attempted to attatch the VIP bracelet to my wrist, but it was hard, because some moron decided to invent bracelets that are kept on by a glue, so if you miss the bracelet, you stick it to your arm hairs and are forced to rip out a square inch of arm hair.
I said hi to the familiar faces of the volunteers and waited for the first band to set-up.
The Stanford Accent. A cocktail of new and old faces from prior bands. Inspiration taken from larger names such as Norma Jean, Haste the Day and others, the music was somewhat familiar sounding. Unfortunately the lead singer decided to take his shirt off and show off a measly patch of chest hair. Other than his pathetic attempt to show off his manhood he had a decent scream which was backed up by the undecipherable notes of overdistorted guitars.
This band is a new band, as they informed the crowd, and will hopefully find inspiration in bands that accompany their vocals by well thought out guitar and bass riffs. If Stanford Accent turns down the distortion a bit, writes some riffs that don't involve staccatoed sixteenth notes throughout the whole song, then potential is definitely in their sights.
The Love & Terror Cult was not only a new name but somewhat different in a whole new plane. Taking a while to set up, the crowd waited in the final few minutes of their set-up, only to wait a little bit longer as the singer had to be 'fetched.'
In comes the singer, 5-foot-4, heeled boots, tight black jeans and a dull yellow shirt. The singer picked up the mic, introduced their band and let out a scream that made me jump back.
The screamer was a girl. I am not being sexist or prejudiced, but when a 5-foot-4 woman steps onto the stage, call me stupid, but I don't expect a low, wailing, powerful scream to come from that body. But the screams kept coming the whole show and the crowd loved it.With a circle pit going down the whole set, the band didn't let up on their energy level.
The only downfall to this band was their stage presence. The screamer had no problem with stage presence, but I guess as a photographer at heart, I don't always look to how the music sounds or how the beat is thrown out, but instead I look at the band members, how they stand, how they move to the music, how they feel their music. My number one pet peeve when taking pictures at a concert is when the band members don't face the crowd but face the drummer instead, with their backs to the crowd. For those throwing down during the concert, this probably didn't bother them too much, but I don't want to watch a concert and see the backs of the guitarists and bassist the whole set. I want an -your-face concert, with guitar chops and flailing limbs, especially if it is hardcore/screamo music.
So, this required me to stand behind the drummer and take pictures of the guitarists ... not too fun ... akward too.
Foxfight. I've ranted about long, computer generated intros before (see Beautiful Nothing and Dead & Divine blog)s but Foxfight is an exception. With a short and sweet intro, they jumped right into their music.
Foxfight has great stage presence, with their singer running across the stage, standing on the monitors, and jumping into the crowd. The guitarists were in a legs-spread stance, they ripped up their axes with incredible accompanying solos and out-of-the-ordinary rhythms.
Currently Foxfight is on a 'south-west-Ontario' tour.
Killer He Condemned, other than a great screaming voice and Dream Theatre-esque guitar solos, it just sounded the same as every other band playing that night. Screaming, breakdowns, lots of distortion, double kick, nothing to seperate one band from another.
I Like Your Face was a bit different. With a water cooler in the middle of the stage to hold their water bottles, the band used it to stand on, to put one leg on to accomplish riffs and solos, and to jump off of. Bringing out a crowd that consisted of their girlfriends and their friends who just stood there and watched, once again, it just sounded like another local screamo group.
The stage presence was there, the energy was there but these bands need to step it up a notch and create some music that is different, that stands out ... want some examples?
Check out my next blog on the Saturday the 16th show at the Flamborough YMCA.
Until next time,
Jason Matos
(Photos: Love & Terror Cult, by Jason Matos)
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www.jasonmatos.com
Beautiful Nothing has a really annoying intro. But the music centre show was the last time they are using that intro and they are making a new one:).
Posted by: heather | December 20, 2006 at 11:01 AM