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It's rare that you attend a show that feels like it has the weight of history riding on it, but seeing At The Drive-In play what is likely to be the final show of their reunion tour, 12 years after they originally split, certainly felt in that category.

The queue outside London's semi-legendary Brixton Academy on August 28th was the largest I've ever seen it at the venue, snaking all the way around to the murky street behind the club. Security was tight, with men and women being separated off for checking and random searches. Stumbling inside, the venue was already packed to the back walls with half an hour still to go before stage time.

A lot was riding on this show: while the band had already played the Reading and Leeds festivals the previous weekend, this was their first club show on UK soil in over a decade and the crowd were baying with excitement. Internet rumours had already warned me of the possibility that guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez might appear less-than-interested onstage, with cynics branding the tour "at the cash in". There was an air of anticipation and restlessness, then, when the boombox banner finally came floating down over the stage and The Flight of the Valkyries started over the PA.

Striding onstage to a hero's welcome came the five piece, Tony Hajjar warming up with some deafening rolls across his drumkit. Brixton Academy, for all its history, isn't famed for its sound quality, and even in these opening notes the sound felt overly laden with presence and reverb. Still: this was At The fucking Drive-In. 

Kicking off with - what else - "Arcarsenal", perhaps the definitive album opener, the crowd instantly became a maelstrom of whirling bodies. Almost immediately somebody climbed up and began crowdsurfing down the front: don't they know anything about this band? I wondered. If enigmatic frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala noticed, he didn't say anything.

This opener was followed up in quick 1-2 punch fashion by a furious "Pattern Against User". I was struck by the absurdity of Bixler's lyrics for perhaps the first time in my decade plus of listening to the band - while it's no revelation that his wordsmithery has always veered on the wrong side of absurd, it takes things to an entirely new level to hear a drunken moshpit veteran bellow lines like "the opposition / can't feel the tentacle reach / suction cup the numb arms of the elderly" directly into your ear canal.

As this second song finished and everybody paused to wipe their sweating brows and figure out where their left shoe ended up, I stopped to wonder whether I was actually enjoying myself. In the early 2000s I was an avid collector of At The Drive-In bootlegs, having missed my chance to see them live first time around. I was intimately familiar with the standards of their live shows and could bore you to sleep with my opinions on, say, their performance of "Sleepwalk Capsules" in Bochum, Germany during 2001. This show wasn't like those shows.

Omar, as I'd feared, had spent the duration of the first few songs barely even facing the audience or acknowledging the crowd (a crowd which had, not to put too fine a point on it, paid over £30 ($47) for these tickets - breaking my own personal rule of never spending more than £20 ($31) on tickets for a show, for moral reasons). While it was a welcome change to hear him actually nailing the songs on his guitar, as opposed to some of his more chaotic live performances during the band's heydey, he could not have looked any less interested in what was going on. To Cedric's credit, he did what he could to throw himself around the stage and perform mic-stand acrobatics. Carrying the entire weight of the stage performance on his own must have been a real effort, particularly with the energy vacuum of Omar sucking all of the spontaneity out of proceedings in the corner of the stage.

A pleasant surprise came next, however: "Lopsided" from 1998's In/Casino/Out was beautifully rendered and hushed the somewhat aggressive crowd, whose need to thrash around markedly dropped off when pre-Relationship of Command songs were played.

(Photo by taylesrose)

Cedric mixed in some stage banter during the show, making British pop culture references to TV soaps and Doctor Who. He even had a brief onstage rant: against, er, people focusing on Facebook trivia. While I agree with the sentiment, it was a far cry from the man who used to rail against stagediving and "meathead" moshing. You grow old and you calm down...

Sound was muddy at times, with the intricacies of many of the RoC-era songs suffering from, perhaps, the sheer size of the Academy's main room. Some songs gained extended jam outros or middle sections, clearly a hallmark of the later bands spawned by the split. These were amongst some of the more interesting parts of the show as the band seemed to reimagine these songs for the first time in a decade, rather than simply go through the motions of one last hurrah.

While the setlist (below) was RoC-heavy, we also got the stark, raw beauty of "Napoleon Solo", rendered more poignant with Bixler's new vocal style, presumably informed by years of singing (not shouting) in The Mars Volta. This did have the effect of rendering some of the later-period songs a little less strongly, with the much-vaunted "Cosmonaut" (clip below) losing a little of its urgency as a result.

After a quick break they returned to the stage for another double punch: "Catacombs", followed by, of course, "One Armed Scissor". Guitarist Jim Ward introduced the final song with a brief eulogy to the band's career, explaining that they considered this show "the final show of the Relationship of Command tour", leading some to speculate after the show that this signified the end of the band's reunion. He finished by proclaiming his love for the rest of the band as "more than life itself", and with a lump in his throat, thanked us for coming out. Omar barely acknowledged the warmth of this heartfelt outpouring, although Cedric managed to beam with, perhaps, pride as his longtime compatriot closed the show.

Twitter reaction after the show ended was mixed: some fans claimed it was the greatest show they'd ever seen, while others proclaimed their sadness that it wasn't the band they'd once loved. 

Myself, I'm unsure. I think the notion that a "classic" band should be expected to reform a decade after their apex and continue on as normal is problematic. If Omar and Cedric had flung themselves around onstage like it was the Jools Holland Show all over again, critics would've described them as poor imitations. Nobody wanted to see a poor man's pastiche of a fabled At The Drive-In show, but equally, people expected to see a band enjoying themselves and celebrating a discography of genre-defining music. What I felt I got was a band finally, fatally, persuaded into stepping onto the comeback trail. For all Omar's apparent disinterest, he was presumably interested enough to be paid to play the shows. 

(Photo by Rahul Kukreja)

 The price of a ticket doesn't pay for the artist to become a performing monkey, but it does buy an experience, a shared occurence, a moment linked between artist and audience. Nursing my pit bruises as I walked home from the show, I wondered whether I'd had that experience. I'd heard some of my favourite songs performed with the best musical standards possible after 12 years on the shelf, sure. What I didn't get was a sense that I'd done the right thing by shelling out to see one of the bands I never thought I'd get to cross off my list. 

They say you should never meet your heroes, but maybe those heroes should take some responsibility, too.

Setlist

• Arcarsenal 
• Pattern Against User 
• Lopsided 
• Sleepwalk Capsules 
• Napoleon Solo 
• Quarantined 
• Enfilade 
• Rascuache 
• 198d 
• Chanbara 
• Metronome Arthritis 
• Pickpocket 
• Non-Zero Possibility 
• Cosmonaut 

Encore

• Catacombs 
• One Armed Scissor

Fun. are back on the road selling out shows again. This time however, they didn't just sell out one show, but 3 nights at the illustrious Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. Wow. This band has come a long way. Would they be able to fill the venue sonically as much as with their fans?

A full house at The Wiltern makes it difficult to walk anywhere. The number of people there was a sight to see on its own, and every last one of them awaited Fun.'s presence. The lights dropped and Fun. walk out and jump into the mellow track, "Carry On." I didn't think I'd enjoy this song as an opener as much as many of the other tracks they've opened shows with, but it turned out to be a great way to start the show. The song allowed the crowd to continue to build up some anticipation until the point that they could get rowdy--which hit the moment guitarist, Jack Antonoff, got to his solo. The fans really let loose as the band went into classics, "Walking the Dog" and "All The Pretty Girls."

The night was off to a great start. The audience was in good spirits--minus the occasional obnoxious inebriate. The band was full of energy, full of smiles, and still full of charm. Nate was bouncing across the stage as usual. Jack was on the verge of breaking every single one of his strings, and Andrew never missed a note. They shared some stage banter and even went into an impromtu cover of "December, 1963." However they didn't complete it--despite the fans continuing on with the lyrics.

Fun. jumped back and forth between albums, playing tracks like "At Least I'm Not As Sad" and "Roman Candle" from Aim & Ignite, and songs from Some Nights like, "Why Am I the One?" and "All Alone." The group reworked the fast paced, "It Gets Better," by getting rid of the opening drum machine and utilizing the guitars more for the mid-tempo intro. The band still maintained tradition by having the backing band walk off so Nate, Jack, and Andrew could perform "The Gambler,"--which was dedicated to Jack and Andrew's parents. They did throw in a few surprises though. During the bridge of "Barlights," confetti was shot out from all corners of the room and completely filled the venue. They also went into a cover (a fully planned out one this time) of The Rolling Stones', "You Can't Always Get What You Want." You know, they haven't done a single bad cover over the years. I wonder what they'll do in the future.

Of course, the band couldn't leave without first doing the track that really put them on the map, "We Are Young." It's no surprise that the crowd went wild. After the band had left and returned for their encore, they blared out, "One Foot." Personally, a song I had been looking forward to the whole night. The crowd was causing the ground the shake, but not like they did as when they closed the show with "Some Nights." I've expressed my distaste for the autotune in the past, so I won't get into it, haha. A small highlight of the night was when Nate decided to hit the high note in the bridge on, "oh, come on!" As they closed out the night, balloons rained down, and some fans even decided to take some home as souvenirs.

Everyone had a good time and went home happy. The people attending the remaining nights are in for a treat. If it's 3 sold out nights at The Wiltern now, I can only imagine where this band will be playing the next time they come around. Somewhere they'll surely still pack to the brim no doubt. They've worked hard for their success and they deserve it.

Murder by Death are preparing the release of their 6th studio album, Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, while celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their first LP, Like The Exorcist, but More Breakdancing. They've been out on the road sharing some new songs with the fans while returning to that first album with songs they haven't played in years. Scene Point Blank weren't gonna miss it!

Here's a band that never ceases to amaze and entertain. In the past--while bands will occasionally play a full album front to back on tour--Murder by Death took it a step further with playing two full lengths in one night. The group always like to have some kind of surprises or theatricality in their shows. They've had dancers, played to a video montage, so I was curious to see what they might have in store for this tour. While there wasn't anything that extravagent, it was still a great show with some awe-inducing moments.

The openers, Ha Ha Tonka and Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, both fit the bill perfectly. Ha Ha Tonka had a surprisingly short set, but still got the crowd amped up for the night. Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons did a great Tom Waits cover and toyed around a bit with a cover of The Misfits' "Skulls." It goes without saying though that everyone was waiting anxiously for Murder by Death.

The lights dimmed and frontman, Adam Turla, walked out and opened the show himself with the intro to my favorite song, "The Devil in Mexico." Over the years, I've seen MBD fans get more and more rambunctious. In the past, most would just stand around and watch the show. This always baffled my mind. Why was no one singing along?! Fortunately, that wasn't so much the case tonight. The crowd was much more into it and screaming along to the track's closing lyrics, "Someone say a hail mary for this house. Bless the corners and burn the devil out." It brought a smile to my face. The band went into a new song entitled, "No Oath, No Spell," before getting the crowd riled up again with Red of Tooth and Claw's opener, "Comin' Home."

Murder by Death took the time to acknowledge Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing's anniversary with, "I'm Afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe." Then the band jumped back to the present with a new song written by cellist, Sarah Balliet. The track, "Lost River," is moody and borrows from Like the Exorcist. Although I love the raucous type of sound they've inherited over the course of their albums--a track like, "Lost River," has me very excited for the new record.

They continued to jump from album to album throughout the set. Playing fist pounding tracks like "Steal Away" and "Sometimes the Line Walks You," while keeping the pace varied with slower and soothing tracks like "Foxglove," "Fuego!," and "King of the Gutters, Prince of the Dogs." A little bit halfway through the set they threw in songs they hadn't been playing too often as of late such as "The Desert is On Fire," "Boy Decide," and "Intergalactic Menopause." The crowd went crazy for "Brother" as they always do, and sparks really flew when they played, "Dynamite Mine." Literally. The latest addition to the band, keyboardist Scott Bracket, rummaged up some kind of contraption that would have sparks flying like working in a steel mill. The band closed with "Those Who Stayed"--although they did not do the medley of evil. Womp.

The band came back for 2 more. Another song they had stopped playing for awhile, "Killbot 2000." It's as good as ever. My happiest moment of the nigght was when they closed with "The Devil Drives." A song they hadn't previously played before this tour. This is arguably my second favorite song and it was wonderful to finally see it performed live. What a joy to have my favorite MBD tracks serve as the bookends for the set.

The band will be back on the road in the Fall supporting Say Anything, so if you missed them this tour or won't be able to make any of the remaining dates--I suggest you catch them on that tour. Just because they won't be headlining doesn't mean they won't put on one great performance. Also, be sure to pick up their new album, Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, when it's released on September 25th.

Well, it's high time that progressive music got a good, high-ish-profile awards show, and now, thanks to Prog Magazine, we have one. The bad news is that it stlil shows signs of being the fledgling event that it is. So based off of the nominees for this year, here's my analysis of what they've done right and what they've done wrong.

First of all, there are a few questionable entries in the album of the year field. The inclusions of Yes's Fly From Here and Opeth's Heritage seem more like pandering to the base than anything else--they were both decent albums, but are more included seemingly for their notoriety than actual quality. Yes is the classic progressive rock band that everyone loves, and Opeth is both the token progressive death metal and the token modern prog artist that are name-dropped when you're talking to someone who only has the most shallow understanding of the genre. And the inclusion of Nightwish as a progressive band is laughable; undeniably they have progressive elements, but are far from a full-blown progressive act. The only album I haven't heard was It Bite's Map of the Past, so I can't really speak to its inclusion.

However, there are a few obvious snubs. They don't list the cutoff date, but depending on exactly what day it is (somehwere between 8 and 22 June), Symphony X's Iconoclast may have been eligible. If it was, its omission is flabbergasting). That album was the perfect two-disc realization of symphonic prog by one of the most established bands in the modern scene, and dropping it at the expense of Nightiwsh is a slap to the face. Another high-profile snub can be found in Diablo Swing Orchestra's Pandora's Piñata, being one of the finest avant-garde albums ever released, not to mention receiving universal praise upon its release. And though they are definitely more of a fringe band, Swedes Vidhjarta definitely deserved to be on for their perfection of djent music with måsstaden, or, at a minimum, as some kind of affirmation that death metal was getting any recognition at all. I'm also surprised Ian Anderson's Thick as a Brick 2 wasn't included for consideration, especially given the high profile and high quality of its release, not to mention the slew of other awards Anderson was nominated for.

Completely ignoring Dream Theater's A Dramatic Turn of Events and The Mars Volta's Noctourniquet were great decisions, however--I think we can all agree that those albums blew, and including them would have been incredibly obvious pandering to the fanbase. At least they're above that. The inclusion of Anathema's Weather Systems is a pleasant surprise, however. It's good to see that they are willing to branch out to a few bands that aren't part of the established 'canon' of prog bands when they deserve it, and believe me, Weather Systems fucking deserves it. Its inclusion here gives me hope for the diversity of future years.

As for the 'Vsionary' award, recongizing bands with a heavy progressive influence that otherwise stray from the genre, most of these were safe choices, with acts like Radiohead and Muse being incredibly obvious selections. However, the snub for Primus is unacceptable--though I'm not disparaging any of the bands on there, if there's any one that actually deserves it, it's them. In addition, it seems odd that experimental math rock band Battles didn't at least get a nod, considering their creative music and escalating popularity.

I can't really criticize the choices for the lifetime achievement category, but for the first 10 or so years, the selections here are gonna be hella predictable. I'm betting on Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Rush, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, ELP, Moody Blues, Van der Graaf Generator, Kansas, and maybe Queen all winning it before we actually get some interesting names here. Until then, it's basically just gonna be safe self-congratulation. The same thing applies to the 'Prog God' category, though I'm still wondering how the hell Kate Bush and Steve Hillage got nominations before David Gilmour.

As for the 'Guiding Light' award, recognizing artists continually pushing the boundaries of progressive music, these are again mostly safe choices, with Mikael Åkerfeldt, Steven Wilson, Mike Portnoy, and Robert Fripp all being very obvious selections. However, there are also a few glaring snubs in this category. Most notably, where the fuck is Devin Townsend? He is the single greatest stand alone artist in progressive music today; that man deserves a second house to store all of the accolades he should be receiving. To a lesser degree, the same applies to Ayreon frontman and solo artist Arjen Lucassen, Tool and A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan, and Montréal-based post-rocker Efrim Menuck--these are all visionary musicians, and without them, it's safe to say the modern progressive music scene would be much less interesting.

Of course, were this a perfect world, Ben Sharp would get some kind of recognition for his Cloudkicker project, creating independently-released music that's achieved him notoriety most bands only dream of. But that's not likely to happen ever. Until then, we can only hope he keeps releasing music with as high a standard as he holds himself to.

Back on topic, a lot of talented musicians were snubbed from the 'Virtuoso' category too, such as Meshuggah bandmates Tomas Haake and Fredrik Thordendal, Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier, solo guitarist Devin Townsend (yes, him again), and most glaringly, Rush drummer Neil Fucking Peart. Seriously, the guy is the greatest drummer ever--Mike Portnoy is nothing without him. The inclusion of ELP and Asia drummer Carl Palmer was a pleasant and well-deserved surprise, though; he is definitely amongst the criminally underrated performers in prog music.

I can't really speak much to the 'New Blood' and 'Anthem' categories, recognizing new artists and great individual songs respectively, mostly because I haven't heard enough of the artists represented. However, I will say that Steven Wilson's "Raider II" and Squackett's "A Life Within a Day" were both very underwhelming tracks, so I can't imagine the other selections were of a stellar calibre either. Diablo Swing Orchestra's "Justice for Saint Mary", Rush's "Headlong Flight", and Ian Anderson's "A Change of Horses" would've all been much better selections. Additionally, while not bad, TesseracT's debut One wasn't much to write home about, so their inclusion in the new artists category is a bit surprising, and admittedly colours my impression of the rest of the selections.

The 'Grand Design' category is a bit odd, praising special and deluxe versions of albums. Mostly, they're pretty agreeable decisions. King Crimson's Panegyric Reissues in particular deserve to be on there, and though they were a bit excessive, Pink Floyd's Immersion reissues are also a good selection. The only severe oversight would be Death's reissue campaign from late 2011, including the amazing Individual Thought Patterns reissue, the standard-bearer album for tech death. Other than that, it's a pretty unobjectionable, if odd, category.

On a general note, the total lack of any progressive subgenre music is appalling--there's no post-rock/post-metal music to speak of, no tech metal, and the only death metal bands with a nod (Opeth and Anathema) received them for clean vocal albums. I'm really hoping for some branching out in years to come, because those are huge subgenres to be ignored in favour of the easy stuff, especially in a genre of music that prides itself on originality and experimentation.

In general, it's full of safe, low-controversy, relatively unsurprising choices, which is somewhat par for the course for an awards event in its first year, and while some of those artists did legitimately dserve the recognition they got, far too many seemed to be appeasement selections. In years to come, here's hoping for more death metal, more post-rock, and more Devin Townsend.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled punk and hardcore tomfoolery.

Japandroids

7th St. Entry

Minneapolis, MN

July 7, 2012

When a touring band starts their set by saying, “It feels like we’re back home, Minneapolis”, the natural instinct is to go Okay, yeah sure buddy— I bet you said the same thing last night in Chicago/Milwaukee/Madison/Detroit/somewhere in Canada/etc.  But when Japandroids lead singer and guitar player Brian King said it to a sell-out crowd Tuesday night, the eager, packed-in audience opted to believe him.  Minneapolis, for all of our shameless self-loving scenesterism, can be a fussy crowd; often times offering our lesser-known hometown bands nothing but folded arms and blank stares.  That being said, we tend to treat out-of-towners—at least those with a good amount of buzz—really, really well.  So it comes without surprise that Japandroids, who are in heavy rotation locally on both 89.3 The Current and 770 AM Radio K, were welcomed with open arms.

Personally I was hesitant to believe the hype surrounding the Vancouver-based guitar and drums duo when their first album Post-Nothing was released in ’09, and admittedly, not for any justifiable reason.  Basically I wanted to hate them because I was already a Japanther fan, and these guys—being a another two man band with “Japan” in their name, who played punk-informed anthemic indie rock—were seemingly more popular and thus were a threat to my self-created DIY-loving-cool-guy world. After all, we Twin Cityans had already dealt with a similar situation a couple of times:  First, at the height of the early ’00 garage rock revival an Australian band calling themselves The D4 started making the press rounds, while our beloved bar punkers the Dillinger Four, who are affectionately referred to as D4, who had been killing it for years, went largely unnoticed outside of the smallish punk world.  Then, a few years later, the indie-rock universe was going bananas for Vampire Weekend, while our very own Vampire Hands had been creating  far more original and better music and for quite a bit longer but without the attention of Spin Magazine and Pitchfork.  So, while Japanther was not a TC band, as a fan of them, all the attention ‘droids was getting upset me just the same.  Then one day, seconds away from murdering the Internet because it wouldn’t shut up about Japandroids, for some strange reason—almost as if I was being controlled by a mind not my own—I went out and bought Post-Nothing.  I’ve been hooked on them ever since; snatching up their collection of old EPs No Singles in ‘10, and of course, the new album a few weeks ago.  In retrospect it was quite silly to try and dismiss a band—even without hearing them—based on the fact that they have a similar name and makeup of another band I already liked.

So, on the last night of their American tour, Japandroids landed at the legendary 7^th Street Entry in downtown Minneapolis (where the Replacements once played five nights in a row in October of ’85 and where Atmosphere did an eight night stand twenty years later) to blow off some steam before the long, show-less drive back to Vancouver.  Despite the hellish temperatures (a heat index up around 107 degrees Fahrenheit) King and drummer David Prowse played as if it had nothing left to lose; like they literally did live here and could just go home and pass out after the show.  They frantically and sometimes sloppily, bashed through every track from their outstanding new record Celebration Rock.  The songs that seemed to garner the most crowd participation were the lead-off single “The House That Heaven Built”; with its overabundance of ooh-ooh-ooh sing-a-long parts, the youthful drinking anthem “Younger Us”, and the album opener “The Nights Of Wine and Roses”; which was preceded by King urging everyone to check out The Dream Syndicate album by the same name, saying that the creation of Celebration Rock was influenced heavily by it.  The set was rounded out with select gems from Post-Nothing such as “Young Hearts Spark Fire”, “Wet Hair” and one of my personal favorites, “Sovereignty.”  It was an oddly touching few minutes, as the Minneapolis crowd, who has its own love/hate relationship with finicky weather, proudly sang along to the PNW anthem: “It’s raining in Vancouver, but I don’t give a fuck.”

Of interest was how, even though it was an 18+ show, the majority of the audience seemed to be in their late 20s to even early 40s.  (No doubt, a result of the Current’s affect on the local music scene—it’s undeniable, indie rock crowds have gotten older here since they debuted on-air in ‘05.  It’s something that is quite heartwarming to see actually.)  Near the end of the set they played the final song off of Celebration Rock, “Continuous Thunder.” Despite the band’s apologetic nature for playing “a slow one” it was near-perfect moment, as the lyrics, centered around lost love, resonated well with the us older attendees that may have a bit more life experience under our belts in that department.

The final song of the encore-less performance was a lengthy, raucous version of a Gun Club cover, “For the Love of Ivy”, in which it looked at times like the band might go into instrument-smashing mode.  They didn’t however, which was kind of disappointing, but they did look completely spent, as if they gave it everything that had left in them.  And that alone was completely satisfying.  Besides, everyone else down on the floor looked just as exhausted.  But we actually got to go home and pass out afterwards. Godspeed Japandroids!

Japandroids:  http://japandroids.com/

7^Th St. Entry: http://first-avenue.com/taxonomy/term/14