Hadn't been to a show in some time, and I really like the Locust, and since I knew a few co-workers of mine were going, I figured it was pretty cheap and decided to go see what was up at Mesa Luna. These are my thoughts on said show:
My Name is RarRar: Well, due to cirmcumstances beyond my control I missed most of their set. (Late leaving the house, 99B-Line doesn't stop anywhere near Mesa-Luna, and the only way to access ML is through an elevator which had a really long line up.) What I did see looked promising. Bassist with wierd as looking and heavily distorted bass, drummer with a cape. They had a keyboard fed through distortion, and the keyboardist was a bald guy in clubber gear (sparkly shirt) who attacked his keyboards with a mad scientist-like rage. Their vocalist rambled all sorts of noise into the mic and convulsed, pretty much in the audience. He was clad entirely in cubscout gear, and looked like he was about to die. Musically they were pretty hard to classify, at times crazy like the locust, but others seemed to have catchy hooks. Very spazzy, but not bad, although I only caught a couple of songs.
RahBro: Two keyboardists, another heavily distorted bass guitarist, and a very odd drummer. All the band members sang, and it kind of had a new wave 80's kind of feel to it. Sounded kind of like a cracked out The Faint. 3/4's of the way through their set they had some kind of wierd dramatic interlude where three of the members seduced eachother while playing with a stuffed snke and stucka sword in each other's pants. During the last song the drummer came out and sang, and collapsed on the floor next to me. He then got back up, ripped off his pants and gyrated towards the bassist (who was now drumming). Very Weird stuff. Musically they didn't appeal to me too much (although they wrote some catchy stuff) but they won me over in sheer effort and theatrics.
Hella: I had heard goo things about Hella from a couple of co-workers, but didn't really know what to expect. They are comprised of only a guitarist and drummer, and no vocals. They put on probably the best, most intense live show I have ever seen. The drummer gave it his all, fricken hammerin' his drums (actually they borrowed the Locust's drums because theirs got stopped at the border.) as if it were one big solo the entire time. Wicked musicians, well crafted and super-epic sounding songs. I swear that was the bet drumming I have ever heard, and the guitarist was pretty intense. They had a chemistry that I have never seen before in a band. It was almost religious. I will defintaely be posting one of their songs on Friday.
The Red Light Sting: It must have sucked going on after such an amazing set, and having seen them before I wasn't really all that excited. I must say, that they really rocked the house. The kids just love this band, dancin' up a storm. I used to know one of the band members, and it was cool to see him play again. My only problem is when the keyboardist sings. I really just don't dig her style of vocals, to an almost nail-on-chalkboard proportions.
The Locust: They came out dressed in their usual bug-like suits, and played like 30 oe so songs. I swear they are like machines, playing their super chaotic and complex songs spot on. Very, very tight band. Only problem with their set was some fucking stupid moshers who were being super violent and irritating, thus distracting from what would have otherwise been a really good set. Hella was definately the highlight.
I also got the chance to hang with an old high school friend of mine, Ryan Angus, and shoot the shit about how life's hoing, and who we've seen from highschool. Pretty good times. On the way home we saw some frat boy get on the bus with an 8ft inflateble tequila bottle.
Tommorow I will give you all my review of Black Christmas, and thoughts on my most recent re-watching of the Conan films. Excelsior!
