Trail of Dead Rock Out
So, I checked out the Trail of dead show w/ my buddy Red at Starlite Room On tuesday and for the most part I wasn't dissapointed. The night started with us arriving at the old Red's to find the show had been moved downtown. In our short time at "Ed's" I saw how far it's gone down the tubes. the place is a shihole and it seems to be a heven for the ssame kinb of cracker's who frequent the mall.
Anywayz, moving on to the show, we arrived with plenty of time to stand in line in the dark crevice that is the entrance to starlite and have a beer downstairs in the velvet underground (I still think that name is gay - just doesn't fit). I was an all ages show so maneuvering through all the kiddies and poseurs was quite the chore. We did make our way to the stage to see opener The Blood Brothers in time, though. It was almost ear-splittingly loud throughout. Their set consisted of incessent screaming. The music was actually good so i kind of regret not checking out any of their material before the show so i could have atleast maybe screamed along with them. The lead singer was seriously flaming (not that there's anything wrong with that). All in all, not a bad show givin the muddled sound. I also gave the guitarist a quick congrats as he walked throught the club after, so that was kind of cool.
The headliners came out playing equally as loud as I expected they would. I figured they would play most of their harder stuff just to keep up with thw vibe set forth by Blood Brothers. Starting with a tune from "Source Tags & Codes" they came out ferociously and didn't let up until our ears were bleeding. Leaning heavily on their early albums they put on a spirited effort. Conrad Keely was the glue holding the band together as he was nothing short of amazing. Jason Reece was his usual roid-monkey self, jumping around uncontrollably while balancing on speakers etc. It was cool how they kept changing postions and instruments for virtually every song. For some extra percussion there was often a band member (or one of the Blood Brothers) beating on a side drum just to add to the effect. My only complaints for the show were that they didn't play any new material and the sound was way too loud. The intricacies of a lot of their music was basically killed because, at times, the different instruments just came together in messy wall of sound. All in all, this show was ten times better than the last show (at Red's) and I've got a newfound fondness for them. I really didn't know what to expect so the show was a pleasant surprise. I wish it wouldn't have been all ages and maybe on a weekend and I would have enjoyed it even more. I'm Looking forward to the future endeavors of this band...