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With Special Guests Peroxide And Windigo |
Tempe, AZ 9/12/97 |
| For the Release Party of their Debut Album, "Crushed" stayed
with the local talent to open for them. They were both up and coming bands
themselves. The first band, "Peroxide," is already talking to
labels, and the second band, "Windigo," was recently signed to
NMG/Pavement with a debut album due out next spring. "Peroxide" (Scott Watson and Dennis Ross on vocals, Andre Valdez on guitar, Rick Scaff on bass and Mike pineda on drums) is one of the new cross-genre Rap/Metal bands cropping up lately, with a hint of funk thrown in. The guys put on a pretty good and energetic show, with understandable rap lines backed by some intense metal. Even though some labels are talking to them now, in my opinion they need to gain a little more maturity and practice playing the local club scene before they're quite ready to go national, but they definitely gave a respectable set. They also had the moshe pit in full swing during their entire set. Next up was recently signed "Windigo," a VERY popular band on the local scene. The lead singer, Matt, also gets pretty upset when the moshing gets out of hand and leans more towards somebody getting hurt. He stopped their set several times to warn the moshers to knock it off or they'd quit playing, and more than a few guys were hauled off by security. "Windigo" was also a big style change from "Peroxide." From Rap/Metal the show moved into Hardcore/Punk/Metal, and this band has their stage show down pat. They exhibit great style in both their music and their movement on the stage. That's something I keep an eye out for, because I want to see a band move and interact with the audience, not stand in front of microphones like department store dummies and just sing. I've seen several nationally popular bands that haven't gotten the hang of this part of a concert yet, and it's nice to see these young groups with that part already well in hand. Overall, "Windigo" has a good sound, good instrumentals and do well with the genre mix they're in. I have a play list, but since their album hasn't come out yet the titles won't mean much. With Matt Strangewayes on vocals, Jason Wilhite on guitar, Jr. Newlin on drums and Dave Curlow on bass, "Windigo" managed to deliver a high energy, good musical mix set. Some of the high points of their set were some very cleverly written songs that I hope show up on their album. The first single to be released will be "Yohimbe," a real rocker although the title belies that. Another one, "The Ballad of Reichen Overgraabben" is about a ficticious speed skating contender in the Olympics. Interesting subject matter! Another song with unusual lyrics and a kind of mixed pace musical line was "Postcard From Charles Manson," dealing with everything from Harley's to some deeply buried lyrics and short melody line reminding me of "Born To Be Wild." The local hard rock station voted "Bad Things" as their best local song in '96, and it is a pretty awesome song. But the house really came down when "Windigo" sang their cover of "The Clash's" "Should I Stay Or Should I Go." This cover was done so well, it was almost better than the orignal, and it wasn't just a repeat - the band's own style certainly shines through on this number. The moshers sure had a blast with this song too! The final song of their set, "Funk & Petry," is another one to watch for, and I'd recommend keeping an eye out for this band. They're going places for sure. |
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| The club and been gradually filling up since the first band played, and
by the time "Crushed" took the stage a lot of fans were waiting
in high anticipation - including me! First let me say a little about the
set they played before I get into the individual songs. This band also has
their stage presence down to the max. Lead singer Mark Lauer, even wearing
his guitar, had numerous hand gestures and body language to emphasize the
lyrics he was singing. The rest of the band (Mike Halland on guitars, Jeff
garten on drums and Mike Brown on bass) was rockin' out, but it wasn't overdone
like so many metal/rock bands. Yes, they flung hair and moved with the guitar
and bass lines, but they didn't get ridiculous jumping all over the place
and bending so close to the floor you thought they'd hit their heads! The
band almost seemed to be choreographed in their movements, and everything
fit with the lyrics and music. The few dissapointments were that this particular venue has a crummy sound system, so Mark didn't bother talking much between numbers. The front lighting at the club was out that night, so the entire set was mostly back lit except when the strobes were on. There was also WAY too much fog, so all you could see were shadows of the band members up front and the drummer was completely hidden. I have been assured by Mark that they're working out these problems before they go on their next tour, so hopefully if they come to your town you'll actually be able to SEE the band members. It's also why we only got one decent live photo from the show itself. They do have a really great light show, but without any front lighting it was like watching moving outlines of people through the entire set. Now, with all that our of the way, let me tell you about one hell of an awesome concert that was even better than the album which I rated Five Stars in last month's issue. They did a good job on the album, trying to bring the live sound to the CD, but with this band, nothing compares to seeing them live. They did a fifteen song set plus an encore, and with the album only out for three days they already had seven new songs not on the album as part of their set. They also didn't waste time between songs, and the whole thing flowed smooth as silk. "Crushed" is not really the kind of band that sets a moshe pit on fire. People are more interested in being right up to the stage to listen and semi-dance to the music. As I looked around the room, everyone seemed to be totally engrossed in the songs, as I was. For their opening number, the band used a portion of an old Irish folk song (the same one Michael Flatley uses in Lord of the Dance) called "She Moves Through The Fair," which immediately segues into one of their original songs "Colder" (not on the album) that is in such total contrast to "She Moves . . ." it's almost a shock. Things start off soft and gentle with a one note guitar accompanyment to Mark's rendition of the Irish folk song, then blasts into some extremely heavy metal. A great way to hook the audience right from the first number. Moving on immediately to "Whistling Past The Graveyard," the audience was treated to a great light show along with an even better rendition of this song than what's on the album. Through the whole set I kept thinking of that commercial "Is it live or is it Memorex?" and there was no mistaking that this was LIVE! Next up was one of their new songs, "Ascension Is The Sin," a semi-fast song with a sort of strange sound but very cool, followed by another new song "Sugar Haze Spill" with a lot of one note guitar wails and an eerie sounding vocal. One of "Crushed's" most popular song on the radio around the country, "Lit" was next. The vocals on this number are unusual sounding to begin with, and are even more so live. This song isn't one of my favorites from the album, but I liked it a lot better live and in person. That stage presence I mentioned was very evident in the next song, "Crescent Draggin Wagon," which is also the first track on the album. The next song, another new one called "Splinters Inside," was fast and hard with the lighting moving with the guitar line. That was pretty interesting, and by now the crowd was totally into the concert. "Stars And Tinsel Rust" opened with an unusual, spacey intro and exhibited much more emotion, and instrumentals, than the CD version. |
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In my interview with Mark Lauer he mentioned the next song was his
favorite because he loves to sing it live. Once I heard "Galaxy Craze"
I could totally understand why. The vocals were very powerful, and the song
also featured a major light show. What is expected to be the first single
from the album, and also my favorite song, "Incandescence" was
next. My notes indicate there was really great use of gestures and body
language during this song, and I wrote down "song live - WOW!"
With "Copper-Colored" both the band and the audience was really
gettin' down, and "Brimstone In A Barren Land," another of my
favorites, was just great!
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