LIVE REVIEWS

Mark of the Sage played first and as soon as they got on stage, I could tell this was going to get ugly. I thought the guys in the band were entirely too old and behind in fashion to appeal to any of the Hinder fans. Then again, the fans of a Hinder didn't look like they had been to a live show since Boyz II Men came to town.  So this worked out for Mark of The Sage, who sounded like a K-Mart Tool being bought out by the Deftones chain, circa 1995. Apparently the bass player for Korn plays bass for this band, too.

Next up was Bristol Park, a band who I've never liked, but never strongly disliked. After this show they will always hold a special place in my heart. They ruled. I was expecting not to see any good bands play this night, but Bristol Park with their new line-up were fantastic. The lead singer gave a shout out to Mickey from El Paso Hot Button, which I thought was rather funny considering he was one of the protagonists on the forum about this particular show. I think even Bristol Park knew they were in the wrong building and were trying to make light of the situation.

Finally, Hinder hit the stage. When I first saw Hinder a couple years ago, it was at the Blue Note on North Robinson. It was like a bad Creed/Nickelback experience. This time around, they all went to Pacific Sunwear and bought some new threads and changed their music up to sound more like Headroom for the show. That is probably the worst thing I could say about them, though. They really weren't half-bad performers, just a little behind on their music progression. But that's like most Oklahoma bands. I'd say there are much worse local bands than Hinder. They brought in a good crowd, played good and promoted well. That is saying more than a lot of bands from around here. All in all, it was a fun night. The venue wasn't too bad either. Just off-the-wall prices and the fact that they had turned the sound halfway for the openers and cranked it for Hinder was a little unsettling. Anyhow, I had more fun than expected. 

- Jeff Harris

You have to give it up to Atlatl, these guys played a pretty damn good show considering the pressure of opening for the greatest band in the world (known to the rest of the world as Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum).  Atlaltl was forced to play on the floor in front of the stage due to the headliner's massive amount of equipment taking all but 10% of the stage. Fortunately, this worked in Atlatl’s favor, creating an intimate rock experience.  Their sound falls in between Lightening Bolt, 8-bit video game music; and every once in a while, the theme from Charlie Brown.  All this is created by use of a drummer and lone keyboard player. Every time I saw the guy hunched over the keyboard I had to stop myself from yelling “SOMETHING I CAN NEVER HAVE!” (Haven’t you heard? The 90's is the new Ironic decade; ie: Seuss hats are the new ironic trucker cap!).

My only complaint is that their stage presence is reduced automatically through the use of stationary instruments like keyboards and drum kits. It’s sorta like watching Yanni, except the music is really good and there’s a lot of drunk people yelling in the background. All of that aside, you should check Atlatl out - there’s a really good chance that you’ll like them.

- Austin Tackett

The Conservatory was packed solid with 16-year-old hipsters, February 18th for the She Was Beautiful/This Was The Year To Lose Friends/Thirty Called Arson/Mastodon (Lord, what’s with the seven word names?) show.  I believe the explanation for the overabundance of kids can be explained with the following imaginary dialogue:

“Mastodon is playing tonight? Aren’t those the dudes who I saw talking to that obnoxious nu-metal skank on Much Music?”
“Ya dude, I think so, lets go.”

She Was Beautiful played first.  These guys where a ‘hardcore’ band, but in that MTV2/Warped Tour sense of the word.  You know; like screaming about girlfriends while playing high octave power chords and occasionally “breaking down” long enough for some dude to do aimless karate in the ‘pit’.

This Was The Year To Lose Friends took the stage next, and by this time the 7 or 8 Lost Lakes that I consumed within a half hour began seeping into my blood stream.  Unfortunately, this did not make TWTYTLF entertaining, original, or good.  Imagine if you will that the Locust woke up one day and decided to start wearing ironic clothing (that is other than Locust costumes) and get Strokes haircuts.  I heard someone call them “indie-violence”, at which point I began projectile vomiting (Ok, I didn’t vomit, but I sure as hell wanted to).  Alright, alright, maybe I’m being a bit to harsh - perhaps I’m a bit saddened that they wouldn’t play the Metallica songs I kept screaming at the top of my lungs in between songs - the truth is that these guys are trying really hard to do something new in the “intelligent-metal” realm, and while it’s an honest and close attempt, they’re still not quite there.  Maybe next time.

Last on the local roster was Thirty Called Arson.  It is a damn shame these guys are breaking up, because these guys ruled! Heavy as hell, odd time signatures and song strictures all packed into extremely short songs.  These guys had great energy and really knew how to put on a great show.  The crowd just melted into a total kung-fu frenzy with, hard core dancing occurring spontaneously throughout the floor. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Thirty Called Arson was their ability to maintain a level of crushing heaviness, while still experimenting with time signatures and structure (Bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge, while awesome, tend to lose vast amounts of heaviness when trying to be all jazzy).  A great band, and a great show - cross your fingers for a reunion tour!

- Austin Tackett

The Conservatory was set ablaze February 9th with pure energy, as Spinefed and Exitium took the stage opening for seasoned gore-metal veterans, Exhumed.

SpineFed took the stage first, and despite their singer looking like that dude from Hatebreed, were pretty good. They roared through a short set of double bass drum and distortion-laden death metal, that while a bit sluggish and repetitious at times, really kept the energy of the night in full swing.

Exitium were next, and within seconds they let the crowd know that they owned the night. If you have never seen these guys, do yourself a favor and SEE THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!  Exitium just exploded on stage through pure grinding terror that can best be described as being ran over by a semi-truck while being dismembered by a tree shredder and burned alive - all within a matter of seconds! The drummer’s arms where just a blur of color, and both guitar players' fingers never stayed in the same place for more than a Exitium appears to cast away both the pretentious shaggy haired appearance of new so called “grind” bands, as well as the goofy "metal dude" aesthetics of old school grind core. Exitium are honest, dangerous, and just plain kick-ass - the way rock should be!

- Austin Tackett

Engine Orchestra were first on the bill. I have to say, I actually really liked these guys. Their style can best be described as hard-riff rock that delivers some pretty catchy hooks – or as one of my friends simply calls it “hard alternative”.  Either way, Engine Orchestra bashed out (thanks in part greatly to their really impressive drummer) a punch packing, yet safe, forty-five minute set complete with amateur light show. I got my five bucks worth.

Next up were the Candy Guns.  The first two things I noticed about this band was 1. The dudes in it were old enough to be my dad, and 2. The drummer was the singer.  I’ll spare you the Genesis jokes, but do keep in mind that it is very hard to rock when the drummer has to crank his head to one side in order to reach the microphone at any given time.  Despite this sin against live performances, I was fully willing to give these guys a chance.  They opened with a fairly accurate and crowd pleasing cover of the Pixies “Wave of Mutilation,” but as soon as this was finished, the crowd pleasing ended, causing said crowd to make a hasty exit to the door.  At the end of their second song, the singer began bitching about how he couldn’t hear the harmony vocals, in which he proceeded to stop the show for fifteen minutes while he and the flustered sound guy tried to fix the problem (I am to understand that it was the band’s mic that was broken).  If you like ironic punk covers and sugar you might like these guys.

Decibel Industry was the headliner.  Take indie/spacey/atmospheric Radiohead-ishy rock, and goth the hell out of it and you've get Decibel Industry.  Here’s the thing about these kids – they are destined to be really good, they just need a little time to develop their sound and their technical ability.  The concept is there, they just need to work on it a bit.  Hopefully these guys will be around long enough to make some great music and depress the hell out of a lot of people.

- Austin Tackett

A small crowd appeared for the Lesser Humans / Gravity Propulsion System show January 2nd, at the fairly-new-yet-very-familiar Conservatory.  After a long set up time, Lesser Humans took the stage. After some unnecessarily long and unfunny stage banter, they began their set. The guitar was set to “pure tinny static” and drowned out anything that could have passed as a note of music. In fact, all I could hear were the Pennywise drumbeats that somehow leaked out of the white noise. Occasionally, I could hear a Malmsteem-esque guitar lick jump out of the hissing static, so I assumed they had one of those ironic metal things going on, but I guess I'll never truly know. Needless to say it was hard to tell what was going on, even though the bass player would occasionally take time to rock out, letting you know that they had started playing the bad ass part of the song.

By the end of Lesser Humans set, some drunk/crazy old guy had started yelling “WHY IS IT IMPORTANT” over and over. He continued his one-man show, all the way into Gravity Propulsion System’s set. By this time his antics changed from yelling cryptic phrases into doing windmills while singing his own lyrics along to the songs.

He had a good reason to be excited - Gravity Propulsion System tore it up!  These guys hit the stage like true professionals, playing a short set, but making every minute count. They blasted out blistering noise rock (of the intentional variety) that smashes in your face and doesn’t let up until the ringing in your ears stops the next day. In addition to sounding good, GPS puts on a pretty good stage show. There’s something exciting about a light up bass drum and both guitar players pounding away on pedals and guitar strings.  GPS are probably one of the most creative- and dare I say – important bands in the local scene.

- Austin Tackett

Prior to tonight, the only thing I knew about the Mike McClure Band was that McClure was formerly the lead singer for the red dirt/country band, The Great Divide.  I soon realized that McClure isn’t your typical country crooner.  His plain white t-shirt, baggy cargo pants and Airwalk shoes were complemented with short hair and earrings.  Noticeably missing from the typical country outfit were the long hair, plaid button-up shirt and cowboy boots.

Not only was his outfit out of place, the music was as well.  Forget the country.  Forget the red dirt.  Bring on the rock (with a hint of country).  Rolling through original music, the band displayed their tight sound for the 60+ fans crammed into the ever-happening Deli.  They were amazingly tight for a band that’s been together for such a short time.  Adding to their live show, the band also played covers of Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.  Local lead man Travis Linville of The Burtschi Brothers joined the band for the Willie Nelson tune.  In addition to Linville, noticeable local music celebs in attendance were Mike Hosty and Giovanni Carnuccio (of Mama Sweet).

Not only did McClure and company have fun on stage, but in-between sets McClure shared the love with his fans.  Each fan at The Deli received a MMB four-song EP free of charge.

If you’re not big into country or red dirt, you can still check out the Mike McClure Band and not feel the least bit guilty.

- Ryan La Croix

© 2003 OklahomaRock.com