Friday, December 21st, 2012 – Said A to B
After them you had another trio, and that was Mothership. I had caught one of their shows early on in the year (I believe in January), and while I had wanted to see them since, it just hadn’t worked out. So I was looking forward to finally getting a chance to see them again.
I believe it was before they started that singer and bassist, Kyle Juett, gave a speech about how we had not “…Materialized into another realm…”, or something like that. So, since we were all still here, they were going to play some Rock music. “Lunar Master”, opened their set, and showed they were more than serious about playing some Rock music, as they came barreling out of the gates. When he wasn’t singing, Kyle was interacting with his brother, Kelley Juett, who is the guitarist. The two would mirror each other at times, and others lean against each other as they tore it up on their respective instruments, and really, isn’t that one of the most Rock ‘n’ Roll things a band can do? The song started to come to an end, but Kelley whipped into a wicked guitar solo that patched it into their next one, “Eagle Soars”. That was a cool intro for it, but the song didn’t really spring to life until Judge Smith began to pound out the drumbeats for it. The dose of heavy rock continued with “City Nights”, which somewhat chronicles the band life (“Travel in vans, making one night stands…”) and offers a word of encouragement to any doubters of the future of Rock, “…Don’t believe everything they say, Rock ‘n’ Roll is here to stay…”. So far, they were proving to be proof of that, too. Once it ended, Kyle formerly introduced Kelly to the crowd. “…He’s going to sing a song for you…” he stated, as the trio fired up “Angel of Death”. His voice has a different tone to it then Kyle’s, but it’s every bit as good, and this was one of the best songs of their set. Before carrying on, Kyle mentioned they’d be releasing their record in February, noting that it was a re-release of their first album, put out earlier this year, but this time they’d have the backing of a label. “…We’ll be touring a lot in support of it…” he said, before saying the next one will be the first song on it. “…It’s called Cosmic Rain” he finished. With that, they had sadly arrived to the final song of their 38-minute long set, and that was “Win or Lose”.
From the only other time I had seen them, I remembered them being pretty good, and they were even much better than that this night. Their musicianship alone is off the charts, and is readily shown in all their songs with the rip-roaring instrumental portions. You also have their stage performance, which certainly seemed to be more polished from what I recalled.
There one of those bands that is pure Rock ‘n’ Roll, though they have a heavier edge to them, with even some hints of Metal. They’re not trying to do anything fancy, and you can tell their sole purpose is to make great music, which they succeed at.
After seeing them again, I hate that I let nearly a year go by before finally making it to another show, and I plan on trying my best not to let that happen again. And if you’ve yet to experience Mothership, I suggest you get acquainted with them in one form or another.
They may be re-releasing their album in a few months, but you can still purchase the original release on either ITUNES or BANDCAMP. As for shows, they have a few currently on the books, including a gig in Austin on January 17th at Holy Mountain. On February 8th and 9th they’ll be in the D/FW area. The show on the former date will be at the Curtain Club in Dallas, while the latter one will be held at Lola’s Saloon in Fort Worth.
After them, it was time for the band I was most excited for, and that was Trebuchet.
The band had been absent for most of the year, as guitarist, Keith Naylor had taken what I guess could be called some personal time off and traveled about. Because of that, it had been a little over nine months since the band had last played in their hometown, and their fans appeared very eager to finally see them again.
Once the sound check was completed, singer, Justin Hawkins, picked up his guitar, as drummer, Bobby Lotfipour, led them into their instrumental song, “J5”. The best thing about that song is how in synch they are, as the three guitar players, Keith, Justin and Dustin Fleming, have almost the same exact movements while strumming their axes. Once it ended, Justin placed his guitar back down, while Dustin proceeded to shred on his, starting “Cowboy Rick”. Just like old times. That’s still one of the coolest song I’ve heard, and maybe it’s because I hadn’t heard it live in so long, but it sounded even better now than any time before. Once the final notes had been played, Bobby wound them in to their next song, “Potentiometer”. It’s one of a few epic odyssey’s from their new album, lasting over seven minutes, but the thing is, it doesn’t seem it. It passed by rather quickly, and afterwards they did what was probably the shortest song of their set. Bassist, John Yett, had been rocking out with his band mates, but he got really lively with “Gadfly”, and began to jump back and forth and thrash about to the drumbeats. “O.L.H.” was the next song in the setlist, and before starting it, Justin glanced over at Keith. “The statues will fall. The buildings and pages will crumble. How do we live on? Through memories and stories and song…” Justin sang a cappella, with Keith adding some backing vocals, and each of them were slowly snapping their fingers. It’s a fine intro for that song, and live, it made for the most entrancing moment of their entire show. It soon grew into much more of a rock number, though, with a killer music bed. “Where the fuck is Josh Fleming?” asked Justin once that song was over. The Phuss’s singer quickly made his way on stage to help sing on the next tune. “Cowboy Rick” isn’t the only song about zombies in their repertoire any more. Now, they have a reprised version of that song, and have aptly titled it, “Walking Dead (Reprise)”. They had some problems at first, as the microphone Josh used was working perfectly, and made his voice almost inaudible. He didn’t let that stop him, though, as he bounded across the stage, and eventually he and Justin shared the main mic on this trippy, borderline psychedelic song. Afterwards, they paused momentarily while Justin addressed the crowd. “We’ve been waiting for this night for a long time…” he said. Someone in the crowd then shouted, “We’re still alive!” “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons…” Justin responded, and then thanked everyone for coming out. They had two songs left at this point, and they were the longest ones from the record. The first was the tranquil, “Lies and Delusions”, while concluding their 45-minute long set was “Sign of the Times”, which is easily one of the best songs they’ve ever written, and was the perfect way to end an incredible set.
They had only done two recent shows before this one, and either they just didn’t accumulate much dust during their hiatus, or they did a damn good job of cleaning it off before hand, because this was, at the very least, on par with every other Trebuchet show I’ve seen. And on that note, this marked the 26th time I’ve seen them, which is now more than any other band.
They were dynamic as always, and you could tell they were putting forth even a little extra, since this was their CD release show after all. And while that eight song set may sound short, they played every single track from their sophomore album, “Said A to B”.
I can’t express how awesome it was to finally hear these songs (especially the last two of their set) and actually know them, seeing as I, and every other fan of theirs, have been hearing some of these songs for probably about two years now.
This release really has been a long time coming, and to make it even more special, they had a limited amount of vinyl records printed up. Only one hundred in all, and aside from that, the only other way to get the album is with a digital download card. Both items are currently only available at their shows at the moment, and they don’t have anything else booked right now. However you can go HERE to keep tabs on their concert schedule. And be sure to pick up their first record, “The Bear & the Moon”.
Usually, one band doing a CD release show on a bill is all you see, but there was another one going on this night, as The Virgin Wolves were releasing their first ever full-length record.
Drummer, Steve Phillips, launched them into their first song, and bassist, Kristin Leigh, and guitarists, Chase Robbins and Carson Coldiron, joined in, and all the while Chase and singer, Jaimeson Robbins, were working on exciting the crowd. “Oh, Sugar” was their opening number, though they encountered the first of a few technical difficulties during this one. Jaimesons’ mic was cutting in and out, causing her to eventually go over to the stage right mic, sharing it with Chase briefly, before Kristin got her attention and motioned for her to use her mic. That fixed the issue, at least in the short-term, and once the song was finished, the main mic got exchanged for one that worked perfectly. The pace picked up with the hard hitting, “Crawl”, which has been taking to a whole new level, partly due to some spiced up riffs, and partly because of the backing vocals that Chase sings, which adds a new layer to it. They followed it with one of their brand new songs, “Same Familiar”, which they wound right into the subsequent song from their record, “Lies”. Towards the end of it, Jaimeson walked over to stage left, holding the mic close to Carson as the two belted out the chorus, “…I never promise not to tell no lies…”, while he shredded on his guitar. The word “raw” can be used to describe just about every aspect of the bands performance and songs, but one of the rawest tunes this night was “What You Want To Hear”. The retooled version is so much better, due largely to the trade off Chase and Jaimeson do on the chorus, with one singing one line, the other the next, and so on. They didn’t segue every song into the next like they’ve done before, but they didn’t take much downtime in between songs, either, and soon ripped into “Crooked Smile”. Next, they slowed it down ever so slightly with the more Blues inspired, “Vagabonds”, during which Jaimeson spent part of her time sitting on the bass drum, taking a few drags from her cigarette whenever she wasn’t singing, which did look pretty Rock ‘n’ Roll. Steve immediately started them into the explosive, “Bad”. It really takes off on the volatile chorus, which can easily induce some head banging, while the ladies of the band shout out, “With her dirty, little fingernails and her dark brown, bloodshot eyes…”. They brought it into my personal favorite song of theirs, “End Of The Line”, which is just as catchy live as it had come across as on the album, if not more so. They definitely crafted something special with that one, and it shows. It, too, was brought into their following song, which Carson quickly noted was the single from the record, and that the video for this song was by White Cane Productions. As soon as he finished, they got underway with “Black Sheep”, which was always a strong song live, but this revitalized version reaches a whole new level. Upon finishing it, Chase removed his guitar, then took the main mic from Jaimeson, who left the stage momentarily. Chase proceeded to pace back and forth anxiously while Carson started the song. “If you know it, sing along.” He said, before Chase let out an earsplitting scream. Several people seemed to know it, though I wasn’t one, and with the incoherent screaming, there wasn’t much chance of me liking the song, either. That’s not to say I didn’t find it fun, though, and to some extent did enjoy it. A handful of people started a mosh pit when they started that song, and it lasted about as long as the song itself. Jaimeson added some backing vocals here and there during it, and once it was done, she and Chase returned to their normal spots. They had played all but one song from “Pretty Evil Thing", and to close out their 49-minute set, they raced through “Virtue And Vice”, which is so Rock it incited yet another mosh pit.
The technical issues early on did seem to disrupt the potential flow they could have had from the get go, but recovered quickly enough. Besides, they put on such an intense performance, it more than made up for that and resulted in a killer show.
And even on a slightly off night for the band, they still proved that they are better than most bands who are having one of their best nights.
Their new album, “Pretty Evil Thing”, is an exceptional record (see my album review HERE) and you should definitely get a copy. That album is also only available at live shows right now, but stay tuned to one of the bands sites for future updates when it does become available online.
So, you can get a copy at their show at Andy’s in Denton on January 18th, The Prophet Bar in Dallas on the 19th, Lola’s Saloon in Fort Worth on February 2nd, or The Blue Note Lounge in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on February 8th.
This was an astounding night, and perhaps the best thing of all is the comradery these four bands share.
Early on during The Phuss’s set, Josh asked everyone to move up front, the told the people, “…You better get used to this, because you’re going to need to be up here for every band tonight…” Aside from that, every band mentioned the other, asking people to please stick around, as well as thanking the main acts for having them on this bill.
It gave the impression that they more than just bands simply working together, and instead have a sort of brotherhood going on. That’s something that still seems to be lacking a bit in the local music scene, which is a shame. I never get the feeling that any bands are out to get another or anything like that, but still, most aren’t necessarily close with other groups, either. So it was refreshing to see that, that bond does exist, even if it is on a small scale.
This truly was a memorable night, and one I don’t plan on forgetting anytime soon.
