Much apologies to those who were looking for this to appear shortly after the show Friday, I'd fully intended on that being the case ... let's just say that what actually happened was a celebration of St. Patrick?s day beginning a day early and lasting all the way up through Sunday (which is a lesser known holiday itself, St. Hangovers day, which mostly revolves around celebrating ye olde gods of porcelain). I'm Irish, leave me alone!
Vitals of the show:date : Friday, March 16th, 2001
venue : Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio
bands : The Problem, American Steel, Alkaline Trio
cost of ingress : 7 dollars American
cost of egress : 5 beers, 15 bux; one shirt, 10 bux; total spent 25 bux ... not bad at all!
It wasn't the worst show I've ever been to, not by a long shot. It would take a lot more than temper mental microphones, bloodied fingers and a drunken audience members rendition of My Friend Peter to top the hell that is a Christian 'rock' concert in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in bumfuck, Texas ... but bless them for trying. Really, about the only thing that the numerous mishaps accomplished was in reminding me how much I love going to shows where everything is so far removed from perfection that you can't help but feel intrinsically connected to the band and the songs they are putting forth.
The opening bands were a mixed bag, for me at least. The Problem was amusing, but hardly enough to hold my attention, which was too bad for American Steel, because I had long since begun to make the mingling rounds once they started their set. I liked what I heard from American Steel, but I was too wrapped up in conversation with another aspiring journalist to be bothered too much to listen with all the power that my near-deaf ears possess. I would like to thank the front-man for The Problem for apologizing after stepping on my toes, you sir are a gentleman and a screamer!
Things began to pick up once the Trio took the stage and started tuning their respective means of auditory destruction. This being my first time seeing them with their new drummer Mike Felumlee, formerly of the late, great Smoking Popes, I was more than excited to see how he handled the hard-pounding energy of the Trio's material. Familiar to me were the two who share the singing duties, Matt Skiba on guitar and Dan Andriano on bass.
Opening their set with Nose Over Tail was a bit of a surprise to me, as I'd gotten used to them saving that for the closer when I've seen them in the past; but it went down just as easily as the first shot as it does as the chaser. A very smart move on their part as opening with something off of their new album might have rubbed some of the less initiated fans the wrong way and hurt the crowd energy, but that wasn't the case, so I'm really just waxing pretentious. Somewhere between the opener and the second round, which consisted of a filled to the brim version of '97, Matt managed to slice open one or two of his fingers, which is never any fun at all, but it didn't do anything to hurt his guitar playing madness. Ideally, it would have made a sadistically poignant segue into Bloodied Up off of their forthcoming album From Here To Infirmary (which was played, but not in the number 3 slot), but instead it signaled the onset of a myriad of technical problems that would plague the remainder of their time on stage. Amid cheerful complaints about the mics cutting out on them, and the tech boys running back and forth trying to remedy the situation, Matt and Dan managed to do a more than admirable job of sharing a mic stand (and even managed to back one another up in several situations where they actually had two mics, but one cut out and left the lyrics stranded voiceless for a beat or two).
Other highlights included the Dallas-area debuts of Hell Yes!, which is a remarkably catchy track (off of their recently released 7inch also titled Hell Yes!) and, as I mentioned, Bloodied Up. A vast majority of the crowd seemed pretty well acquainted with most of the new material (partly attributable to the newest Vagrant Records compilation Another Year on the Streets and partly attributable to Napster, but I'm sure all the good little indie kids and punkers out there will be buying the album anyway, right?), which is not a huge shocker given the rabidly loyal nature of Trio fans, on the whole.
However, the most defining moments of the show came during the afore-mentioned version of My Friend Peter and San Francisco. When the band launched into My Friend Peter, one of the staple audience members of all Dallas Trio shows I've been to decided that he wanted to aide the boys in singing the song, and quickly forgot most of the lyrics. What resulted was a barely intelligible song, some PRICELESS looks of confusion from Matt and Dan (someone please, please, please hook me up with pictures of that little encounter!), and a slight struggle to wrest the crooning duties away from said stage invader. It was a funny moment to say the least, but it was more than a tad bit disappointing to be denied an absolute favorite of mine. The other, more telling, moment came at the end of a song/show closing rampage by Mike, Matt and Dan following a lively, sing-along version of San Francisco when one of Matt's guitars was subsequently power-slammed to the stage with a frustrated ferocity.
Confused Frustration probably best sums it up on the performer side of things. The audience, in large part, was left craving more but was also very understanding of the difficulties they were made to share in. For me, the show was great. The multitude of problems conveyed a very raw feel and caused the music to come across as delectably urgent and angsty. The venue more than lived up to it's name in allowing us to catch a slight glimpse of what early Trio rehearsals and Chi-town shows must have been like, and that's not even close to being a bad thing.
The Trio will wrap up their current Infirmary support tour in early April before heading out on tour with No Motiv and Blink 182 in May, where the mic problems will surely be kept to a minimum. Fret not, Dallasites, as the Trio will surely be back before too long, if not with Blink, then later in May or June with a full Vagrant lineup. As always, for more information check the usual sources, Alkaline Trio's site or the Vagrant Records site. Also, be on the look out for an upcoming review of all things Trio (all things I can get my hands on, that is ... some of their shit is HARD to get!), as that will provide a little more depth and insight into the songs and the band as a whole. Until then ...
PS - thanks to Jessie at Vagrant for permission to cover the show and stuff