Because of a long-standing reputation for carrying such great bands as Bad Religion, Bouncing Souls and NOFX, I have a lot of respect for Epitaph as a record label. When Youth Group, one of their newest acquisitions, came to town, I was really interested to check out the new kids, despite the fact that they are more indie, and not what I would consider typical Epitaph fare.
So I wandered down to Detroit's Magic Stick for an Indie rock show.
When we got there, Freer was opening things up. They reminded me a lot of old Cure or Hot Hot Heat, with an added dose of disco and some organs that sounded like the Doors may have sounded if they'd been a circus orchestra. It was nice mellow sound, but I felt their songs spent way too much time building, and not enough time peaking.
Aqueduct Warms It Up
My big surprise for the night was Aqueduct. I'd not heard this Seattle band before, but was sold on them the moment they took the stage, playing their own theme song which relied heavily on the line "Who wants to rock with Aqueduct?". And even though the crowd had been pretty mellow up to that point, it was quite obvious that they all wanted to rock with Aqueduct.
Relying heavily on quirky keyboards, Aqueduct plays fun geeky indie pop, breaking into occasional doses of punk riffs and space rock, Aqueduct is all about creating a fun live set. It was kind of like seeing a low-budget Flaming Lips set, or hearing a band slated for a John Hughes soundtrack from back in the day.
Their set also included a song called "As You Wish", based on the film The Princess Bride and featuring snippets of dialogue as lyrics, and a nice cover of the theme from Walker, Texas Ranger, which they played to welcome Youth Group. Their whole set was a welcome surprise, discovering a band I didn't know I'd like so much. About.com's Alternative music writer has made Aqueduct's new album an earl runner for best of the year, and based on their live show, I can see how he's made that call.
Youth Group Cools It Off
Simply put, Youth Group isn't really what I was expecting. While I knew their sound wasn't consistent with typical Epitaph Records bands, I was expecting more from a band the label would sign and bring over from Australia to tour.
It's not that they were bad; they are very talented and their music is lush and deep. Sometimes it sounds a bit like folksy emo pop, and occasionally they go deep into thick atmospheric wall of sound which was amazing during the acoustic portions of their set. There were even points in the set where they bared all and dropped some great rock riffs.
So what's my problem? It was the band's stage prescence, or lack thereof. As far as I could tell, the band wasn't concerned whether or not the crowd was there (and in fact, people started leaving during their set). They were simply one-dimensional on stage, and this was exacerbated by the fact that they were following up Aqueduct's energetic set.
Their set totally reminded me of a show I'd been to in this same club a few years ago, when Youth Group's fellow countrymen The Church played. There was a similar feeling then, seeing these amazingly talented musicians play an incredible set that was totally devoid of stage presence. Is this an Australian thing?
I do think that Youth Group's latest, Casino Twilight Dogs, will be worth owning and listening to as a "rainy Sunday afternoon" record. But if you're planning on seeing them live, don't bother with sitting and facing the band. Whether or not you're looking at them, if you can hear them you'll be getting the same experience as everyone else in the club.
