*note the likeness between Waingro from Heat to Stefan Gonzalez from AkkolyteEat Avery's Bones, Personal Victories, Darktown Strutters, Akkolyte, The Great Tyrant, and Fight Bite
What a fun birthday show for Ben Rogers. I was really looking forward to this all week. Unfortunately, i got there late and missed Eat Avery's Bones and Personal Victories. Bummer. I know Eat Avery's Bones is always great, and all i heard were positive responses to George Quartz and Co.'s new band Personal Victories. Oh well.
I walked in during Darktown Strutters set and was instantly feeling those dark disco grooves. They played a couple songs i had not previously heard and i was surprised by the clear and evenly amplified sound. The Chat Room has always been a super fun, small space to see bands play, but the audio can be lacking sometimes. I suppose booking shows at the Firehouse Gallery (a la Metrognome Collective) instead will improve this aural predicament.
Akkolyte killed the audience with their blasts of metal/grind so hard that it was tough to believe this was their 3rd set of the evening (both earlier shows were in Dallas, one with Yells at Eels and one with Akkolyte). What hard hitting troopers those Gonzalez bros are! After some fun jokes about God in between songs they ended their set by bringing the jovial Ben up and serenading him with a metal as fuck rendition of "Happy Birthday".
Up next were the dirge rockers The Great Tyrant. These guys' thunderous and sludgy sound always get me feeling like i'm watching a bigger balled Nick Cave make love to Bauhaus era Peter Murphy. Yum. Daren has a great sounding voice (i'm surprised he didn't get further along on American Idol) that mixes well with their eerie synthesisers and powerful presence. Glad to see that their bass player Tommy is back in action after i heard he had some health problems. They were a great addition to this show and truly another one of my favorite local acts.
Last up were the omnipresent Fight Bite. It can be bittersweet having to play last out of six local bands but they should have felt somewhat honored to have that slot. I know i wouldn't wanna play after all these other local bands but i do believe FB are well respected and have deservedly earned such peer and audience approval. After seeing Leanne dance around all night, it was nice to see her have her moment to shine. Like Birdman and 'lil Wayne say, girl, "Get your shine on".
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