Your ass just left me a message!

Yes! Angel and I went to see All That Remains on Monday, as their roadshow passed thru Austin. Emos ( http://www.emosaustin.com/ ) outside has evolved into a pretty fucking decent area for seeing some live music. As the Texas nights get cooler, I am sure the acts will get hotter and I cant wait for the next opportunity to see another show out here. I will DEFINITELY look forward to being down in front, center stage, for any number of bands that could perform in this tight little area.

So Angelina has had this band on her list for quiet awhile. I was very happy to get a last minute opportunity to check out the show with her. All That Remains ( http://forwearemany.allthatremainsonline.com/ ) is what Angel affectionately labels a 'Screamo' band. Whatever the label, it was fucking kick ass. I loved the lead singers casualness with the audience (and the fact that being from Massachusetts he actually had an appreciation for football - the national religion of Texas!) and the bass player scared the hell outta me when she started busting out the gutturals!! WHOA!

The audience was totally in sync and harmony with the band and were right on top of the vocals the whole show through. Between the deafening beats of the drums and the battling guitar riffs I was actually able to over hear two guys behind me proclaim how 'bad-ass the drummer is!' Ahhhh lets hear it for drum triggers, none the less, there is NO DOUBT it was great, the crowd was great and Angel had a nice little spot to see the band. Without any questions this set should have been 45 minutes longer and would have been just as fantastic and been more kick ass in leaving the audience out of breath. But alas, I think the lead singer was gonna melt from the humidity.

P.S. - On a really odd side note, I am telling a friend of mine about the show and off he goes rattling information about All That Remains and their ties with Killswitch engage. "WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!" Now I remember the voice and the lead singer. This is Phil who me and Angel saw back in March as the fill in lead singer for Killswitch Engage when we saw them and Devil Wears Prada at Stubb's.....DUH!!!

OH this kid is good...check them out, buy the album brutalize your ears it's worth it!

BTW, The title of the blog comes from Angelina's phone. While she was changing clothes on the way to the show she kept butt dialing me. After the second time her phone actually stayed connected long enough to go to my voice mail.

Laters

Dark Tranquility/Devil Wears Prada/KillSwitch Engage

OK, so maybe you weren't there [sigh]. OK, just hear me out. IT WAS VERY VERY f**kng cold! Did I say it was COLD!

Dark tranquility is from Gothenburg, way up at the top of the world, and as they said 'halfway around the world we're giving an outdoor concert. There is snow this deep [hand gestures 3ft] at home. Austin Texas you're fucking awesome!' Yup short sleeves and all, in some 30+ degree weather, was a nice change for them this time of year. Although they played a short set it was very obvious that they are built for speed. I would've been very happy to be upfront, but Angelina Skye was with me, height was an issue. Anyway they killed it, Dark Tranquility was such a great starter for what was coming. Oh Yeah, and it would be dickish of me not to mention that the new album for Dark Tranquility drops on 03/09/10. Check out a sampling on their myspace music page. Just DO IT, dammit.

Ahhhh The Devil Wears Prada, these young guys absofuckinlutely know how to perform on stage. It was beautiful to watch, kinda like synchronized swimming in the summer Olympics. HA! But really, these are the guys that I CAME TO SEE (and Angel too). Loved the performance, all the energy had the whole audience going. Again, here I know they're music and they definitely have a catalog to support being a headliner, but I guess I'll catch that show some other time. BY THE WAY they had they're name before the dumbass movie was out. I do believe these guys would be pegged as Christcore music, but don't label it, LOVE IT! Now that my blood was circulating from they're VERY contagious energy on stage it was time for the kill....

Alright now...KillSwitch Engage is finishing their tour without there lead singer. Citing 'personal reasons', Howard Jones was absent and in his place was Phil Labonte of 'All That Remains'. Now this, NO DOUBT, made Angelina very, VERY happy as she loves "All That Remains'. The lead guitarist for KSE really brought the energy and you could tell there was some great camaraderie between him and the replacement singer Phil. Once KSE set it off, Angel was even more excited as she realized she knew their songs. I wasn't really impressed by the replacement lead singer, seemed that this wasn't exactly his key, BUT there was a whole lot of 'all of you know this song so sing along with us' then the lead singer would go through some of the lyrics and then hold the mic out over the audience. Tell ya what, definitely some die hard, hard core fans, they didn't miss a a beat, they just screamed and sang along with the band the whole way through. Props to Phil as he definitely made a show of it. We, as an audience, were given big props by the band for being there, in the FREEZINGFUCKINGCOLDNIGHTINAUSTINTEXAS, and still supporting them without their lead singer. Overall was a great performance and makes me smile knowing that the philosophy "The show must go on!" really does mean something in today's musical environment.

Later