On a whim, I decided to go to a local show last night. I always like local shows because they’ve got that laid back vibe that you don’t get with a more widely kown act. On top of that it was at the Triple Rock which I like as a venue because of its size and layout. Finally, you can’t go wrong seeing 4 bands for $7.

Doors were at 5, so I showed up a little late which turned out to be perfectly on time for the first band, Death To Your King. They started their set a few minutes after I got in the door. With a name like theirs, you can guess pretty easily they’re a hardcore band. Turns out they were from someplace in WI I think. I wasn’t paying too much attention to tell you the truth. They gave a solid performance filled with excitement and passion. While I wasn’t too hot on the motivation behind the song “for all the 15 and 16 year old kids in high school go come to a show to hang out and have a good time.” The lead singer, who couldn’t be more than 20 himself spoke about the inspiration for another one of their songs and really the reason he was in the band. His father had called him one night to tell him goodbye. He was giving up on life. Among his reasons were alcoholism and poverity. He did leave his son with one piece of good advice, “Follow your dreams no matter how much you have to give up.” I paid much more attention to the rest of their set after that. I think they could have a future if they keep at it.
Grade: B

Playing second, was Cue the Doves. This was another set of new faces for me. I have to say I wasn’t much impressed. First of all, they had 3 guitarists. Which doesn’t say much, but for the type of band they were, they probably only needed 2. On top of that, they had their singer playing some kind of samples before almost every track. This wouldn’t have been so bad, except it sounded like he was using a tape recorder. At the beginning of every song he’d walk to the back of the stage, fiddle with something, some weird sound or some line from a movie would start playing, and then he’d stop it and the band would play their song. When he wasn’t doing this, he was saying a bit about the next song they were going to perform. Usually it was some bit about space, aliens, or the like. Again, not a bad thing by itself, but the guy sounded like even he thought it was cheesy. They were quite the crew, I’ll say that. After what seemed like an eternity, their set was over. Hurrah!
Grade: D+

Now the next band, Ettison Clio, I had actually bothered to check out online before the show. What interested me was that they were female fronted. Turns out they’ve got a fairly big following in MI where they’re from. I didn’t think they were bad, but I just wasn’t feeling their music. The girl could sing very well. There were times she wouldn’t even use a mic and I could still hear here ok. To put it bluntly, they didn’t fit well with the other bands and it showed. Nothing against the band, they were all really into the show. On top of that, their singer had a scratched cornea which I would imagine is very distracting and they had 2 band members quit prior to them going out on tour. Maybe on a different night I’d have enjoyed the more.
Grade: C+

The best was saved for last. Or so I thought. Nehemiah is probably the best metal band from Minneapolis today. They’re brutal as hell, they know how to put on a show, and they actually have a couple records out. If you read me often enough, you might remember I was at one of their shows back in February. That show happened to be a farewell show for 3 of their members who were going off to various corners of the country. This was the first I’d seen of the new lineup, but more on that later. They came out and played a couple songs from their new EP, Lenore. The songs sounded tight and left me wanting more. Then they ripped through a few older tracks, back to a new one, and closed with The Kings Collapse off of Lenore. That was it; 7 songs. From the headlining band. Sound a little strange? Yea, I thought so too. My guess is that with all the lineup changes, no one was really ready to play a full set. They went from 2 vocalists to 1 (which I always thought set them apart). I think the other 2 new guys were the drummer and one of the guitarists. Like I said, they probably haven’t learned all the songs yet. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt this time, but damn was it dissapointing.
Grade: C

All in all, it was a quick show which had very few high points. I have to admit I was surpised with the female turnout though. For a metal/rock show, it was very odd. I’d say it was pretty close to 50/50. I would’ve liked to have seen a more metal lineup and a few more songs from Nehemiah in particular. But, as I stated in the beginning, you can’t go wrong with 4 bands for $7.
Overall Grade: C-