After what seemed like ages of trying to catch the Violent Affair in a local show, my window of opportunity, had arrived. They were now performing locally(in OKC) with the Dirty Mugs(Tulsa) and The Street Dogs, (Boston Mass.)at the Conservatory on May 21. Finally, after all the crappy youtube videos, and band page surfing, I would finally get to see Oklahoma citys famous hardcore punk band, with an exciting ,original band from Tulsa, the Dirty Mugs. Once I searched the Street Dogs, I was even more excited about the evening.
I arrived early and waited outside with a small crowd of faithful fans. I had my digital camera and video cam in a bag, and was asked if I was "media." I said not really just a fan too. Show time started and the Conservatory front door opened and I was the first in the door, headed straight to the Violent Affair table to snag a black n red logo Tee Shirt, then promply claimed my spot in front of the stage. V.A was opening.
One by one Brian, Dom,Zach,jesse and Ryan took the Stage, for sound check. The crowd wore V.A. t shirts and sported mohawks of biblical proportions, and were pierced ,studded and tattooed appropriately for this evening. I was not. I just had a black camera bag an blue jeans. "ANYHOO", the show began with much screaming jumping and bass thumping, and a frenzy of mosh pit ,slamming, and fist pumping! This band was on fire on the first song, no warm up needed! Powering thru the 2010 album (Stand Trial.Unrepentant records) songs, mixed with new ones from their Latest album, A Call To Arms/ Jailhouse reocords. 2012.
I feel Their set was energetic and brutally refreshing. This is punk music, by a punk band with an "in your face delivery of anti socialistic angst, and anger delivered with a sadistic grin. Next time you hear the name Violent Affair, or see it on a flyer, make a point to see their live show, better yet, be apart of their live show, it's easy, just let your inner child say "FUCK IT!."
This was first time seeing the The Dirty Mugs also. They were not "dirty", but well groomed, and had vests on ,slacks and hardsoled shoes on, AND gypsy like ladies with tambourines on each end of the stage. They have an early century, rustic, traveling band look to them I thought. Their sound was like Irish folk/pub style with a healthy dose of modern american songwriting. Though the delivery was different ,This was foot stomping, screaming ,fist pumping , accordion cranking, punk music! You had a feeling you were watching a celebration of comrades and family, each song deliverd with heart and vitality! Don't let their vagabond persona fool you, They will have you jumping ,stomping and raging, hardcore very early in their set!
The Street Dogs, were loud and raucous, seasoned entertainers, that really drew the crowd into their world , and onto their stage at times. The packed front stage floor was a cyclone of bodies,and swinging bodyparts. They set up each song with a witty story and a bit of humor, then hell on drums, strings and vocals would follow. My first time seeing them live actually wore me out. lol. I was literally beaten,kicked and elbowed ,braving the mosh pits to get the photos and video of the bands. I was even KNOCKED DOWN by the lead singer of Street Dogs, as he ran about the club during their set. I left after their 2 angry kids song, exhausted , ears ringing and headache throbbing. Which pretty much means , I HAD A BLAST!!!!
Well, after seeing the video of For 12, last june, and listening to more songs of this band ,I was excited to know that they will be performing on mainstage at NMF5! This band is touring all over the world and I was glad they took time out to appear here , even tho they are from here, Stillwater exactly. Their music is so unique to me, vocal and indie acoustic, fokish, whatever you want to call it, it is done well. And now I wanted to see them all, in front of me , performing the songs I had only heard on the internet.
They sound like their cds, I mean Jesse's vox and the background vocals are all right on pitch and emoted just like the recordings we are used to hearing. There were technical glitches, where the sound completely cut out on stage, but they kept the show going and went on to deliver their most memorable songs in a most memorable way.
Band members are Jesse Tabish (vocals, piano, guitar and percussion),
Jenny Hsu (cello and backing vocals), Jon Mooney (violin, horns, piano
and percussion), Colby Owens (clarinet and percussion) and Josh Onstott
(bass and percussion).
"For 12" was featured as KCRW's "Today's Top Tune" on October 27, 2010.
Other Lives finished working on their latest album Tamer Animals in February 2011. The album was released on May 10th 2011 in the USA and August 29th 2011 in UK/Europe.
In the summer of 2011, the band toured with S. Carey and The Rosebuds. Following a month of shows in the UK, the band joined Bon Iver in September in the USA and Canada and played at Iceland Airwaves festival. The band returned to the UK in October to support Chapel Club
in London on October 18th. The band will also play headline shows
across UK and Holland in October and November 2011. The band will open
for Radiohead
on the first leg of their 2012 North American tour in February and
March, 2012. Like Radiohead, the band is scheduled to play the 2012 Coachella Festival. [4]
In September 2011, Other Lives launched their Wirewax interactive website tameranimals.com
which was built around the band's official video for "For 12" and
allows users to access audio and visual content within the video.
When Pretty Black Chains appeared at Fassler Hall in January, it
arrived as a different band than the one that Tulsa audiences had been
accustomed to. The autumn departure of lead singer Kellen McGugan
initially put a halt on progress with the band, but after auditioning a
couple other singers, bassist Jonathan (Chuck) Martin, drummer Kurt
Freudenberger and guitarist Derek Knowlton decided to soldier on as trio
with Knowlton handling vocal duties.
Although the attrition in lineup has changed to presentation of the
band, it hasn't made the group any less explosive. McGugan's stage
presence channeled a young Mick Jagger, combined with a touch of Bowie
and a dash on Ian Astbury. Without his eclectic stage persona, you might
think Pretty Black Chains would lose part of its live impact, but you'd
be wrong. This year's showcase at SXSW was just as explosive as last
year's with the band finally hitting its groove as a power-trio.
McGugan's absence does take away an element, but it also leaves the band
more room to build upon its true strengths and explore a new landscape
sonically. If anything, the "power" in power trio comes out as the band
members feed off of each other and hit the audience with a wall of
energy and sound.
Keep
Rattling. A powerful musical trio, Pretty Black Chains' dynamic has
changed but the same wall of energy falls heavily on audiences when they
perform.
According to guitarist (and now lead vocalist) Derek Knowlton, the
band's last performance as a quartet occurred Aug. 27, 2011 at Dustbowl
Arts Market. When discussing McGugan's departure, Knowlton shared that
"To be honest, it was kind of out of the blue, but his heart just wasn't
in it anymore. I think the others were a little hurt and confused by
it, but I was kind of excited.
"I've always been in a band with a prominent front man," he continued
"and as a band, we kind of struggled with that when Kellen left. We
tried a couple of other singers, but finally made the decision to just
go on as a trio. It's different when you lose a guitarist or bassist or
drummer. People don't think as much of changing those members as they do
when the face of the band changes."
Even so, although the dynamic has changed a bit, the overall vibe has
continued on as the group decided to move forward with its core and not
bring in another member. That's likely made the transition easier, both
for the band and its established fan base. The transition has also
opened new doors for Knowlton and the rest of the band.
"For me, part of it has been an opportunity to establish myself more
as a songwriter and singer, not just as a guitarist, which is how I've
always been known," Knowlton said. "This is an opportunity to establish
that this is my band."
When we very first started, Chuck and I wrote everything together,"
he said. "Chuck had kids and got busy with his family and I opened
Warpaint (Knowlton's T-shirt business in OKC). I've got a basement
there, which gave me even more opportunity to play and write in my down
time."
Although the band recorded an initial group of songs for its debut
disc, Ceremonies, by the time the band had the disc ready for release,
it had already moved on to playing a whole different group of songs with
a different sound and direction. As a result, when Ceremonies was
finally released, the group included an additional disc with five demo
tracks of its new material and an indication of where the band was
headed next.
"When everyone heard Ceremonies they thought, 'Oh, I get it -- you're
a Strokes-like garage band,' but that was just that one moment in time.
It's just an ever evolving thing with this band. Now that Kellen's
gone, we've all started to sing. Some of the new songs don't even have
bass, it's guitar, drums and organ with three part harmonies, which
makes us sound all the more like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club during
their Howl period."
Even though Knowlton references Black Rebel, which was a definite
reference point on the band's last disc, Awakening, don't try and paint
the band into any corners. When the group played Fassler Hall in
January, it had already moved on from that last album and didn't play
any songs from the disc, rolling out a whole new set of songs. Not even
three months later, Knowlton shared that the band has continued to move
forward and is only playing about three of those songs now as the
direction and sound continues to evolve.
"Our sound is still changing," Knowlton acknowledged, "but as long as
we're the ones writing it, I think it will always sound like Pretty
Black Chains. We just won't get stuck in the rick riff thing. When
Kellen left, it actually allowed us to explore even more, sound wise."
Although the band's ever changing sound and set list can prove to be
challenging to audiences who are accustomed to a more static set list,
Knowlton views the band's role a bit differently than most. "I think, as
a local band, we're supposed to do that," he said. "We're supposed to
use the local crowd as a sounding board to work out new material, to
keep it fresh for them and us both."
ORIGINALLY POSTED IN URBAN TULSA WEEKLY.http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A48174