Let’s get something out of the way: A lumberjack beard and skinny jeans do not mix.
Being a bassist in a rock/metal band may cover many sins, but not that one. The offender was Brian Cook of the instrumental band Russian Circles, which was the opening act last night at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. This is a band that I would consider listening to again, as they ranged the gamut from soft, delicate passages to full metal blasts.
This is the only situation where full-fledged audio feedback is considered a feature, not a problem.
Dan Briggs, bassist: This guy knows how to play the bass guitar. He apparently also knows how to play the bass. By his face it looks like he somewhat enjoys being in a screamo band, though he also looks like someone you’d expect to be curled up in a corner of the library. He’s probably in denial. PHOTO CREDIT: DANIEL FAVAND
Following the instrumental band came the screamo band, which might as well have been an instrumental band because this is about as much as I got out of the lyrics:
WHHHHHHHYYYY
WHHHYYYY
WHY
WHY WHY
DEAAAATTTHHH
DIE DIE
MOM I’M STUCK IN A SCREAMO METAL BAND HELP ME
WHHHHHYYYYYYY
WHY WHY
Whatever one might say about metal bands, this one, called Between the Buried and Me, did have talent. There was some bass playing the likes of which I’ve not seen before. (That isn’t saying much, since rock/metal/death concerts are not my usual venue.) And the whole situation was saved by the hottie who appeared in the room.
Who balanced out the twelve-year-olds who insisted on continuiously making out in the second row.
In all reality, they probably weren’t twelve years old. But they sure looked it. And how these two pasty faces thought the mosh pit was an appropriate place to mush their pre-pubescent mouths together, I’m not quite sure. Yes, we were all twiddling our thumbs waiting for the main act, Coheed and Cambria, to take stage. But most of us were able to keep it at thumb twiddling.
Claudio Sanchez, lead singer and song writer for Coheed and Cambria, plays the ukulele. PHOTO CREDIT: JON COSGROVE
While we were being treated to this side-show and waiting for the roadies to prepare the stage for Claudio Sanchez and company, I remarked to my friend Jon that we were about to see a prime example of Durkheim’s “collective effervescence.” This is indeed what happened when the band took the stage. The whole mass of humanity in the standing-only venue pressed towards the stage, crushing rib cages in the mass excitement. The entire crowd began jumping and bouncing; it was not a place for the claustrophobic. One simply keeps his head up and feet down, and bounces with the crowd.
The key, simply, is to not worry. Don’t worry that your shoelaces are untied. Or that someone stepped on your toes. (You’re probably stepping on someone else’s toes anyways.) Don’t worry about the fact that your ears will be ringing for the next forty hours. Just be swept up in the music, or if not the music, in the crowd.
