Ex Lion Tamer
10-14-2004, 08:59 AM
With not just a little trepidation, I got in my car Tuesday evening for the two hour drive to Montreal to see Interpol. I wasn't regretting the fact that I was seeing Interpol, I quite like them, though Antics , which I've only listened to maybe 4 times straight through, is definitely not Turn on the Bright Lights. I just was not looking forward to the 2-hour drive home and 6:00 A.M. start of the day on Wednesday. But suffer we must, in the name of indie rock cred.
So I get to the club located in a seedier section of downtown Montreal. I've never seen a show there, but it, looks to be an excellent venue capacity of I'd guess 1500 to 2000, and by the time Interpol takes the stage it's filled. I found this surprising, but maybe I shouldn't have. After the initial disappointment in finding out that there was three bands on the ticket, remember my time issues, I ended up being pleasantly surprised to hear that one of those bands was The Secret Machines. Now Here Is Nowhere is not my favourite album of the year, but it does have at least a couple songs that I enjoy, and I was anxious to hear how well BIG drum sound would translate to the stage.
I never did catch the name of the opening band, which is too bad, because they were quite good in a typical indie guitar-rock way. Their sound suffered from not enough bottom end foundation, and their bass player had an awful nasally tone but was a good player, and formed a rock steady rhythm section with the drummer, reminded me a little of The Smiths excellent and under-rated rhythm section.
Then it was The Secret Machines turn and they opened with the first song on the album; First Wave Intact, and an already long song on CD (9 minutes) that thankfully doesn't quite cross the line to self-indulgence, did so live, with a swelling synth intro, that started before the lights went down and continued for about 5 minutes before the song proper actually started, which was stretched out probably 5 minutes too long. I like the song so I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and it was big and powerful sounding. Second song, one of the slower on the album - The Leaves Are Gone - disk and was not bad, but you could tell they were starting to loose the crowd. The third song was another extended mix version that turned out after 5 or 6 minutes to be too much so I retired to the smoking room, a small lounge where you can't see the band, but they do pipe in the audio. After a couple more songs I heard the beginning of the best song on the album; Nowhere Again so I made my way back to the hall, and heard a very good version of a very good song. All in all not bad, but a little self-indulgent for me with a little too much '70s arena-rawk influence than I'm comfortable with. At times I got a distinct 2112-era Rush vibe, without the virtuosity, not necessarily a bad thing. And a word about the light show. It sucked! Consisting almost entirely of 5 bright white lights from the back of the stage pointing at the audience, so you really couldn't see the band. Is this a new trend? Is this a shoegazer thing; don't look at us , just listen? Personally I think it's stupid, maybe that's just me.
It was 11:00 P.M. by the time Interpol made it to the stage. They played a 75-minute show consisting of a 70/30 first album/second album ratio. They started with the opener from Antics - Next Exit - and did a fine job. What followed were generally note-for-note renditions of some of the better material from both albums. Highlights included NYC, (where at times I could have sworn Ian Curtis had risen from the dead and was singing in front of me), PDA, which really got the crowd going, Obstacle 1, Untitled, Stella Was A Diver - the final tune, which was the crowd favourite and Roland, my personal show hi-light, which was surprising because it's not a favourite on the album. From album 2, the standouts were Evil, Not Even Jail and Length of Love. Again, the lights left a lot to be desired though more varied in colour than The Machines, still it was that - we have ways to make you talk - interrogation thing. Though they don't strike me as a very animated live act, who could tell.
All in all I had a good time and it was about what I expected; a good evening of 80's style alternative rock, rarely a bad thing. If you like to hear a band going through song after song, true to the studio version, you will enjoy Interpol.
NP: Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die
So I get to the club located in a seedier section of downtown Montreal. I've never seen a show there, but it, looks to be an excellent venue capacity of I'd guess 1500 to 2000, and by the time Interpol takes the stage it's filled. I found this surprising, but maybe I shouldn't have. After the initial disappointment in finding out that there was three bands on the ticket, remember my time issues, I ended up being pleasantly surprised to hear that one of those bands was The Secret Machines. Now Here Is Nowhere is not my favourite album of the year, but it does have at least a couple songs that I enjoy, and I was anxious to hear how well BIG drum sound would translate to the stage.
I never did catch the name of the opening band, which is too bad, because they were quite good in a typical indie guitar-rock way. Their sound suffered from not enough bottom end foundation, and their bass player had an awful nasally tone but was a good player, and formed a rock steady rhythm section with the drummer, reminded me a little of The Smiths excellent and under-rated rhythm section.
Then it was The Secret Machines turn and they opened with the first song on the album; First Wave Intact, and an already long song on CD (9 minutes) that thankfully doesn't quite cross the line to self-indulgence, did so live, with a swelling synth intro, that started before the lights went down and continued for about 5 minutes before the song proper actually started, which was stretched out probably 5 minutes too long. I like the song so I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and it was big and powerful sounding. Second song, one of the slower on the album - The Leaves Are Gone - disk and was not bad, but you could tell they were starting to loose the crowd. The third song was another extended mix version that turned out after 5 or 6 minutes to be too much so I retired to the smoking room, a small lounge where you can't see the band, but they do pipe in the audio. After a couple more songs I heard the beginning of the best song on the album; Nowhere Again so I made my way back to the hall, and heard a very good version of a very good song. All in all not bad, but a little self-indulgent for me with a little too much '70s arena-rawk influence than I'm comfortable with. At times I got a distinct 2112-era Rush vibe, without the virtuosity, not necessarily a bad thing. And a word about the light show. It sucked! Consisting almost entirely of 5 bright white lights from the back of the stage pointing at the audience, so you really couldn't see the band. Is this a new trend? Is this a shoegazer thing; don't look at us , just listen? Personally I think it's stupid, maybe that's just me.
It was 11:00 P.M. by the time Interpol made it to the stage. They played a 75-minute show consisting of a 70/30 first album/second album ratio. They started with the opener from Antics - Next Exit - and did a fine job. What followed were generally note-for-note renditions of some of the better material from both albums. Highlights included NYC, (where at times I could have sworn Ian Curtis had risen from the dead and was singing in front of me), PDA, which really got the crowd going, Obstacle 1, Untitled, Stella Was A Diver - the final tune, which was the crowd favourite and Roland, my personal show hi-light, which was surprising because it's not a favourite on the album. From album 2, the standouts were Evil, Not Even Jail and Length of Love. Again, the lights left a lot to be desired though more varied in colour than The Machines, still it was that - we have ways to make you talk - interrogation thing. Though they don't strike me as a very animated live act, who could tell.
All in all I had a good time and it was about what I expected; a good evening of 80's style alternative rock, rarely a bad thing. If you like to hear a band going through song after song, true to the studio version, you will enjoy Interpol.
NP: Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die