(ThatKidInTheCorner :: The Answer Was, "The Drummer.")

« RJ Done Lost His Mind | Main | My Quick Comments On Comments »

May 9, 2006

The Answer Was, "The Drummer."

The question was, "What's the best part of seeing The Secret Machines live?"

Caught The Secret Machines at Neumo's in C@L tonight. I guess I was due for my monthly rock concert on a Monday night. I was a pretty big fan of The Secret Machines' first LP, Now Here Is Nowhere, but had missed them on that tour (I can't remember why, but I wasn't around when they came to NYC...something along those lines). So you can imagine my fanboy delight when I realized I would both be able to buy their new album (Ten Silver Drops, which I picked up this past weekend) and see them live in just a couple days. At the very least, it was much more interesting than my average Monday.

(If you're interested in checking out The Secret Machines, the easiest thing to do is just to check out their web site, http://thesecretmachines.com. You can read all about the band and listen to their music on a little radio player for free. They're kind of a retro heavy arena rock band but with these spacey and punk things going on as well. Like I said, just check out the site and the music -- it spares me the shame of having to try to write rock-critic sentences like that last one.)

All in all, top marks for The Secret Machines live show. What I learned:

(1)Personality Plus, Every Time: so these guys play music extremely well, and seem very sincere when they're playing, but they weren't exactly charming showmen up there. Doesn't seem to be their thing. More a laid-back professionalism/ "We're kind of not so interested in the chit-chat" tip, actually. I dunno. I usually like the chit-chat. At the same time, I'm a lot less shocked that the first track on their new album is called "Alone, jealous, and stoned." They struck me as a bit introverted, you might say.

(2) They Liked The Same Songs That I Did: it was one of those shows where the songs I liked the most were all in the best positions in the set list (the first couple, the last couple, the encore). What's that? You're saying I'm a gigantic nerd? Right. Thanks.

(3) The First Band Goes On At 10: we rolled to the show a little early, with plans to grab some food before the show. So we go do some recon with the bouncer:

"What time does the first band go on?"

"10."

"And how many bands are there?"

"One."

Right. We'll see you at 10.

(4) The Drummer is just ridiculously good: the absolute first thing you notice about this band is how loud the drummer is playing. Extremely loud. Bashing the holy crap out of his kit. Just killing it. Especially the bass drum. The second thing you notice is how good and tight the band is, and how well the drummer plays with the other two guys. I spent a good part of the show in the balcony directly behind the drummer, where you couldn't really hear the rest of the band, just to hear the dummer up close. The guy standing next to me was playing air drums for half a song. Air drums. And, to top it all off, he had a massive DRUM SOLO near the end of the set. A drum solo! Who can pull off even a tolerable drum solo, let alone one that brings the house down! And this guy had a great drum solo. I dunno. It was pretty cool.

(Seriously, he was really loud.)

Posted by thatkid at May 9, 2006 10:19 AM under ThatKid

Comments

You were in France when The Secret Machines opened for Interpol at Hammerstein. They sounded great but were soooo anti-social. Like, they didn't say a single thing for the whole show and their stage set up was to have really bright lights shining from behind the band out onto the audience so you couldn't even see or really look at them lest you go blind. They blew Interpol out of the water. Also, never see a show at Hammerstein unless you get floor tickets.

Posted by: screwsan at May 13, 2006 8:27 AM

May 9, 2006

The Answer Was, "The Drummer."

Comments

Post a comment