popwreckoning

Let me preface this by admitting two things to you: 1) I had no idea I was interviewing Emery when I got to this show. Their tour manager, Aaron Lunsford, is also the drummer for Hawkboy. When I contacted Aaron for an interview, I intended on interviewing his band, but being Emery’s tour manager, he understandably believed I meant Emery; I’m sure he didn’t assume I knew he was in Hawkboy (and previously in one of my favorite bands, As Cities Burn). So I interviewed them – without any questions ready.

Which leads me to secret 2) I’ve never heard Emery. I know that probably seems unbelievable, but somehow, I just missed the boat, even when I was 16 and into that kind of music. I had no clue about them besides hearing their name here and there, and not thinking I needed to know at this point, I didn’t do any sort of research on them.

So I’m sure they were thinking, “This girl is LAME!” But I’m not usually so shitty, I promise.

PopWreckoning, Melissa Cowan: How long have you guys been a band?
Toby Morrell, Emery: About ten years – one decade.

PW: How have you guys changed over that time?
TM: Matt Carter and I are the only two original members; two or three years into it, Josh Head joined, then three or four years into it, Dave Powell joined. We’ve gained some members and lost some members… that’s probably about it.
Josh Head, Emery: We haven’t changed.

PW: Have your fans pretty much stayed consistent?
Matt Carter, Emery: They all grew up, it turns out. So we had to keep getting new ones. We’re the same, but they’re different.

PW: Has your sound changed at all?
TM: Yeah, for sure, I think. We’ve done different things. Like this new record, it’s probably our heaviest record but also, the last two songs on it are acoustic and we’ve never done that before. I think we always sound like Emery, but we just expand on what Emery is as much as we can on every record.

PW: When did the record come out?
TM: It’s coming out March 29.
(My inner monologue: Way to go, asshole!)

PW: Oh, ok – awesome. Is this tour to support that – some people haven’t heard most of this stuff?
MC: Yeah, no one’s really heard most of it.

PW: How’s tour been so far? What’s been your favorite show so far?
MC: I liked the first one the best (a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland).

PW: Being a band so long and touring so much, how do you not get sick of it?
TM: Well you do, but I think once you go home – Dave and I had little girls last year. So last year we hardly toured at all. It kind of gave everyone a break, then we decided we wanted to get back on the road and make some money and do what we love. I think that kind of keeps you sane, when you take some time off and kind of recharge your batteries.

PW: Do you guys have day jobs when you go home?
TM: Some of us do, not really. Like Matt works in a studio…
JH: We probably all should (all laugh). We should have more consistent jobs. It’s just hard unless you do something like Matt on your own or something more part time. We tour so much still we can’t just get like a regular job, then leave for two months. People don’t really like that.

PW: What do you guys do while your on the road so much? How do you occupy your time?
MC: We throw a Frisbee.
JH: I ride my bicycle, which is out on the front of our bus.
Dave Powell, Emery: And we bought this bus so we’re always kind of doing projects to it still, about the last year and a half.
JH: If this was a video interview, you could see it.

PW: They’ll have to take your word for it. What would you guys be doing if you weren’t in a band and touring?
TM: I would probably be in a band, I guess, if I wasn’t in a band.
PW: No other option.
MC: If I wasn’t in a band, I’d probably deliver for Fed Ex.
PW: Dream job?
MC: I think it’d be cool.
DP: I’d probably try to work in a studio or something, produce a little bit or something.
JH: Professional basketball player.
PW: Are you good?
JH: I don’t know. I became a super famous rockstar too early in my life, no chance for the basketball to take off. I could have been taller I think, is the only thing. Height for music doesn’t really matter.

PW: Do you guys have any other side projects?
TM: Matt and I do. It’s called The Water and The Whale… it’s a little bit different.
MC: We haven’t done anything yet or played any shows, but we will.

PW: How is it different from doing the band stuff?
MC: It’s like pop and electronic.

PW: Do you guys want to push that or is it more just for fun?
MC: I think it’s something we could do later. It could be another thing, if this doesn’t support itself anymore, we could do that maybe.

PW: What are your plans for Emery? Just keep doing it until…
MC: Yeah, I mean, there’s still people lined up outside the venue – what are we supposed to do, not come? As long as they’re lining up, we’ll be there. It’s fun; we get to do what we like and we’re able to do it – so I don’t think we’ll stop, maybe ever.

You can find more from Emery at Emerymusic.com.

Wednesday marks the first official day of SXSW: Music; however there are plenty of music events happening before this date. Early arrivals can get a jump start on the festivities even before picking up badges and wristbands.

After getting in late Tuesday night, hitting up an unofficial party with Thee Oh Sees, I stumbled out of bed to pick up wristbands at the Austin Convention Center (Wristbands and badges are like magic skip the longer line passes). Though it was around 10 a.m., the streets were already bustling and music could be heard trickling through the air from random places. Most day parties don’t start until around noon, so after wristband pick-up was the perfect time to grab some much needed caffeine and breakfast tacos. If in Austin or even just anywhere in Texas, it is a requirement that you eat breakfast tacos at some point. The delicious little things consist of tortillas with your favorite breakfast combination: scrambled eggs, potatoes, cheese, etc. The beauty about SXSW is that everyone is friendly and talkative. There’s no shyness about talking to strangers. During our breakfast we met four new people and even landed VIP passes to one of our new friends’ showcases. Number 1 SXSW tip: Don’t be shy.

Number 2 SXSW tip: Be curious. Don’t be afraid to just wander into a venue or stop to check out what a random group is watching. From breakfast we began a long walk to Mellow Johnny’s–a bike shop. Bands are playing literally everywhere in this city. During our walk, we saw a large group clustered in a parking lot, which was a curious event for 11 a.m. As we got closer we recognized the music being performed: The White Stripes. Turns out this group had discovered the first stop for Third Man Records Mobile Record Store. As part of the special record store’s debut, Jack White, label founder and member of a zillion projects including the former The White Stripes, was standing out in front of his trailer with a guitar playing “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and more for a pop-up acoustic set. You couldn’t ask for a better way to start the day.

The Mobile Record Store continues rolling around to new stops daily with unannounced special guests, so there’s a chance that Jack White will repeat the treat.

Cincinnati’s The Seedy Seeds are hitting up SXSW this week, but they’ll continue their Coast-to-Coast tour immediately after the festival. They’ll be in Lawrence, Kan. on April 5 at the Replay. 

For those unfamiliar with the brainy band’s music it’s lo-fi folk electro indie pop. In other words, they sound like The Books meets Midlake. They have a wide variety of instruments from banjo to accordion to toy keyboards.

According to the band’s Facebook, their influences include “squaredancing, beards and 4square.” If you still don’t get what they’re like from that, then you should probably just listen to the track below. It’s the lead single and title track from their new album Verb Noun.

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You can find out more about the band here.

“It’s hard when you’re the opening opener. We’re the first of three acts and we were surprised at how many people get here that early,” says Dov Rosenblatt, one half of The Wellspring. He’s joined in the Wellspring by Talia Osteen and together they produce indie pop harmonies laced with string arrangements and piano melodies. They’ve been touring as the “opening opener’ for the Pete Yorn tour with Ben Kweller. And while it can be hard to be the first of three, it would be in the interest of any music lover to show up in time to see them live. The band’s going places – and we say that not because they have the support of a travel agency, but because they’re really talented.

The Wellspring took some time to answer a few questions for PopWreckoning during their Kansas City stop.

Bethany, PopWreckoning: Well, I’m just going to start at the beginning since there isn’t too much information out there about you. How did you meet and form the Wellspring?
Dov, The Wellspring: We met in New York. I was in a band called Fools for April and we had a meeting with Talia who was working in film actually.
Talia, The Wellspring: I started in production and development at a film production company that produced fine arts movies. I had been working in film for five years and had gone to film school at USC. Dov came in for a general meeting about placing their music for movies and I was like, “I love your music.” I had been involved with music my whole life as well, but hadn’t thought of making it a career move.
D: And I hadn’t thought of how to make it a career.
T: We just had to do it together.
D: Exactly.
T: We got along really well and he had me sing some harmonies on his songs for his other band and we kept in touch. I was quitting my job a little over year. We started writing. I sent him my poetry. I went through a breakup, was quitting my job and had a lot to write about. That’s how we started. 

PW: The Wellspring came together just within this last year, but you guys met how long ago?
D: That meeting was like two years ago.
T: Two and a half years ago.
PW: Pretty fast.
D: Yeah, it all just kind of happened. And then when we started writing together, we still weren’t thinking of it in terms of being a band, it was just we were songwriting and potentially going to pitch it to other artists. Then people just really encouraged us once we recorded it – we recorded it with both of our singing since we thought, “Let’s have a male version and a female version lead.” Talia suggested that we just do a duet and from there we decided to just sing everything together. So we harmonized everything. It just kind of snowballed. People said, “You guys have a good sound, just the two of you.”
T: The first time we were asked to sing it was for a City Winery event in New York. The first one was for Haiti. It was just for fun at first and then it snowballed. We we were noticed by the CEO of a company called Travel Livings which has a company called Lastminutetravel.com and he liked our music. He was a big music in general. I met him through a charity that I was involved in and he was involved in as well. I had come to know him pretty well and when I told him that this was what I wanted to do, he was behind it 100 percent. The most expensive part aside from recording sometimes is the touring, especially for a band like us that doesn’t have a label. For a travel company, it is kind of a no-brainer to pair up. So we did.

PW: Are you the first band that they’ve paired with?
D: Yeah, we’re the guinea pig. We’ll see how it goes. It’s been great. They’re great and really smart. They also leave a lot of it up to us to come up with ways to work it. Like they’re giving out a free flight at every show. People text in to win. So it’s great for us and it’s great for them because people hear about LastMinuteTravel.com and people get a free flight.
PW: It’s a great idea. I’m surprised this is the first I’ve heard of a travel agency pairing up with a band.
D: Yeah. Now it’s going to happen – all of a sudden you’ll hear about Expedia and Travelocity jumping on the bandwagon. It does make sense. It’s just synergy.
T: And it gave us that extra push to know that we were on the right track and knew what we were doing. I had another job offer in LA and he was working with another producer, writing songs for other artists. It was a leap for both of us to move from New York to LA to do the record and decide that this was what we were going to do full-time.

PW: Did you move out to LA because of Last Minute Travel?
D: No. That was another way that everything just fell into place. Separately we had each been planning to move to LA. Talia was looking at getting another job in film and I was going to be working with a producer there. So we moved and the timing was just perfect. That’s when everything – really the day that I packed up to my car to move, we postponed it because we had a meeting with the travel company and then we moved. Then we recorded an EP.
T: The producer we were working was in LA and a lot of the musicians, except for Dave Eggar, our cellist, who is in New York, everyone else was in LA, so it just worked out.

PW: You said earlier that you [Talia] were sending poems to Dov, is that kind of how the writing process works where one is more the lyricist and the other comes in with instrumentals.
D: Yeah, it definitely started off that way, but with every band you kind of find your own voice and now we write a lot more together. But it started off with Talia sending lyrics and I would send back to her a musical idea for it. Pretty recently we started getting the strength to write in front of each other instead of remotely.
T: So even when we would write the lyrics and music separately, we’d produce the demo together. Even coming up with the drum part that we’re programming in or the string parts, we’d do that together and the harmonies. Now that we’re obviously much closer, we’re not too shy to write in front of each other or together.
D: Eh, I still ask you sometimes to leave.
T: Ok. haha. Well, a lot of times when we’re looking for an idea or a lyric or concept…we were last night, after a show, looking through a book of poems that I wrote because we hadn’t had time prepping for tour. It’s been so crazy that last night was the first night that we had a moment. Last night was the first time we had a moment. Sometimes it still comes separately.

PW: So you guys, since you’re on tour and it can be kind of hectic, have you been looking toward a full release?
D: Yeah, this has been great because we can see..we put out an EP and we have a bunch of new songs since then that we’re playing at these shows, so we’re really getting to see from the crowd which ones will make it to the album. We definitely want to do a full-length when we’re finished because we’ll be that much tighter, obviously, after all these shows.

PW: Has the reaction been pretty good then since you’ve been on tour.
D: Yeah, it’s been amazing. Better than we even expected. It’s hard when you’re the opening opener. We’re the first of three acts and we were surprised at how many people get here that early. We got really lucky because the people that we’re touring with, Ben Kweller and Pete Yorn, have…
Enter Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller: Ah, hellfire.
T: Haha.
D: Speaking of which.
Ben: You’re interviewing people? Yeah! (smiles, slams door and exits)
D: Perfect timing. We were just saying how lucky we were to be touring with them. They just both attract serious music lovers and they’re on time for the show and into discovering new music.
T: They’ve been shockingly attentive. At the end of every song, just getting that immediate feedback from crowds who have never heard us before is just so amazing. We’re used to playing Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles or RockWood, Stage 2 in New York and there are a lot of people that haven’t heard us.

PW: So for people who haven’t heard you before, how would you describe your sound and maybe what are some of your influences.
D: We have been saying that it’s folk pop. I know that some of our songs do have a pop sensibility to them, but are not as slick as what some people say is pop nowadays, especially on the radio.
T: Right. We were looking at the genres when we were flying, but I think we’d be called Americana. We’d also be indie rock pop. It’s hard to categorize.
D: Indie-folk-rock-pop-jazz-blues.
T: Haha, what else can we throw in there?
D: I was just telling someone the other day, some guy, I think it was some guy at the casino from the other night who was completely wasted and gone, but I was like, “We’re melodic folk metal.”
T: That’d be interesting. I’ll just start screaming on stage.
D: Influences? They’re all over. The obvious one would be the Beatles.
T: Simon and Garfunkel.
D: Carole King A lot of that old school songwriting. Then Elliott Smith, Wilco.
T: Death Cab for Cutie. We’ve been lucky to meet some people who inspire us as well. Rachael Yamagata was and is one of my favorite artists. Her song “Elephants” is one of my favorite songs. We got to meet her and sing with her. Now we’re good friends.
D: Mew.
T: Yeah, and you listen to Pete.
D: Yeah, Pete Yorn is one of my favorite artists.

PW: All good influences. So where does the name the Wellspring come from?
T: One of my favorite books of poetry is called “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. There’s a chapter in there called “On-Self Knowledge,” and there’s a quote in there that you’ll never know, you can’t measure the true depth of the hidden wellspring of your soul. When we started writing together, the first two weeks and even since then, the writing just kept pouring and it seemed like we really tapped into something that we just didn’t even know where it came from. Once we started, it just came.
D: I had written with a lot of people, but once we started working together, the chemistry, it just worked naturally.
T: I think we use water as a metaphor in a couple of our songs and it just seemed to flow. It made sense.
D: Oooh, nice pun there – flow – she just can’t help it.

PW: Now, this is your first major tour.
D: Right.
PW: What have you found to be your tour essentials, your survival kit, if you will?
T: We’re still figuring it out. Today we had our most successful packing of the van actually.
D: Yeah, we’re really proud. I took a picture of it actually.
PW: A picture?
D: Yeah. Haha. It’s really difficult to figure out to get all of the stuff. (showing a phone pic). Look at all the empty room there for the luggage. Now that’s a work of art, I think. I don’t like to toot my own horn. It took a bunch of shows to figure out – drums on the right then bass amp. Haha. But let’s see, tour essentials..our drummer, Chris, has been teasing us that we’re kind of a tekkie band. And we are, we have our laptops…our van is like a little office because we like knowing everything that’s going on, where we’re going on.
T: GPS, obviously.
D: Yes, but a lot of bands like to rely on everyone to tell them. Then, everything we get backstage, we take with us.
T: The waters.
D: Yes, the waters, that’s what I meant.
T: Right. Water is what we drink.
D: Water and diet coke.
T: We’re not used to the crazy cold weather we’ve been getting in a bunch of states, so I brought my comforter and like three different jackets and pillows.
PW: You guys lucked out, you hit Kansas City on a warm day.
D: We go to Minneapolis tomorrow and we were hearing like 20 inches of snow up there. We’re in big trouble. Today was beautiful when we rolled in here.
T: The other stuff that we wanted to bring on tour were mics and recording equipment so we could write on the road and record.

PW: Alright. Is there anything else you want to include in this interview that I didn’t cover?
T: We’re doing a behind the scenes webseries with vimby.com and it’s going to premiere on ArtistDirect first and then it will go on Vimby and our site as well.
D: Yeah, it’s going to be like an episode a week of shows and behind the scenes.
T: The first show for that is in Chicago at the Vic.
PW: Do you guys have to film it yourselves?
D: Yes, we have a camera that we use, but they have people filming too, to give it a bit more of a professional quality. We love keeping in touch with people, on our Facebook page especially. We were just saying that it is so fun nowadays with instant gratification. You meet people at a show and 10 minutes later you’re conversing with them on Facebook about the show and keeping in touch. That’s a big part of it. Up until now we’ve been in our cave writing and recording and now we finally get to present the music to people and see how it goes over. We get to meet people. That’s the best part of it.

Find more from the Wellspring at thewellspringmusic.com.

Until the past week or so, I really had never heard of the Oakland/San Francisco based Extra Action Marching Band. However, if they are anything like the insane, but completely amazing, Titanium Sporkestra from Seattle (made up of members of the now disbanded Infernal Noise Brigade and the legendary TchKunG! Amongst others), you won’t be disappointed. Think marching bands covering everything from Black Sabbath to old school Balkan beats and gypsy anthems. Add in a dash of military influence and an unprecedented amount of sexuality to the show, and the band spends more time in the crowd then on stage- dominating the entire crowd into musical submission.

Band isn’t just for nerds anymore- it’s sexy, fun, and incredibly talented. Catch them twice around Austin at showcases this week and who knows- they may just show up other places as well.

When independent artists continue to stay independent instead of succumbing to the living hell of corporate record labels, rarely are they as well known as Skrillex is. With his newest release Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, his first on Big Beat Records in coordination with Mau5trap records (founded by legendary electronic artist Deadmau5 and in it’s infancy), it dominated the charts on Beatport- and not just for dubstep but for many other subgenres as well, taking number one spots across the board.

Not only is his original work absolute genius, he is a master remixer. So far, Lady Gaga, La Roux, and Black Eyed Peas, to namedrop a bit, have commissioned him for official remixes. Even with the fame, Sonny Moore still stress that it is really about innovation in music. “For me, it’s important to believe in and love the music you’re making. I gave away my first EP on my manager’s website, just so people could hear the music,” he enthuses. “It was downloaded by the thousands in just a couple of months, and it hasn’t let up since. That’s all the inspiration I need to keep making music. SKRILLEX can be anything I want it to be,” he continues hopefully. “There are so many different avenues for music now. Video games, movie scores – the possibilities are endless, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

I happened to catch a 2.5 hour set in Seattle a few months ago, just days after the new EP dropped. I have NEVER seen a venue in Seattle THAT packed with sweaty bodies in my decade plus of Seattle scene stalking. It was insane to say the least, but probably one of the best shows I have ever seen, and probably one of the top two electronic artsits I have ever had the privilege of seeing.

If you’re in town for the fest and even have a remote interest in dance music, this is another show that is a must see. Take a few minutes and just go dance your heart out. It’ll be the highlight of the fest for you.

Friday March 18 @ 12:00AM- Mohawk Patio (all ages)

What’s better than being in Austin for SxSW? How about a FREE six hour show at Emo’s for SxSW day, featuring nineteen of the best bands of the festival (and the spring AP Tour lineup)?!  From screamo that will practically melt your face off to some seriously sweet alt rock, it’s perfect for fans of AP’s general style- something a little more than your average indie hipster scene.

I’ve seen Versaemerge and Conditions before in Seattle, and both bands absolutely floored me. They are absolutely amazing and worth an appearance at the showcase alone, but they are just the beginning. Both Black Veil Brides and Vampires Everywhere are groundbreaking and stunning in both their complexity and their stage presences. They both know how to put on a rockin show. I have heard nothing but praise for Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, so I am assuming they will be the icing on the cake.

So where are YOU going to be Saturday, March 19^th? Hopefully you will be at Emo’s with me, enjoying some of the best up and coming alt rock out on the market today.

Lineup:
Black Veil Brides
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows
I See Stars
Versaemerge
Conditions
Enter Shikari
The Ready Set
The Downtown Fiction
Animals
As Leaders
Balance and Composure
Middle Class Rut
Oceano
I Fight Dragons
Vampires Everywhere!
The Limousines
River City Extension
Touche Amore
Maniac

ALL AGES, no RSVP required (so what are you waiting for already?!)

The Bottleneck is an oddly shaped venue. It’s kind of rectangular with a slightly raised level that overlooks the main floor and the back of the venue is divided into a second room that’s still somewhat open to the main room. Because of it’s configuration, the place never looks packed, which can be a bit intimidating for opening bands who already suffer from sparser crowds due to late arrivals. Yet for this particular show, the room looked as packed as it does for most headliners by the time of the first set. By the time the Get Up Kids triumphantly took to the stage, the Bottleneck looked as close to full as it had ever looked. Though there was still plenty of space for the crowd to mosh, dance and just rock out, which they, of course did.

Brian Bonz and the Major Crimes started the night off. Now the Major Crimes, Bonz’ backing band, has a rotating list of members. Touring isn’t cheap, so Bonz often performs alone or with friends. Tonight, some of the Major Crimes were members of fellow touring group, Miniature Tigers. The Crimes added a nice fullness to Bonz’ sound and some impressive harmonies that almost made you forget some of the more crass points of the lyrics. See that’s the thing with Bonz – his show isn’t just about the songs. It’s also about the banter. In between songs Bonz quipped about drugs, girls and life on the road. He even freestyled a rap that would be crap as legit music, but for the purpose of the evening, was funny and fresh and made everyone feel like Bonz was their best friend and not some random guy up on stage. Then after doing things like that and telling everyone to look him up on “Fuckface” or that he was about to perform a song about his “first time to a strip club in Queens,” Bonz would switch off the goofy crassness and switched into serious musician mode. 

Next were the oddly dressed Miniature Tigers. Seriously: oddly dressed. The singer was wearing a poncho and then the rest looked like they just stumbled out of an ugly sweater party. These guys seem to be quite popular with the ladies, which is probably due to the catchy lo-fi tunes they sing with big drum beats and clap-a-long moments. The sound mix was a bit off for this performance and the band seemed to be struggling with it during a few moments, but the audience didn’t seem to care. The songs are danceable and at one point, the singer even ventured into the audience to dance and apparently vacuum suck faces? Maybe the “schoop” sound and reaching your hand like a claw at another person’s face is the new dance rage, but let’s hope it doesn’t catch on in the Midwest. Let’s keep it a Mini Tigers thing. The highlight of their set was definitely “Cannibal Queen.” Not only is it one of the band’s strongest songs, but they turned it into a downright party. Bonz and the Major Crimes came back out on stage to add some percussion and then as an extra surprise, Spider-man came out to dance. Yeah, you read that right. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-man is a fan of the Miniature Tigers. Talk about a great endorsement!

The Bottleneck was noticeably more packed as people waited for local heroes The Get Up Kids to take the stage. People inched closer to the stage. The Get Up Kids hopped up on stage to triumphant music drowned out by the roars of the crowd. The room was electric with excitement. Kansas has sometimes been hit or miss with giving actual support to local bands, but tonight you had to be proud of Lawrence’s enthusiasm.

“Hello…home!” singer Matt Pryor announced with a grin before the band started with “Tithe” off their new album. This was the band’s last night of tour and they were ending it where everything started. Later in the show, Pryor even said that the Bottleneck was one, if not the first show. Then he reminisced with guitarist/vocalist Jim Suptic about Suptic’s 21st birthday at the Bottleneck. The hilarious anecdote about the band’s drunken escapade was cut short by a keyboard intro cuing the next song.

Speaking of birthdays and keyboards, perhaps the most noticeable difference in the band’s performance was the absence of keyboardist James Dewees, whose birthday also happened to be that day. The fill in keyboardist was ok, especially considering he hasn’t lived with the songs like the rest of the guys, but he lacked Dewees’ spunk, energy and humor. The band did give Dewees a shout out, but didn’t say where he was, but it’s safe to assume he’s probably off somewhere with My Chemical Romance. He’s being playing keys for them and touring with their most recent release.

Despite Dewees absence, it was a solid set with a good mix of songs off the new album and many of their older songs. The only complaint might be that they seemed to skimp on Guilt Show. The songs off There Are Rules, the band’s January release, weren’t as familiar to the audience as many of the older songs – the moving mouths shouting the words noticeably stilled for those tunes, yet the bodies kept moving and dancing along, patient until a song such as “Mass Pike” let them belt out again.

As much as the crowd seemed to like jumping up and down and moshing, perhaps the most well-received songs of the night were the slower, more romantic numbers. “Campfire Kansas” and “I’ll Catch You” saw plenty of couple’s reaching for the hands of their date and the singles in the room reaching for lighters or phones.

Another highlight was a 3-piece performance of The Replacements‘ “Beer for Breakfast.” The Pope brothers and Suptic made it back to the stage well before the stand-in keyboardist and Pryor did after the cheers for an encore. Suptic joked that Pryor had a nervous breakdown and the band was no a 3-piece before the surprise tune. But fret not, the breakdown bit was a joke and Pryor came out of the green room about halfway through the song and happily watched from the side of the stage. When the band followed that song up with “Holiday” the crowd erupted with an energy unmatched during the whole show. It seemed like they couldn’t get more into a song, but by “Ten Minutes,” the final song of the night, it looked like the band was about to wish they had a barricade. Arms were in the air and bodies pressed against the stage as people screamed their lungs out with the band.

A lot of bands seem a little lackluster after ten years in the business. They slow with age and almost seem to go through the motions. Their songs from their early years seem outdated. The Get Up Kids’ music seemed timeless and seamless. They were confident and lively. This show managed to be the exception to the rule.

Set List:
Tithe
Action & Action
Regent’s Court
I’m a Loner Dottie, A Rebel
Automatic
Mass Pike
Love Me
Overdue
Shatter Your Lungs
Red Letter Day
Woodson
Pararelevant
Shorty
Close to Home
Holy Roman
Campfire Kansas
Rememorable
Don’t Hate Me
Walking on a Wire
—
Beer for Breakfast (Replacements cover)
Holiday
I’ll Catch You
Ten Minutes

There aren’t a huge number of Welsh bands that have achieved worldwide superstardom.  But if I had to place a bet on any active UK band, I would put my money on the Joy Formidable.

The band is fronted by a woman, the blonde, beautiful, and irrepressible Ritzy Bryan, and normally even I would be dubious of a woman out front of a indie rock group, but there’s something different here. The brilliant rhythm section of Rhydian Dafydd (bass / vocals) and Matt Thomas (drums) bangs on with equal authority to Bryan’s banging guitar and lead vocals. In May 2010, the trio released an EP in America called A Balloon Called Moaning, eight songs showcasing the band’s sound, mixing up pop, punk, grunge, and rock in an engaging way. This week, the Joy Formidable release their debut album in America called The Big Roar, and this is the kind of album that should make you take notice of this band.

At the start of “The Everchanging Changing Spectrum of a Lie,” the first song on the album, you can hear the sound of balloons being blown up and then being popped, no doubt a nod to their previous EP’s title. When Bryan asks emphatically, “can’t you see I’m good?” you can feel the lyric dripping with her emotion. It’s rare that I come across a female vocalist whose singing sentiment I can relate to; with Ritzy Bryan, you know this is a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve, for our benefit. The aforementioned banging guitars usher in and fill in around the words of “A Heavy Abacus.” The strangely titled “Llaw = Wall” allows Dafydd to take lead vocal duties; the first half of the song is as gentle as a lullaby before the guitars return to snap you back into the reality that is a Joy Formidable album.

This debut album smartly features some of the strongest songs from A Balloon Called Moaning. “Austere” features a thudding, relentless bass line from Dafydd and Bryan’s evocative lyrics. It’s one thing to just bash the hell out of your instruments, but this trio from North Wales seems to have figured out the formula of appropriately balancing guitars and drums to create a compelling soundscape to pair with dreamy lyrics. “Whirring” has Thomas’s military-style drumming, Bryan’s vocals spat out in a similarly staccato fashion. She repeats, “all these things about me you never can tell / you make me sleep so badly, invisible friend.” My guess is that the song is about how something haunts you, like a secret you can’t tell anyone else and how it’s eating you up because you can’t be honest with yourself, let alone other people. Whether your secret is big or small, I think everyone can relate to this.

Then there are the less successful numbers in this collection of 12 songs. “I Don’t Want to See You Like This”; I find the nearly spoken lyrics dry and not at the same high quality of the backing instrumentation. “Maruyama” is a Japanese-flavored dream pop track that doesn’t go anywhere interesting. The guitars and drums fight with Bryan’s voice for authority in “Buoy” and unfortunately the unconvincing instrumentation wins out.

But I can overlook these because there are some real gems in here. “The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade,” also borrowed from A Balloon Called Moaning, closes The Big Roar in fine fashion: the rhythm is hypnotic, and I love the way Bryan’s voice is soft and angelic despite the crashing guitars around her. It’s inspirational, yet also sad; truth be told, it makes me cry every time. I read it as someone saying goodbye to a lover: what comes after you’ve accepted that the relationship is over is the healing of your own heart, the recognition that brighter days ahead, and the cognizance that you can look to that other person not with hate or regret, but with the acknowledgment and remembrance of something wonderful that you once shared with that person. Which is what I think speaks to me most about the Joy Formidable: somehow they’ve managed to write compelling rock songs that allow you, the listener, to headbang to heavy but complex guitar rhythms, yet have strong lyrical, emotional content. So it shouldn’t be surprising that frontwoman Bryan has named the Smiths as an important musical influence. Get this album, you won’t be disappointed.

The Big Roar by the Joy Formidable is available now from Atlantic Records. Catch the band on their huge tour in North America in March and April, including appearances this week at South by Southwest and next month at Coachella. Support for the tour will be from Mona and the Lonely Forest.

Track Listing:
01. The Ever Changing Spectrum of a Lie
02. The Magnifying Glass
03. I Don’t Want to See You Like This
04. Austere
05. A Heavy Abacus
06. Whirring
07. Buoy
08. Maruyama
09. Cradle
10. Llaw = Wall
11. Chapter 2
12. The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade

Tour Dates
Mar 17 – Parish / Austin
Mar 17 – Mellow Johnny’s / Austin
Mar 18 – Waterloo Records (in store) / Austin
Mar 18 – Buffalo Billiards / Austin
Mar 19 – Brush Square Park / Austin
Mar 19 – La Zona Rosa / Austin
Mar 22 – Earl / Atlanta
Mar 24 – Coffeehouse @ Duke University / Durham, NC
Mar 25 – Black Cat / Washington, DC
Mar 26 – Valentine’s / Albany
Mar 28 – Met / Providence
Mar 29 – Brighton Music Hall / Allston, MA
Mar 30 – Johnny Brenda’s / Philadelphia
Mar 31 – Terrace Club @ Princeton University / Princeton, NJ
Apr 01 – Abbey / Harrisburg
Apr 02 – Horseshoe Tavern / Toronto
Apr 04 – Basement / Columbus
Apr 05 – Lincoln Hall / Chicago
Apr 06 – 7th Street Entry / Minneapolis
Apr 08 – Larimer Lounge / Denver
Apr 09 – Kilby Court / Salt Lake City
Apr 11 – Mississippi Studios / Portland
Apr 12 – Crocodile / Seattle
Apr 14 – Bottom of the Hill / San Francisco
Apr 16 – Coachella / Indio, CA
Apr 19 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix
Apr 20 – Launchpad / Albuquerque
Apr 22 – Luminary Arts Center / St. Louis
Apr 23 – Riot Room / Kansas City
Apr 26 – Grog Shop / Cleveland
Apr 27 – Smiling Moose / Pittsburgh
Apr 29 – Webster Hall / New York City

The Joy Formidable: website | myspace

I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this show – I hadn’t really heard any of the bands, except for one song from Hawkboy via a rough cell phone video and one from Kansas City locals Maps for Travelers. But when I got there around 6:30, kids were lined up outside of El Torreon – something I haven’t seen in years at this venue.

I have to say, these kids really showed up for this concert. It became apparent by the end of the evening that they had been waiting for Emery, but I was surprised at their attentiveness of the other bands, too. Rarely do you see people arrive early and stick around for an entire show anymore. 

Because I interviewed Emery and Hawkboy before the show, I missed two of the opening bands from Kansas City (Coronado Left for Dead and A Sequence of Ghosts). However, I did catch Maps for Travelers, who have been gaining buzz in the local scene and will be playing SXSW – and they’ve only been a band for about a year. They played a solid set. I was expecting radio-friendly rock ‘n roll, but was pleasantly surprised to hear a trumpet make its way into a few of their songs.

Next was Hawkboy, which I have to admit is what brought me there in the first place, being they were two members from one of my favorite bands, As Cities Burn. (And I had read they were playing some old ACB songs on this tour.) As excited as I was, the sound quality was a little disappointing; the vocals dropped off fairly often and Cody Bonnette does not yell-sing anymore, even on the ACB songs, making it difficult to catch his words. This definitely didn’t ruin their set by any means. A lot of the crowd loudly sang along to the three songs they played from Hell or High Water (“Petty”; “Pirate Blues”; “Errand Rum”). But one of Hawkboy’s songs in particular really stood out to me, because it was totally different from the others – and totally awesome, twangy, Johnny Cash-type rock. I’m really looking forward to hearing their recorded music – and seeing them again (hopefully) at a different venue. 

To Speak of Wolves, another band on tour with Hawkboy and Emery, followed. I wasn’t expecting this kind of band to play this show – these kids were moshing and jumping on top of each other to get to the front to sing along. I was falling asleep in the back. No offense to the band, I’m just a grandma and not really into this kind of music. From the look of the floor, I was probably the only one. They did dedicate one of their songs to Flee the Seen (from Kansas City, broken up since 2009) and that got my attention, but I was ready for Emery. (It was past my bedtime.)

I’ve never heard Emery, not even in my pre-grandma days, but had an idea what they might sound like. They opened with an older song, and they immediately had the crowd hanging on their every word. Good thing, because the next song they played was from their newest CD, which is set for release on the 29th – and was nothing like their first song. I think their fans were a little shocked at first. When they told me in their interview that this was their “heaviest” record, I almost didn’t believe them. Not that this song was metal or anything, but compared to the other song, it sounded like Pantera. Ok, I’m exaggerating… a lot. There was quite a difference, though.

I didn’t stay for the entire set, but did catch a couple of other new songs and watched the crowd just sort of stand there. As dedicated as their fans are, I’m sure it was probably mostly because they didn’t know the words to sing along; once the record comes out and Emery tours again, I bet they’ll show just as much enthusiasm as they do for Emery’s older stuff.

I hate to say it, but the only band I would keep up with from this show is Hawkboy, and that’s because I know how talented they are and will forever check out anything they do. I didn’t become a fan of anyone else, not because they aren’t good at what they do – unfortunately, nothing really wowed me.