popwreckoning

Wolves with lasers coming out of their eyes! Ferocious fangs everywhere! Men running around with swords! No, this is not the plot to some new action/horror movie. This was premise of the Too Fast for Love tour featuring Cobra Starship, 3oh!3, Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project and I Fight Dragon. And yes, that photo above does brilliantly combine the 3oh!3 hands with the Cobra fangs. HOLLA!!!

Chicago’s I Fight Dragons had the most to prove opening for acts that had been part of the same music family for quite some time and playing for a crowd that hadn’t heard too much about them. Before the group even came out, video screens flashed old school gaming images. The band triumphantly emerged to music that even Zelda would have been jealous of and they jumped into a set filled with rock infused with NES sounds. The product was a set that matched the sound and energy of bands such as Motion City Soundtrack (although, MCS is untouchable when it comes to lyrical quality). I Fight Dragons’ drummer was celebrating his 21st at the show, so they took some time to call him out and give him a solo on the foot gaming-pad. To prove that they weren’t just playing games and really had jerry-rigged a Rockband guitar to play like a cross between a real guitar and a synthesizer, they free styled a fun jam before entering their final number.

I Fight Dragons:

Then the dynamic Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project took to the stage. And no, ‘Travie’ is not a typo for those who know him better for his time fronting Gym Class Heroes as ‘Travis.’ I guess the ‘Travie’ moniker fits the style of his new act a little better. Think Gym Class, but more soulful and jazzy. Then, picture Travie in suspenders and bowties, but still with all the tattoos and piercings and you have the vibe of this new act. To be honest, Travie could be yodelling and he’d still be enjoyable to watch — he has some of the most spectacular facial expressions you could ever see on a performer. Plus, he’s witty: “Who likes to be supabad? Like Michael Cera Superbad? This one’s for you.”

When the debut Lazarus album drops, I doubt GCH fans will have anything negative to say.

Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project Set List:
Intro
Dr. Feelgood
Critical
Bad by Myself
We’ll Be Alright
Supabad
Money/Billionaire
Can The Drummer Get Some?
Need You

As much as the misogynistic lyrics (I’m sure we’re all familiar with the “Shush girl, shut your lips; do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips,” by now.) and the overly cock-y attitudes might make you want to hate Colorado’s 3oh!3, they’re actually quite lovable. Seriously. I’m not joking. The come skipping out, throwing their own hand signs up and immediately get audiences jumping along with them. Whether you heard their songs or not, they’re easy to singalong with and so catchy, you’d find yourself doing that even if you didn’t want to sing. 3oh!3 are bringing out some of their new songs off their upcoming summer release, and since you don’t have suffer through Ke$sha, even those songs are fun, although, not quite as catchy as their older material. Plus, remember when I mentioned wolves with laser beams at the beginning? 3oh!3 has mother-fucking wolves with laser beams and if for some reason you don’t immediately spot them, they’ll point the critters out and sing plenty of tunes about them.

3oh!3:

3oh!3 Set list:
Beaumont
Starstrukk
Punkbitch
My First Kiss
I’m Not Your Boyfriend
Richman
House Party
Touchin on My
I Can’t Do It Alone
Colorado Sunshine
Chokechain
Don’t Dance
Don’t Trust Me

Cobra Starship admits that they’re ‘guilty pleasures,’ and if you were a fan of Midtown, you probably aren’t going to be too thrilled by Gabe Saporta‘s current project. However, if you love keytar, heavy dance beats and anything related to Samuel L. Jackson, then you might enjoy Cobra Starship. This is a group you do want to approach fresh with a relaxed attitude because as I said and will repeat: this is not Midtown. Why am I repeating? I think a lot of people kind of forget that and take it out on the band. Now, while I can see why the goofy lyrics or Gabe’s intense personality might be a turn off for some people; and stunts like this sour reaction in the video below to a kid flipping the band off might either make a person love or hate Cobra Starship, just remember. They came here to make you dance tonight. So seriously. Relax, enjoy the light show, toss your fangs up and just dance…or get off the dancefloor.

Cobra Starship (“Snakes on a Plane” preceded by Gabe reacting to a kid giving him the finger):

Cobra Starship Set List:
Intro/City
Smash It Up
Kiss My Sass
Kinda Guy
Summertime
Snakes
Paparazzi
Dancing
Hot Mess
Guilty Pleasure
//
Good Girls Go Bad

For many, braving the frigid temperatures that were only abetted by a breeze off of lake Michigan was worth reliving a band essential to so many musical palettes. Something Corporate was headlining the third Bamboozle festival, which not only marked the band’s third reunion show since their 2005 hiatus, but also the debut of the Bamboozle festival in Chicago. It was only fitting that Something Corporate ring in the festival for Chicago.

As Andrew McMahon pointed out early in the Something Corporate set, Chicago has a special place in the band’s heart and history. McMahon moved out from under his parent’s wings and spent some time living in the basement of New Found Glory’s Jordan Pundik. There, McMahon wrote several early SoCo songs, several of which they played that night.

It was a night for nostalgia for both the band and fans. It was a night for rediscovery and reliving the love of SoCo music, but it was also a day of discovery. Many of the scene’s rising acts from the last few years as well as a few veterans joined the festival. To the side of the main stage, the festival had a line up from the heart of Chicago. Allister and the harder Treaty of Paris rocked the later evening slots. Hip hop acts like Spose and the Jump Smokers (complete with their own ass-shaking, scantily clad dancers) got the crowd dancing. Earlier acts like I Fight Dragons and The Lifelines really impressed. I Fight Dragons fits in well with the Bamboozle scene, and the Lifelines, while edgier had a nice  mix of harder vocals with violin.

The side stage set times fit in between with the bigger name acts over on the main stage. All the Day Holiday played a catchy set to the early arrivers. Though some of their songs started to blend, the guys were energetic and fun. A good way to start off the mainstage. Chicago’s Kill Hannah played a rock set that was easy to dance to if you could take your eyes off the band in their neon make-up and feathers long enough to watch your footing. The band plays an edgy rock, but unlike some of the screamier bands you might have found amongst the other Chicago acts, this band’s music is very accesible as proven by radio singles “Lips Like Morphine” and “Boys N Girls.”

Kill Hannah Set List:
Boys N Girls
New York City Speed
Love You to Death
The Chase
Strobelights
Kennedy
Lips Like Morphine

The next three acts on the main stage are out on tour together, so if you missed Bamboozle, there is still a chance to catch Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project with 3oh!3 and Cobra Starship. As enjoyable as McCoy’s other project, Gym Class Heroes, is, I kind of enjoyed this current act more. It fit in better with the other music at the fest and they guy is such a strong performer personality wise that I he could have been performing with only a cricket to back him and made that show enjoyable. He would coyly wrap his arms around his lit up mic stand, trot out on to amps and make these really animated facial expressions that almost said more than half his lyrics. Suffice it to say, he is a must-see-live act. Denver’s 3oh!3 followed up Travie and based on the amount of gold-donned girls in the crowd, there was a quite a large turn out to see these guys. Hands spelling out the 3oh!3 sign flew into the air as the guys started out with the whistling-filled single “Starstrukk.” The tunes are easy to sing along to – even a couple of new songs off their upcoming summer release got a good singalong in the crowd. For as much as you want to hate these guys for their womanizing lyrics, they’re pretty darn enjoyable live. We’ll chalk this one up to a guilty pleasure.

Speaking of guilty pleasures, the crowd was ready to get their fangs up with Chicago-darling Gabe Saporta and his current band: Cobra Starship. Flashing lights, confetti and balloons accessorized their set…if you didn’t know any better, it would have been easy to mistake them as the headliners. When it came time for them to play the infamous movie theme song “Snakes on a Plane,” they were all set to invite Travie McCoy back out to perform his part. However, Travie took a backseat to a girl who brought a sign saying she knew all the words to the rap. She was invited up on stage and McCoy filmed her doing the part. There are some who aren’t a fan of Saporta’s current act, aka those who won’t let go of Midtown, but if you let loose and accept the act for a silly, fun-loving dance, pop rock group than it really is a blast to hop around to “Guilty Pleasure” and “Good Girls Go Bad.”

After them, it was time for Something Corporate. Finally seeing Something Corporate was like a dream come true. The band broke up (or went on hiatus or whatever you’d prefer to call it) just when my parents finally gave me permission to go to shows. I’ve been fortunate to see Jack’s Mannequin several times and while the two piano-based rock groups share several similarities, there is a different energy in SoCo shows. A lot of that has to do with how different the lyrics are: the songs of Jack’s are more relationship-based lovelorn songs, while SoCo covers everything from relationships to growing up to simply not liking people. While I’m sure many would say the encore performance of “Konstantine,” beginning with just Andrew at the piano at first would be the evenings highlight, I have to say I thought the show hit its high with “If U C Jordan.” Andrew was stomping (yes, literally stomping on the keys) and sure, we were all throwing up the bird screaming, “FU Jordan,” which probably made anyone in Chicago by that name that could hear us super uncomfortable, but the song was surreal. To be that connected with that many people knowing the song and knowing how great this band was…it was magical. We were like some strange family and it didn’t matter how old we all were or where we were from. What mattered was that we loved this band and we were all having a great time.

I’m still kind of overwhelmed by how great it was…I can’t wait until the fall!

Something Corporate Set List:
Punk Rock Princess
The Astronaut
21 & Invincible
Down
I Want to Save You
She Paints Me Blue
Space
Cavanaugh Park
Watch the Sky
Me and the Moon
Fall
Ruthless
I Woke Up in a Car
If You C Jordan
//
Konstantine
Hurricane

The Line Up:

Main Stage:
4 – 4:35 – All the Day Holiday (pop rock)
5:05 – 5:35 – Kill Hannah (alt rock)
6:06 – 6:35 – Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project (hip hop/jazz/rock fusion)
7:05 – 7: 45 – 3oh!3 (hip hop/rock)
8:15 – 8:45 – Cobra Starship (pop rock)
9:25 – 10:45 – Something Corporate (alt rock)
Side Stage:
3:35 – 4:05 – I Fight Dragons (pop rock)
4:35 – 5:05 – The Lifelines (hard rock)
5:35 – 6:05 – Jump Smokers (hip hop)
6:35 – 7:05 – Spose (hip hop)
7:45 – 8:15 – Treaty of Paris (rock)
8:55 – 9:25 – Allister (pop punk)

After taking the nation by storm during Warped Tour last year, old and new fans alike have been waiting for an announcement of the next installment of Innerpartysystem’s unique brand of musical sound. After a ground-breaking EP (The Download EP) and a full length self-titled album, fans are more than ready for new material after an 18 month hiatus from the Industrial Rock/Electronica trio.

Between leaving their label, Island Records, in June 2009 and the recent loss of Jesse Cronan (backup vocals, synthesizer, lighting design), those last 18 months have been nothing but boring, according to the band’s blog. They have posted new remixes of both Cobra Starship‘s “Hot Mess” and 3Oh!3’s “Don’t Trust Me” on their MySpace, as well as remixes of old material of their own, such as “Last Night in Brooklyn” and “Obsession.” While these mixes kept fans satiated long enough for the band to get their bearings and start recording the album, the 2010 teaser was born.

Posted on February 22, the teaser, shows the band’s monetary-esque logo and the simple words “Get Hype,” along with a simple download button. Sparse, almost utilitarian, but plain and simple, and exactly what the fans want- a taste of the new Innerpartysystem sound.

Along with the teaser mix track that is making everyone’s skin crawl with anticipation, comes a video of Patrick and fellow band mates working on the new album, recording new mixes, playing around with new sounds for their live stage sets, tracking vocals, and… well… breaking things.

Although it is not a finite date for the release of their newest chapter, it will at least keep us on the edge of our seats until that information is revealed. For both old fans and new, Innerpartysystem will hold something new, exciting, different, and most of importantly, dance worthy. Check it out on the band’s YouTube page or on their blog, and well- Get Hyped. I know I sure did.

Written by Annastasia Gallaher