|
(((Ok, either I'm slacking, or someone
did a bad job of promoting this show, because I didn't know anything about it.
Neither did two other promoters in town. I would have skipped this show
anyways for the one that was at the Bend Community Center anyways, so I had
the lovely miss Jordan write up a review for me. Hurrah for guest
reviewers!)))
It was weird going into the Domino Room and seeing no familiar faces. The girls
at the front taking money were nice and the one person I knew there was nice
to me but the group of people in general seemed a little stingy and click-ish.
So after paying my $3 and getting my hand stamped I went and sat on a table
and waited for the music to start. Three people came up to me over the course
of fifteen minutes to check that my hand was stamped and I had in fact paid.
This bothered me because the measly
(and unfair, considering prices certain OTHER promoters have to pay) $200
dollars I was told this group spent to rend The Domino Room was paid for by
allowances most of the bands received from their parents. Then about twenty
minutes after the show was supposed to start the first band left their little
high-school-circle of friends and got
on stage. Ten minutes later their sound-check was over and they started
playing.
One Away From Zero (the first band)
showed potential. It was their first show and they were at least together.
They were kind of pop-punk, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think all
of the members of One Away are under 16 years of age so I was impressed that
they were even trying. Also, it
was surreal and kind of scary when they broke into a song that I am not sure
was by Blink-182 but defiantly opened with an intro taken from a certain (in)famous
Blink-182 song. To be fair that seemed to bother only me and I attribute that
to my own personal negative view on Blink-182. In all, I would say One Away
showed potential, but they probably aren’t a band I will go out of my way to
see in the near future.
The second Band, Inch High, looked
like they had been playing slightly longer. They were the same kind of
danceable-but-not-moshable-punk and some of the members looked familiar like I
might have seen them in other bands. I really enjoyed the singer/guitarist and
they all had a lot of energy on stage and smiled a lot which was different. I
would like to mention that by the second song Inch High played I was asked
again if I had paid and to show the stamp on my hand and no one else had
talked to me (note to Redmond/180 kids at show: Be more open to people you
don’t know and more people will go to your shows). People were getting into
the music a little more but I honestly can’t tell you if that was because
they were the second band or the players were more popular personally with the
mostly-from-Redmond crowd or if they were actually better then the first band.
Half-way through their set the one of the members made a little side-comment
about how they were a Christian band and if you wanted to talk to them about
Jesus after their set they would tell you about it and the bible and
why they believe (and so-on). I want to sound politically correct here (so as
not to be burned at the stake). I didn’t have a problem with his
Christian-speech because you can’t always hear the lyrics at these shows and
if the message they wanted to convey with their music isn’t being heard
completely it’s ok that they put it out there so blatantly. But I also think
that had the crowd been a little more *cough* diverse (not a single person
went outside to smoke in-between sets... when I cussed people gasped) then
some people would have felt offended. Also I am sorry for laughing at the beginning
of this speech because I honestly thought he was joking for a second. Anyway,
You can decide for yourself your stance on Go For Broke. Over all, I think
they were cool for a Christian band. Also, I don’t know if there are 3 or 4
members because halfway through their set some guy jumped onstage and sang the
rest of the songs.(**side note:** I did daze off a few times during their set
wondering why there are so many Christian bands but seemingly no Buddhist or
Jewish or Muslim, etc. bands)
The Third band, Makeshift3, from San Diego, seemed pretty cool. The guys in the band were very
cool and approachable and friendly all night so when they got on stage it made
me feel all warm and fuzzy like it was my dad in a band singing about not
doing drugs and sneaking out of the house at night. They were pretty good and
I don’t know if they, too, were a “christian” band, but I think they
were (And I think One Away From Zero was too). Yet again kind of pop-punk (lets
just call it a pop-punk show, shall we?) but by then I had gotten into the
feel of it because it was so different and not a single lyric had been yelled
into a microphone all night. They had a lot of c.d.s for sale by the band so I
figured they had been around for a while and they were good on their instruments.
People were “moshing” in a very small circle that I didn’t join into because
it seemed like one of those futile attempts at something that was
miss-understood. When I skanked a little people looked at me funny but it was
ok that no one joined in; The music was more of a sit-back and listen vibe
anyway. I had to leave half-way into the set but from what I was there for,
Makeshift3 was pretty dang good... For guys who looked like they could be my
dad. (**another side note:** that wasn't and insult, it was cool that they
were such good-commendable-citizens.)
*final, very blunt thought*: Bands were ok, people should have gotten-over the
stamps-on-hands, and kids in Redmond need to be enlightened about moshings
point.
~Jordan
((Thank you
for the review Jordan, if anyone else wants to review stuff please drop
me a line along with your review or what you'd like to review.))
