So.. it’s been a while since I set foot in the Troubadour, a little over three months to be exact. The bands that were to play tonight were all good, (at least the ones that I was able to see) almost too good for one show. So if you missed this show, bummer for you. Well, let’s get this party started shall we?
The first band of the night was Elemental. This was my first time seeing this band. I was floored. This band totally blew me away, why they were opening the show was beyond me. But then again, I wouldn’t have liked to pick the line-up for tonight! Elemental have a metalish-harmony that I really can’t put into words. Elemental is definitely a hard band, but with an awesome melodic sound. The singer, Erik, (notice how I said singer?) has a gorgeous voice and the band is so freaking tight. The guitar player, Doug, reminded me a lot of Frank from Slaves on Dope by his movements on stage. Complete insanity doesn’t even come close to the amount of energy this guy has. California needs to tap these guys as a power source, you know cause of the power crisis and all. If you get a chance to see this band, do it. Thank me now or thank me later, because you’ll be thanking me. This band kicks ass. Some of the song titles that I was able to catch were ‘Crutch‘ and ‘Shallow‘.
The next band on the list was Deepdown, another UE favorite. Kicking ass and taking names with tunes in their set like ‘Lost‘, ‘Connect‘, ‘Still One‘ and others. Chris, Glenn, Kris and Brendan have a style all their own. It is truly a pleasure to see these guys pour their heart and soul out on stage and get lost in their music. All their songs have such a catchy sound and the songs just seep into your brain and stay there, lifting up your mind. There is no way you can feel bad, or down while listening to the music of Deepdown. It’s just not possible.
My last band of the evening was the ever talented, Gifted. Complete with new bass player, Douglas “Bassoceros” Polhamius. This was Douglas’ third show with Gifted, but you would have thought that he had been playing with Gifted since the beginning, simply amazing. Gifted opened their set with ‘Another December‘ followed by ‘Weight of the World‘, ‘Snap‘ and a few others. Yes, ‘Beautiful Invalid‘ (which is my favorite Gifted song) was in the set, thank you Gifted! Gifted also played homage to Helmet by covering one of their songs. “Which one?” you ask? Go see Gifted and find out. Not only do I want you to go out and see this band, I want you to help support the scene and seeing bands live, well.. what better way, right? All I can say is, Gifted is.
Like I said, all of the bands that I saw this night rule. Unfortunately, I missed the last two bands of the night, Sick Squad and Ringmaster. But, I will be keeping my eye out for upcoming shows of these bands and let you know what I think.
Special thanks to Emmett and Leigh, and the rest of Gifted.
Brian
brian@unearthed.com
