The Winter Sounds, The Successful Failures, After The Fall @ McGuinn's - 6/15/07
On Wednesday June 13th I received an e-mail telling me about the forthcoming CD from an Athens, Georgia based band called, The Winter Sounds. They were described as, "atmospheric indie-pop", and I was given a link to where I could stream the first single from their CD. About 40 seconds into the song, "windy city nights", I was hooked and wanted to hear more. Looking over their tour itinerary I saw they were playing McGuinn's in Trenton on Friday. Later that same day I got an e-mail from The Successful Failures, friends of mine from the NJ music scene, that they were on that same bill. That sinched it, I had to be there.
Now I had never been to McGuinn's, and wasn't quite sure what to expect. While I commend any place that is willing to support live original music, I cannot highly recommend this place. I arrived at 11pm, which was when the Winter Sounds, the third of four bands on the bill, was supposed to start their set. Instead, the first band of the evening, whose name I didn't catch, was just finishing their set. Upon talking to Patrick from The Winter Sounds, and all the guys from the Successful Failures, I discovered the venue doesn't have a soundguy (the soundboard is on the stage and the musicians have to adjust their mic levels as they play), nor anyone running the music on the stage. The bands basically had to fend for themselves, and since it looked like no one was in charge, things were running way behind schedule. In order to finish the show before 2am, the three other bands agreed amongst themselves to each play a 30 minute set.
I think what bothered me even more about McGuinn's though was the fact that their dimly lit bathroom was swarming with flies, including one huge mosquito, and the floor had huge puddles of what I hope was water. Seeing how unsanitary their bathroom was, I avoided eating or drinking anything there, and just hoped the music would be good.
The first band I caught was, After The Fall.
After The Fall is a Pennsylvania based band that lists among their influences, "bands such as Joy Division, The Smiths, and The Cure with a little bit of low-fi realism ala The Velvet Underground, The Sex Pistols, and The Psychedelic Furs thrown in", and it definitely shows in their music. It also doesn't hurt that their lead singer is really tall, dressed in black and looks like he stepped out of the Smiths/Cure/Furs scene. The vocals were a bit muddy during their set (had there been a soundguy there, I'm sure that wouldn't have been a problem), but putting that aside their music was interesting enough to keep my attention. I may seek out their MySpace page so I can hear what they sound like under normal sound conditions.
My only real complaint with After The Fall is that despite agreeing to play a 30 minute set, they obviously weren't keeping track of their time. At the 27 minute mark they said they were going to play 2 more songs. By the time they left the stage they had played just over 40 minutes, putting a show already behind schedule even more so.
Next up was The Winter Sounds, who opened with, "windy city nights", and immediately astounded me with their layers of musical landscapes. Their sound encompasses 80's synth-pop with it's own modern twist. Despite the vocals being muddy during the previous set, the vocals were crisp and clear during their set, in part because one of the members walked over to the soundboard a few times during the set to adjust the mic levels. Not knowing anything other than their first song didn't make me less interested at all, in fact seeing them live made me want to hear their new CD, "porcelain empire", all the more. The biggest surprise however, was that they closed their set with a cover of Toto's, "Africa". What a bizarre song to cover. Mick from the Successful Failures said to me, "I've never heard anyone cover this song". Me either, but their rendition made me actually care about that song again.
The Winter Sounds are on tour through the end of the year (maybe longer), so when they come to your area, definitely go see them.
Closing out the night at 1:30am, The Successful Failures burned through their brand of garage rock meets classic country, which included some something old (songs from their debut CD), something new (songs from their soon to be recorded CD), something borrowed (a nice Johnny Cash cover)...but the houselights came up at 2am, basically telling them to get off the stage, so I'll just assume they would have done something blues if they had had the time.
After The Fall
The Winter Sounds
The Successful Failures
On Wednesday June 13th I received an e-mail telling me about the forthcoming CD from an Athens, Georgia based band called, The Winter Sounds. They were described as, "atmospheric indie-pop", and I was given a link to where I could stream the first single from their CD. About 40 seconds into the song, "windy city nights", I was hooked and wanted to hear more. Looking over their tour itinerary I saw they were playing McGuinn's in Trenton on Friday. Later that same day I got an e-mail from The Successful Failures, friends of mine from the NJ music scene, that they were on that same bill. That sinched it, I had to be there.
Now I had never been to McGuinn's, and wasn't quite sure what to expect. While I commend any place that is willing to support live original music, I cannot highly recommend this place. I arrived at 11pm, which was when the Winter Sounds, the third of four bands on the bill, was supposed to start their set. Instead, the first band of the evening, whose name I didn't catch, was just finishing their set. Upon talking to Patrick from The Winter Sounds, and all the guys from the Successful Failures, I discovered the venue doesn't have a soundguy (the soundboard is on the stage and the musicians have to adjust their mic levels as they play), nor anyone running the music on the stage. The bands basically had to fend for themselves, and since it looked like no one was in charge, things were running way behind schedule. In order to finish the show before 2am, the three other bands agreed amongst themselves to each play a 30 minute set.
I think what bothered me even more about McGuinn's though was the fact that their dimly lit bathroom was swarming with flies, including one huge mosquito, and the floor had huge puddles of what I hope was water. Seeing how unsanitary their bathroom was, I avoided eating or drinking anything there, and just hoped the music would be good.
The first band I caught was, After The Fall.
After The Fall is a Pennsylvania based band that lists among their influences, "bands such as Joy Division, The Smiths, and The Cure with a little bit of low-fi realism ala The Velvet Underground, The Sex Pistols, and The Psychedelic Furs thrown in", and it definitely shows in their music. It also doesn't hurt that their lead singer is really tall, dressed in black and looks like he stepped out of the Smiths/Cure/Furs scene. The vocals were a bit muddy during their set (had there been a soundguy there, I'm sure that wouldn't have been a problem), but putting that aside their music was interesting enough to keep my attention. I may seek out their MySpace page so I can hear what they sound like under normal sound conditions.
My only real complaint with After The Fall is that despite agreeing to play a 30 minute set, they obviously weren't keeping track of their time. At the 27 minute mark they said they were going to play 2 more songs. By the time they left the stage they had played just over 40 minutes, putting a show already behind schedule even more so.
Next up was The Winter Sounds, who opened with, "windy city nights", and immediately astounded me with their layers of musical landscapes. Their sound encompasses 80's synth-pop with it's own modern twist. Despite the vocals being muddy during the previous set, the vocals were crisp and clear during their set, in part because one of the members walked over to the soundboard a few times during the set to adjust the mic levels. Not knowing anything other than their first song didn't make me less interested at all, in fact seeing them live made me want to hear their new CD, "porcelain empire", all the more. The biggest surprise however, was that they closed their set with a cover of Toto's, "Africa". What a bizarre song to cover. Mick from the Successful Failures said to me, "I've never heard anyone cover this song". Me either, but their rendition made me actually care about that song again.
The Winter Sounds are on tour through the end of the year (maybe longer), so when they come to your area, definitely go see them.
Closing out the night at 1:30am, The Successful Failures burned through their brand of garage rock meets classic country, which included some something old (songs from their debut CD), something new (songs from their soon to be recorded CD), something borrowed (a nice Johnny Cash cover)...but the houselights came up at 2am, basically telling them to get off the stage, so I'll just assume they would have done something blues if they had had the time.
After The Fall
The Winter Sounds
The Successful Failures