Holy shit, I had almost forgotten what heavy was. Until last night, that is. Thank you, Torche, for reminding me.
[Torche]
There were some issues with the mix, however, that would never be fully resolved. Steve Brooks' poppy, melodic vocals face an uphill battle against his band's monumentally crushing wall of sound and need all the help they can get in the mix. For the first few songs, the vocals were mostly nonexistent. They got a little EQ boost later on, but it still left me wanting.
That wasn't even the worst of it.
There were no drums in the mix-- zero-- for the duration of their set. Snare and cymbals came through acoustically of course, but toms and bass drum were completely absent. Needless to say, this detracted quite a bit from the impact of their songs.
Regardless, Torche are heavier live than could ever be conveyed on tape and I look forward to seeing them again.
Hey, so, by the way... is "Vampyro" about Harry Caray?
[Jesu]
I have been waiting to see Jesu for some time now, after missing them earlier this year. I was scheduled to review their Irving Plaza show with Torche and ISIS for The Tripwire but, the day of the show their publicist renegged with a lie about how Jesu were still unable to get into the country. [I made a mistake-- the real story was that due to confusion surrounding constant visa issues, a ticket buy was never secured and the names submitted (including mine) were rejected by the venue. Sorry Derek!] They were, in fact, forced to cancel several dates at the beginning of that tour, but they managed to get their visa issues worked out in time for the Irving Plaza show.
Anyway, Justin Broadrick and co. were just about everything I expected them to be and nothing more-- they were good, but they didn't exceed expectations. And once again, not their fault, but the vocals were much too low in the mix.
Besides the continued issues with the mix, there was only one misstep. Jesu had us in a trance until "Transfigure", when one of drummer Ted Parson's Phil Petrocelli's clumsy fills went slightly off course, killing our buzz and nearly derailing the entire song.
Otherwise, Jesu successfully enraptured the audience, filling the room with their epic, introspective laments and proving that metalheads can be in touch with their sensitive side.
Upcoming Dates:
Torche & Jesu
10/21 - The Polish Club - Poughkeepsie, NY
10/22 - Trinity on Main - New Britain, CT
10/23 - The Middle East - Cambridge, MA
10/24 - La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec
10/25 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, Ontario
10/26 - Snowplace Theater - Buffalo, NY
10/27 - Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
10/29 - Pops - Sauget, IL
10/30 - Bottleneck - Lawrence, KS
Torche
10/31 - The Outland Ballroom - Springfield, MO
11/01 - Hi-Tone - Memphis, TN
11/02 - Bottletree - Birmingham, AL
11/03 - The Star Community Bar - Atlanta, GA
11/19 - Studio A - Miami, FL
Jesu
10/31 - Marquis Theater - Denver, CO
11/02 - Neumo's Crystal Ball - Seattle, WA
11/03 - Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR
11/05 - Harlow's - Sacramento, CA
11/06 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
11/09 - Ex Plex - Los Angeles, CA
[Video] Torche - "Mentor"[MP3] Torche - "Charge of the Brown Recluse"[MP3] Jesu - "Can I Go Now"
Torche [MySpace] [MP3]
In Return [iTunes]
Jesu [MySpace] [MP3]
Lifeline [Amazon][iTunes]
[Photo Credit: Pitchfork Media]
October 21, 2007
Jesu, Torche - Live at Blender Theater at Gramercy [10/20/07]
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4 hollers:
Axl and I went to see Dark Tranquillity, The Haunted, Into Eternity and Scar Symmetry at the Gramercy last Spring and had a similar problem with the sound mix. It was really, really bad for the first two bands. We attributed it to be bad sound techs... but maybe there's something difficult about the room?
Regarding the visa issue with Jesu, many bands are having problems with getting their visas issued in time to tour. Spin magazine brought this up in a recent article http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/05/070524_vissues/.
Ted Parsons is not playing on this tour. The drummer is Phil Petrocelli. Stereogum had the drummer as Danny Walker, who played with Jesu on their last tour.
Are blogging and fact-checking mutually exclusive endeavors?
I'm surprised to hear Phil's fills (har har) were off. I saw Jesu on the first night of their tour and he was rock solid all the way through. Maybe the touring is wearing him down, or, given what I've heard about the crappy sound at the Gramercy, maybe the monitor mix wasn't up to snuff. Good thing I saw them in a club with killer sound.
According to the only sources available (Jesu's MySpace and Wikipedia entry) the drummer is Ted Parsons. You are correct, though, Phil Petrocelli is on the current guy.
It was only one single moment where t got away from him a bit, other than that he was pretty solid. And I am sure it had at least something to do with the mix/monitors/etc. More than a few times I could see him begging for more volume in his earpiece.
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