I’m pretty young, and I rarely go to shows where the band members are around my own age, but on January 15th I made an exception. A free house show featuring some of my friends and a light-up disco ball was more than enough to convince me. Unfortunately, I was late (driving from the Northwest to Henderson during rush hour may not have been the best idea) and missed most of the Troobadours’ set, but what little I saw of them did not disappoint. At the very least, I got my fix of awesome local ska.
Next up, playing their first show ever, was Twenty-81 (“Harrison Bergeron,” anyone?). They released their EP Goliath on New Year’s Day, but it’s nothing compared to them live. They began with their most pop punk song, “Back to the Start,” but don’t let that fool you. Twenty-81 is an experimental/progressive rock project comprising Adrian Tanner, Chad Steele, and Alex Klingler. Adrian and Chad have been playing together for years now, but I would say that this is their best musical attempt yet. Adrian said of his new band, “I’m a lot more emotional with this stuff… I hope people can pick up on that.” The crowd confirmed his hopes as they clapped along during Twenty-81’s last song.
It was also West End Knock Out’s goodbye show, which made me regret only seeing them once before that night. Adrian stood in as guitarist, and sang a cover of Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down” with them, which unsurprisingly got everyone singing along. Lead singer Sergio Lopez could certainly hold his own, however, with a strong, clear voice that rang throughout the house. West End Knock Out had the most hard rock sound of the night, with some punk elements sprinkled in. They played a few songs off of their EP, including my personal favorite “The Escape.”
Lately, I’ve been listening to their album Amicis constantly, but it was my first time seeing Garbage Tree live. In terms of genre, I would label them as a “teenage angst anthem” sort of band. You could tell by how well the band meshes that they’ve been playing for a while now, and are close friends on top of that. They played a song called “Never Odd or Even,” in which the time signature is just that (I don’t know much about music theory; someone had to tell me). They have a lot of instrumental parts in their songs, but not because these boys can’t sing—both Anthony Farris and Austin Longworth have rad, versatile voices that compliment the instruments perfectly. I was antsy to hear my favorite song of theirs, “An Ardent Heart in Song,” which turned out to be even better live.
Admittedly, I was a bit out of my element among so many progressive rock fans, but the music was more than enough to put me at ease. I would have missed out on a lot if I hadn’t gone to this show. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Twenty-81 to see where they go next, and I’m sure many others are as well.
-Julien Boulton
Cover pPhoto by Julien Boulton
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