Battle of the Bands 08.11.09: Paramore vs. Chevelle

Posted by Adam Battagello on 08.11.2009

Face-off of bands, tributes to the Beatles, what more could you want?

Greetings one and all to yet another week of Battle of the Bands, needless to say after the tribute to the White Album I witnessed this past weekend I have been in an absolute Beatles haze for about a week. So before we get into our usual face-off I'll give my little opinion on how the album itself was treated on the night.


In my opinion, some of the most impressive renditions of the night included the slower tracks off the album such as ‘Dear Prudence'. I don't know why but the orchestral arrangements in tracks such as this coupled with the surroundings of the Opera house left me absolutely speechless.Even tracks that I had never really thought much of, and yes, I am talking about ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da', were treated in a way that made them enjoyable.

But without doubt, the highlight of the tribute show was a performance of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Personally, Harrison was always my favorite of the foursome and to see such an amazing performance of one of his greatest creations is the definition of a reviewer's dream.

On a slightly ironic note, during the intermission they played ‘Sympathy for the Devil' by the Rolling Stones over the speakers. Really? Stones at a Beatles tribute concert? Really?

But I digress…

…ONTO THE FACE-OFF

This Week:

Paramore- Ignorance vs. Chevelle- Jars





I must admit ever since the onset of the Twilight phenomenon, I have been trying with all my heart to avoid anything associated with those fancy shining vampires, and for some time this has included the group Twilight. Normally I like to think as a reviewer I am above the whole ‘I wont listen to this because it's to mainstream' shtick, but hey, the high pitched screams of legions of pre-teen girls as they chase after some English lad with towering hair are enough to turn anyone away. With their forthcoming album Brand New Eyes, and the first single ‘Ignorance' I'm hoping to see that there is life for the group after the highs of Twilight.

Despite forming in 1995 Chevelle have, for the most part, flown under my musical radar for some time now. It is always a pleasure of mine when I happen upon an established band that, for one reason or another, are not already among my record collection, so I guess you could say I'm going in optimistic towards their latest single ‘Jars'.

Paramore- Ignorance


Paramore is a band that has have always thrived on catchy, accessible pop rock, just looking back at past tracks such as ‘Misery Business' and the Twilight track ‘Decode' (which I finally forced myself to listen to in its entirety), I can see why this band has, and continues to develop quite a remarkable fan base. In a society where new ‘emo' bands seem to be a dime a dozen, the fact that Paramore continues to hold onto a strong group of followers becomes all the more impressive.

Just from reading lead singer Hayley William's description of the group's first single ‘Ignorance' I have but one thing to say. While these emo groups may cop criticism from certain parts of music society, man do they know how to market themselves. According to Williams, much of ‘Ignorance' is focused around the difficulty of changing as you get older, and the people around you changing as well. Given that much of the audience for this style of music is in the younger, teenage range a song focusing on this sort of material will speak to them directly. Wise move indeed.

In terms of the track itself, Williams does seem to be growing up, as there is a more mature edge to her lyrics in ‘Ignorance'. Lines such as "I can't excite you anymore" give an insight to a person struggling with the changing conditions of their own maturity, something that wasn't present in singles off of earlier releases such as Riot!

While the lyrics seem to give the impression that Paramore is moving forward and beginning to grow up, I have to say that the music itself isn't really forward thinking. One of the limitations of the pop-rock/ emo genre is that, for a majority of groups, it doesn't really lend itself to experimentation. The music of ‘Ignorance' could easily be that of past tracks such as ‘Misery Business', but that's more a result of the demands of the genre than the abilities of the musicians themselves. At least I hope so…

Moving On!

Chevelle- Jars



With the first listen of Chevelle's first single ‘Jars' from the group's upcoming studio album Sci-Fi Crimes, I got the same sort of feeling that I usually get from a lot of modern metal music, namely that the song starts out well, but never really reaches a climactic point that all great rock songs do, but instead just fizzles out.

Yet, as I listened and re-listened to the track, as I do with all my subjects, I found that, unlike many of the past singles, the Paramore track included, ‘Jars' does have quite impressive replay value. Listening to the track no less than 15 times, I found that I was still willing to listen to it again and again. Any track that can survive the abuse of multiple replays has to have something going for it.

Songs about quirky subject material are always going to do well in Battle of the Bands and you can't get much quirkier than ‘Jars'. The central theme being the idea of preserving the environment by storing the earth is jars. Because yeah, that'll work…the kids have to believe in something dammit!

There can only be one!

While neither of the songs blew me away today, the winner is going to have to be Chevelle. Even though it never reaches a peak to make it a great song, it's replay value more than solidifies it as the winner of today's competition in my eyes, some people may see Paramore's single as the better one to listen to over and over, but personal interpretation is what this column is all about.




Until we meet again, happy sailing.