Allele - The Hurricane - Kansas City, Missouri - January 24, 2006
Posted by Brandon Ratliff on 02.04.2006
One part car crash, one part rock and roll...
First of all, I'd like to start with a passage from one of my Broken Memories columns which pertained to live shows:
...what about listening to music live? There are several perks with such a thing. If it is a popular band that you really like, it makes for a sort of surreal experience to see the people that you've only seen on TV and in magazines there in person. And then, you watch and hear them play their songs live to you. They aren't playing to the few thousand (or hundred, or even ten, as the case may be) people there, they are playing to you. Whether you are in the very front getting kicked in the head by those annoying assed crowd surfers (which I suffer from a lot, seeing as how I am 6'6") and getting trampled by people who love to mosh, or if you are in the very back trolling around the concession stands trying to find even one thing that is affordable, you are there. Sometimes you have to pay ridiculous amounts of money to be there, but you are there. I think the most I ever paid for a concert was $40 to see Linkin Park, P.O.D., Hoobastank, and an up and coming Story Of The Year back in January 2004. Of course, one of my friends ended up paying me for the ticket as a sort of Christmas present, so I guess I didn't really pay for it. I once paid $12 to see Mushroomhead, which featured the (horrible) Used long before anyone knew who they were, $12 to see Finger Eleven, $15 to see Kittie, $7 and $16 to see Saliva (ironically, the $7 was the second time I saw them, and Shinedown opened for them too), $6 to see Evanescence, $15 to see 3 Doors Down, and so on. I saw Papa Roach and Trust Company for free for being on both of their street teams, and I saw Trivium, Still Remains, The Agony Scene, and 3 Inches Of Blood for free as well. I was supposed to see Killswitch Engage, and then Slipknot, Lamb Of God, Shadows Fall and Devildriver for free too, but both times something happened and I wasn't able to go. There were more concerts I've seen, but you get the idea by now i'm sure. But anyhow, there is just something about seeing the band up there on stage, playing everything right there in front of you (assuming they don't use vocals or music tracks besides those required). Hearing the notes blast out of the amps as the guitarist(s) pick the individual points on the instrument with usual expert precision. You hear the thundering blast of the bass and drum beats as you feel them reverberate through your entire body. You sing or scream along with the vocalist as they rip through the lyrics that they probably though of while drunk and riding the porcelain. Yes, this is the beauty of a live show.
Any good group of musicians will know that the absolute most important aspect of being a band is a honed-to-a-fine-edge live show. Put plainly, if you suck live, you either are over-produced (see also: rappers, pop singers, some rock bands), or just lucky. However, there is a huge difference between a good live band and a great one. A good band goes up there, plays to the crowd, and puts on a good show. A great one however...they play to themselves for the most part. Does that sound self-absorbed? Well if it does, you misunderstand. What I am saying is that a great live band, a band that is really true to themselves with their music, will get so wrapped up in their playing that, while the crowd is a large factor in the show, the musicians will feel the music just as much as the crowd does.
Any musicians will understand where I am coming from with this, but when you spend a lot of time writing music, it becomes very personal to you...almost like a child in a sense. Well, this isn't always the case, but I am speaking again of the aforementioned great bands.
If you couldn't figure out where I am going with this, Allele falls under this category.
Let's start with vocalist Wally Wood. Off stage, he is somewhat quiet, but still very interesting to talk to. Once he gets on the stage though, he transforms into something completely different. Being all of three feet away from Wood for the entire show, I was able to experience all of his stage workings first hand. As he sang the words that he wrote who knows how long ago, you'd think he was saying all of this right off the top of his head, with all of the emotion to go with the subject matter. At times, you'd think danger was imminent; that Wood was ready to (seemingly quite literally) beat the hell out of something or someone. At one point, he reached out and grabbed my shirt as he was screaming through the verse of Covered In Anger, a new track that the band wrote but didn't have the chance to record for the album (according to Wood the track may either appear on a re-release of Point Of Origin, or it may appear on their next album, which they are already working on writing). At the time, he yanked me back and forth, about two inches away from my face. Seeing as how large of a person I am (as it says in the Broken Memories exert), this isn't an easy task. In addition, at one point guitarist Lane Maverick noticed I was watching him (I would alternate between band members trying to get a full feel for their stage personas for this very review), and he got his guitar about six inches away from me and stared at me as he ran through the bridge of one of the songs like it was nothing.
Basically, as for Wood, he ruled the stage like a god to his world, and he exuded such pure emotion that even I, with as many great bands as I've seen live, have never quite seen. As I said before, Wood felt what he was singing. At times, he looked straight fucking crazy, at times he looked like he could start crying (not in an emo way of course), and at times he looked flat out pissed off. Part of a stage show is theatrics, but not from Wood. I can't reiterate enough how into what he was doing this man was.
Now on again to Maverick. First off, the other guitarist Kelly Hayes (who some of you may recognize as the former lead guitarist of Cold) was absent. Maverick explained to me why, but it's something I'll keep to myself as it is his business, and as far as this review goes, the actual reason for his absense, since it's not that he actually quit the band, is irrelevent. Upon asking him how he does things without Hayes around (considering they do make very good use of the fact that they have two guitarists, since they rarely play the same part), here's what he had to say:
"I don't know. I mean, you want to hear that people miss him being there, but a lot of people have actually told us that they think we sound tighter without him. Even still, when things are resolved for him, he will definitely be back. As for now, I kind of combine the two guitar parts together in the songs. It sounds pretty good though."
Good indeed. Basically, Maverick would play all of the guitar solos and lead stuff when the bass was enough to fill the riff out, but most of the time he would play the heavy, seemingly power chorded parts. Why do I say seemingly you ask? Well, as a guitarist myself, he was playing some funky chords a lot of the time. Some were just extended power chords, but most of them were like heavy jazz chords converted to rock use, ala Mike Einziger from Incubus, whom I have a huge amount of respect for as a musician. The heavy intro/pre-chorus riff from Fake looked even cooler while being played than it sounds, and that's saying a lot as that is one of my most favorite guitar riffs...of all time. Speaking of Fake, I have an interesting story about that song, but that'll come later. As for Maverick's stage presence, he owned his instrument like Bill Gates owns half the damn world. The same emotion felt from Wood was shared with Maverick...he wasn't just playing his guitar, he felt each and every note as it was vibratically created, drawn in via magnetic waves through the pickups, altered by the effect pedals, and then converted back to sound waves as they passed out of the cabinet speakers. Too detailed for you? Well get the fuck over it.
Tim Tobin...wow. I just got to say, he got screwed in the album mix. He wasn't quite as active as Maverick or Wood, but for good reason, considering his bass parts are fucking ridiculously crazy most of the time. Here's something he had to say about it:
"When I was recording, I was basically shoved into this little back room with an intern that would just tell me he pressed record, and I had to start playing. I didn't even really work with Ben (Schigel, producer) at all."
That must have sucked. But, Tobin definitely did get into it though, and I guess the best thing I could say was he took the "big guy" role in being there and looking intimidating.
Drummer Giancarlo Autenzio (or just Gian, pronounced John)...wow. One of the best live drummers I've ever seen in hard rock. Simply put, the guy knows his shit. He is pretty quiet offstage, but on...he's thrashing about like a fish out of water. A fish that kicks ass at drumming though of course. Heh. There's not much else to say, but I was definitely impressed by him.
Here's the setlist:
Tightrope
Stitches
Lost In Your Words
Unknown
Fake
Covered In Anger
A Different Someone
Tear Thief
Lies
Closer To Habit
Misunderstood
I know there were about two or three more tracks, but that's all Wood wrote down when he gave me the list, which, I feel it worth mentioning is sitting next to my laptop, written on a Wendy's napkin as that was the only paper he could find at the time.
Okay, now the story about Fake. Basically, before the show, I was sitting in the band's van talking to Tim about the set list. He said that they are playing all of the album stuff except for Immune, the hidden instrumental, and Fake. I simply commented "Oh, that kind of sucks, Fake is my favorite track of yours. Oh well. It's cool though."
Then...after Unknown is fading out, what do I hear?
Wally: This one is called Fake.
I about fucking flipped out with joy. As I said before, the completely badass guitar riff from the intro looks really cool when being played, and it sounded really good too. When I was talking to Tim again after the show, he asked me what I thought of it, and told me that the band had played the song only because I had said something about it. Not to kiss my ass or anything (not like it was necessary as you can see by the review thus far), but just to be cool I suppose. That's the sign of some great guys. I told them when I walked in that I was there as press, but I was also a fan. And they played a song just because a fan said they wanted to hear it. Very respectible. He continued to say that they simply hadn't played it for their past few shows, but didn't really give a reason. No matter, they played it then, and they completely rocked it.
The old stuff (some of which dated back four to five years when Maverick and Wood first started playing together) was a bit heavier than the album stuff, but you could tell their songwriting has progressed a lot since those songs. Even still, they were solid songs, all of which I wouldn't mind hearing recorded. Covered In Anger, the "new" song, was fucking amazing. Not only was it by far the heaviest song they have, but, well, the name says it all. It's an extremely aggressive track. Either way, I hope to god a recorded version sees the light of day at some point.
Wrapping up, I will come out and say it...I've seen a lot of bands (as I said before), but Allele is THE best live band I've ever seen. Pure emotion spilled from all four members, the songs were tight and heavy, the crowd got really into it...it was just perfect. This is the kind of reputation a band such as Allele needs to get the success they deserve, and word of mouth is the best promotional tool. Check out their website for dates and GO SEE THEM. Even if you don't like their music, you will at least respect them as musicians and a band.
The 411: A completely kickass show by the best live band I've seen thus far. Fake, which they played only because I had said I liked it, was the spotlight of the show for me, along with the new track Covered In Anger. All four members got more into it that you'd expect to see a band usually, and it made a lot of difference. If you like rock music, see this band. They are great guys, great musicians, and great performers. There's nothing else to it.
Also, check out my review of their album Point Of Origin as well.
