Brightest Young Things

all words and photos: Mike Danko

Rock'n'Roll hotel opening their doors to metal heads? I mean, seriously. Who saw this one coming? First thing I noticed was how unsmelly these metal heads were. Taking a closer look I noticed that most of the attendees had X's on the back of their hands and were sporting their brand spanking new metalcore band t-shirts. Then the hygiene made sense. Give these kids a few more years and they will develop permanent BO and a meth/coke addiction to try and achieve the true status.
The lineup of bands, the fans flocking to see them and the big brawny bouncers were a recipe for a good old fashioned hardcore racket fest. Let the games begin!

The Number 12 Looks Like You

These boys have a singer who spends way too much time trying to entertain an audience by acting like a silly little kid who spends their hard earned cash at Spencer's and Hot Topic. I don't want to go as far to say that this was an unlikely bunch but I couldn't help but think that the guitarist was somebody's cousin who was nice enough to fill in. Their musicianship was virtually unmatched with their jazz influences and crazy time signatures. Most of this, I believe, can be attributed to the aforementioned guitarist who came off as a very slick prog-rock dude. The singing style, on the other hand, was nothing new; just some screamo guy. Been there, done that. But when coupled with the smooth guitars you wound up with something new and you don't want to write them off (just) yet. I heard one guy sum it up quite nicely; it's the next logical step after Dillinger - only you have a lousy singer.

Dillinger Escape Plan

After taking their sweet time setting up their gear, one by one, starting with a newly acquired drummer the Dillinger boys took to the stage. The house illuminations gone dim, strobes blasting away and other weird lights coming to life, Greg made his dramatic (late) entrance and wasted no time to fire into the first tune letting people know what Dillinger was here.
These days it has become harder to recognize bands with a constantly changing lineup. Having been active for the past 12 years or so, Dillinger has the reputation for going through band members like toilet paper, with Ben being the only original member. I suppose things like this will happen to band who work with people who keep boxes full of dolls and get shot in the head.
Busting through songs from "Calculating Infinity" and "Miss Machine", this band was not showing any signs of fatigue until a few titles from their latest release came back to back. It was almost a complete shift in pace and everyone felt it. When I overheard two people say "...Why are we here?..." I was reminded that Dillinger's current singer is not the one favored by fans. The slower, quieter song they were playing was actually low enough for me to overhear the two fellows' conversation next to me. Who would have thought this was ever possible at a Dillinger show? Definitely not this crowd. It was time to leave.

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/13: LiveDC: George Clinton & The Parliament-Funkadelic @ 930 Club
• 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
• 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
• 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre