Local act Spectralux opened this show, but it was a strange new incarnation of Spectralux. Only the vocalist remains from earlier incarnations of the band, and the drummer is now Brian the bartender from the EARL. When i saw him on stage i thought, "If Brian is here, do people have to go thirsty at The EARL?" Presumably, however, there is a backup for Brian.
Hey Brian! Can i get a PBR over here?
Anyway, this new lineup does not seem all that radically different for Spectralux. They still make dance pop with a lot of distortion. I think the band suffers from a lack of keyboards now, and the last few times i saw them there was a LOT of fog on stage. The lack of fog tonight meant that we had to watch the vocalist shuffle around on stage vaguely dancing. I missed the fog.
Do The Spectralux Shuffle! The dance craze that is sweeping the nation.
I also found that after a while the songs started to sound the same. That is, there just isn't a lot of variety in Spectralux songs. Not that this is a new innovation (or, actually, lack thereof), but rather something just didn't gel tonight. Maybe the new lineup needs some time to find their groove or something.
Starfucker was the middle band, and i had never heard of them before. They were a four-piece band in drag, but they made a pretty entertaining variety of dance rock. i guess they were an electroclash band, as i heard some Her Space Holiday and/or The Faint in what they were doing.
Softball-topped maraccas just wanna have fun too.
In the middle of their set they did an excellent cover of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, which i suppose explains the drag costumes. I mean, it would just be silly to have men dressed as males covering Cyndi Lauper!
Um, yeah, "girls" wanna have fun.
In general though, Starfucker were a lot of fun. The music was energetic, and there was enough variety between the songs to keep it interesting. I would go see them again.
Tuxedo-glad vocalist of Starfucker.
Finally The Octopus Project took the stage. I have seen this band dozens of times, and i am always entertained. They have had the same lineup for a long time, and the various members know their roles well.
Drumming while laughing. That is what i love about this band.
Tonight they played a lot of new songs from their Hexadecagon record. To be honest, it is not like they are re-inventing themselves, or doing heavy metal covers or anything. This is the same sort of complex, fast-paced dance rock that the band has been doing for years. Some of the songs didn't work as well live, and i think it might be because they need to play them out for a bit to really figure them out in a live context.
Hey, can you lean over so i can get a shot of the theremin?
Cool, thanks guitarist dude!
Additionally, some of the transitions were a little awkward, meaning that the flow of music was broken for a few minutes some keyboard had to be re-programmed. Normally an Octopus Project show is one seamless whole, one song flowing into the other, but tonight it seemed more broken up. I guess the band need time to work out the kinks in these new songs.
Octopus Project rock the unicorn!
Still, they were fun.
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