"Joy Division in tune and with bouncy melodies" and "If Snow Patrol were good and had a rocket shoved under them" are but 2 ways to describe Birmingham, England rock band Editors. But these descriptions fall well short, and nowhere was this demonstrated better than at their Feb. 5, 2007 gig at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom.
If Mercury Music Prize nominees bounding about the stage as if their rock lives depended on it aren't enough to cure the winter blahs, try seeing them teamed with not one, but two stonking support bands: Hot Hot Heat and San Diego's garage rockers Louis XIV.
If every end has a start, then rare is the triple bill that actually rocks and rolls from the get-go.
Louis XIV's Glam-rock Assault
Leading the charge were sexed-up-and-fancy-free rockers Louis XIV. Despite a few on-stage, off-timing blunders, cocksure lead vocalist Jason Hill strutted around as if the bastard child of Bowie, Bolan, Jagger and Electric Six. The band's "issues" went undetected by the grinning kids in the audience, but was clearly a problem for guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Brian Karscig who later explained to Suite101 that he'd given his lead singer a "talking to" for a few faux-pas.
The crowd never knew it. His gold chain gleaming in the lights, Hill kicked out the new-wavey jams and traded vocals with Karscig through tracks from Illegal Tender, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept and grand, garagey statements from their newest disc Slick Dogs and Ponies (notably "Air Traffic Control", "Guilt by Association" and "There's a Traitor in the Room"). They had the audience from the first crunchy chord.
Afterwards, Karscig fretted but found some solace when told that few would have noticed. Maybe so, he said, "but it's got to be perfect - especially for Vancouver," he lamented. "We're better on a smaller stage". Good thing, then, that they return to the city on March 28 for a headlining gig at Richards' on Richards, in a tour that will take them through the US and Canada during March and April.
Hot Hot Heat's Steve Bays Soldiers On
As troubling as the hiccups may have been to a sozzled Karscig, they were miniscule compared to what a croaking Steve Bays from Hot Hot Heat had to endure. All curls and caffeine and givin' it for the kids, vocalist Bays explained to the crowd: "The doctor told me I have to rest my voice for two weeks and so we have to cancel some gigs", he rasped. "But I said, no, not Vancouver, f*ck it". (Cue expected cheers from friends, family and fans.)
The thing with Hot Hot Heat is this: they do one song really well. Problem is that most songs are pretty much that one song. "Bandages", "Naked in the City" (from Make Up the Breakdown) and "Goodnight, Goodnight" (from Elevator) are all enjoyable, and they've got the presence, but somehow Hot Hot Heat still aren't quite there yet. Rest up Bays, but good on you for soldiering on.
Editors' win the night
By the time Editors' Tom Smith, Chris Urbanowicz, Russell Leetch and Ed Lay touched down, HHH were but memories. Vocalist Smith flailed, jumped, smiled and spun around the stage like a man happily possessed. For a band with only two discs (The Back Room and An End Has a Start), Editors have become a truly growing concern on the live circuit. Easy to see why.
Compelling and note-perfect, the band were flawless through "All Sparks", "Munich", "Blood" "Bones", "Smokers Outside the Hospital Door", and, well, the rest. Smith owned the room from strum one. With well-crafted, dark, goth-poppy songs soaring higher when belted out live, Editors are a must go-see.
Very good things, it seems, come in threes.
Mikala Taylor - Mikala Taylor is the creator/writer of BACKSTAGERIDER.COM, an editor/interactive producer, and was the former associate editor of ...
