From MySpace blog: Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Today’s pseudo-celebrity run-in: the alternative/emo band Hawthorne Heights.
You may be asking, “Who?” To be honest, I don’t really know either. But I do know they’re hip with the indie kids. I think I’ve seen their shirts at Hot Topic. They’re in town tonight to do a show with Fall Out Boy – the band developing a reputation (with anyone over 18 or that have been to more than 3 concerts ever) as the group that manages to sell out every show whilst being notoriously poor live performers.
The Heights guys were nice enough, in a detached, personality-less kinda way. I’ve seen photos of them before, and they lived up exactly to my expectations. One of their guitar players looks, well, doofy. There’s no better word for it. And he was exactly that. Every time he opened his mouth, the other two guys gave him the “for God’s sake, shut up already” look, well practiced and obviously habitual.
They played two songs: “Ohio is for Lovers” and whatever their current single is. Witness the melodrama of “Ohio…”
And I can’t make it on my own.
(And I can’t make it on my own.)
Because my heart is in Ohio.
So cut my wrists and black my eyes.
(Cut my wrists and black my eyes)
So I can fall asleep tonight, or die.
Because you kill me.
You know you do, you kill me well.
You like it too, and I can tell.
You never stop until my final breath is gone.
The guitar players were actually pretty good, but the vocalist is of a type increasing common in the emo/alternative world. These “singers” can barely project at all. Their diminuative vocals absolutely require a microphone and the sound system pushed to full volume, just to be heard above, oh, say, the roar of a ceiling fan. They are lost on acoustic performance, at least if you’re in the studio and aren’t wearing headphones like the jock. Maybe he pushes it a little harder live, I don’t have basis for comparison here, but it was totally weak.
Among the other artists I’ve encountered like this: Kill Hannah (talented band, but the vocalist has a pale imitation of Garbage’s Shirley Manson for a voice), and aging-industrial wannabes Gravity Kills (who delivered the most mistake filled, flat studio performance I’ve seen outside of the band Thursday).
/// Listening to “Year of the Spider” by Cold