I Breathe the Underground

Trio Puts on Great Show, Gets a Little Weird

We waltzed into the Alkaline Trio portion of the Asian Man Records 15th Anniversary Festival with high hopes for the evening -- and we weren't disappointed. But before the show was over, things got a little weird.

Let's begin at the beginning, of course. When we showed up, Kepi Ghoulie was onstage leading the house in chorus after chorus of fun Ramones-inspired punk rock. Sure, Kepi doesn't put on the kind of high-energy show that leaves your jaw on the floor, but he did his part to make sure people were having a great time and getting into the music.

In a strange twist, the Hot Toddies took the stage next. I didn't know a thing about this band -- but I knew all I needed to after the first song. The Hot Toddies are like the Donnas on high doses of morphine...like Tegan and Sara stoned...or maybe like an all-female Weezer on valium. They flash these big sexy smiles while sauntering through surf rock songs, and the first question that pops to mind is "what are these girls selling?" Ah, but since this was a festival of peace, love and camaraderie, I'll leave the Hot Toddies alone and move on to Trio.

Mr. Skiba seemed recovered from his antics from the night before, and it wasn't long before the band was heating up, playing more old stuff than I've ever heard them run through live. They rocked the classics to an enthused crowd (interluding with a newer jam here and there) and ended with back-to-back performances of "Radio" and "97," leaving this audience member as happy as a clam.

Unfortunately, some confusion at the end over a number of large dudes who had jumped onstage ended with Skiba leading the band and the new band members in a chorus of "Two Lips, Two Lungs, One Tongue" by NoMeansNo, crushing what seemed to be the perfect ending into a million tiny pieces. Maybe that's going a little too far...but, at the very least, you can say it was one of the weirder endings to a show I'd ever experienced. Sometimes things get weird with the Trio, but god help me, I still love 'em.

I couldn't find any good videos of the Trio set, so I've posted Skiba's hilariously awkward drunken rant from the Slapstick show in its stead.

Why I'll Think Twice Before Seeing Another Show at the Metro

Last night, I went to the Metro to see Alkaline Trio and Saves the Day. Today, I have a bone to pick.

Now, I've been to a ton of shows at the Metro, and I've seen Alkaline Trio at least six times. I know the standard routine for an Alk3 show, and I know the shows can get hectic in front of the hometown crowd. I also know that the Metro tends to get a little rowdy for sold out shows due to its relatively small size.

What I also know is that you don't ever want to hassle or harass your patronage, because they pay you money. Apparently, the Metro didn't receive the memo.

Two specific occurrences at last night's show left me with a very, very sour taste in my mouth. Neither one reflects well on Metro management. Listen guys: I understand that it takes a lot to manage a bunch of rowdy, drunken people, and you have to look out for the well-being of your patrons. But, Metro staff and management, this is the risk your patrons take coming to see a show. This is the risk you take as a venue that hosts live music. Turning the screws so tight on security that you are literally offending your patrons is not the way to do business.

The Story

I grab a ride with a co-worker following work and stop for a few drinks at a bar a couple doors down from the Metro. I have three drinks, am extremely tired and haven't eaten dinner, so I've got a bit of a buzz on -- but I am coherent and calm and wouldn't describe myself as reaching an inappropriate level of intoxication. Far from it, in fact.

As I saunter by the security at the front door, one of the guards pulls me aside. This burly, threatening-looking guard asks me if I've been drinking; I answer honestly that I've had a few beers, and I haven't had much to eat today. But I demonstrate to him that I'm not intoxicated by clearly and coherently explaining my case. He tells me that I'm too drunk and have to go get something to eat.

"But I'm not hungry," I protest.

"I don't give a shit. If you don't get something to eat, I'm not letting you in." I argue with him for about ten minutes, and he calls another threatening guard over to explain the exact same thing to me. This guard touts the fact that they are "trained at detecting intoxication," which is great -- except for the fact that I'm not intoxicated. Good for you, asshole. Did you sleep through your training classes? Did you have to get your GED before you could confidently judge someone's intoxication level?

I head across the street, grab a hot-dog, walk past a girl crying hysterically on the phone (she had apparently been kicked out of the show), and eat the hot-dog in front of the guards, who finally let me in. Thank god.

Fast-forward ten minutes: standing at the bar next to my buddy Jim and some other friends when my friend Joel from college appears out of nowhere. The three of us chat for a bit. In the middle of our conversation, a woman shoves Joel out of the way so she can get to the bar. Joel is standing next to a step and nearly topples over, spilling his and other people's beers. Not too big of a deal; this is a concert, right? Still, there wasn't a band onstage, and we weren't standing in a very crowded area. This girl simply could have asked Joel if she could get through.

Jim, a loyal friend with, admittedly, a volume control problem, makes a slightly inappropriate but non-threatening comment about the girl who shoved Joel. The bartender overhears the comment and stares daggers at Jim.

Now, I'm not defending Jim's comment, but when you or a friend get run down and spill your beer for no reason at all, you feel the need to say something. The only thing you can blame Jim for is lacking a little tact. Again, this is a concert, right? Apparently not.

I disappear to the ATM and when I get back, Jim is nowhere to be seen. He texts me to tell me he got thrown out for making "sexually threatening" suggestions to the bartender. One offhand, non-threatening comment. His cousin was also tossed...for doing nothing except being next to Jim when the incident occurred. On top of all that, turns out the girl who ran down Joel was a Metro waitress! So, the Metro was responsible for running one customer over, spilling the beer he paid them for, and kicking another customer out of the show that, again, he paid for...because he was defending his friend.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, "Why?" So was I.

The most I could get out of the bartender was that the staff recently attended some state-mandated classes -- although it's hard for me to believe that the state mandates you treat your customers like shit.

Conclusions

The real endgame here is simple: Metro, if you can't handle the strain of hosting live music, close your doors. I've had some amazing times at your venue, and I've seen some equally amazing bands. But this is Chicago, and there are hundreds of venues in this city. If you need to change security, find a better way to do it.

And please, for the love of god...people are spending money at your establishment! Your customers are paying a large lump sum to walk through your doors. Then, they are paying ridiculous prices for alcohol! If you're going to kick people out for stupid reasons, at least refund them their money. How bad is this going to get, anyway? Are you going to start selling tickets, pulling the fire alarm as soon as people are inside the venue, and then locking the doors so they can't get back in? Are you going to sell tickets to shows without actually booking the bands on the bill? Are you going to put SEATS on the floor and host classical music groups??? Where does it end?

Anyway, if Metro management, ownership or staff members read this, please know that I will not review any other shows at your establishment, and I will only attend another show at the Metro once in a blue moon. I know I'm just a small time blogger, but I've got a lot of friends who are going to find out about this. Word spreads. Shitty customer service will not build your customer base. Not now, not ever.

You've just earned yourself a spot on my "shitty Chicago venues" list, right next to the Aragon, and unless you guys start shaping up, there is where you'll stay.

- M.S.

The Top 20 Greatest Underground Debuts Pt. 4

And now, the finale of the Top 20 Greatest Underground Debuts! View Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

5. Dropkick Murphys - Do or Die - Before Al Barr's grungy vocals entered the picture, DKM was fronted by now Street Dogs front man Mike McColgan. Do or Die was an animal all its own compared to the Murphys of today, riding waves of in-your-face street punk with a regular twinge of the Celtic punk so adamantly displayed in more recent Murphys albums. DKM might have turned out a very different band today had Mike McColgan not joined the Boston Fire Department. Then again, Street Dogs might be a decent representation of a very different DKM.

Download 10 - Barroom Hero

4. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends - You haven't heard a record that more desperately requires a sing-along than TBS' Tell All Your Friends. Following the departure of Brand New's Jesse Lacey and preceeding the departure of Straylight Run's John Nolan, TBS was a complete unit, cranking out emo masterpieces filled with a new kind of teenage angst. Unlike today's TBS, Nolan's vocals seemed to stand out just as well as Adam Lazarra's had, creating the most potent and emotional combination I've heard to this day.

Download 06 Ghost Man On Third

3. Further Seems Forever - The Moon Is Down - Hey, remember how Chris Carraba formed Dashboard Confessional and made a bajillion dollars? Yeah, he was in Further Seems Forever before that ever happened. And they were incredible. The Moon Is Down is still one of the most powerful collections of songs I've ever heard, showcasing Carraba's vocals amidst spectacular drums and sentimental melodies. If you've never heard these guys, you better check 'em out. Just don't listen to any of their other albums, because this is the only one worthwhile.

Download 06 New Year's Project

2. Saves the Day - Can't Slow Down - They did slow down. But damn it all if they weren't lightning fast back then, cranking out tune after tune of sexually-frustrated emo-core with Lifetime-esque prowess. Three phrases to describe this album: short, fast, to the point. Much the opposite of my blog posts. Efficient punk rock with honest and violent, yet attractive lyrics that somehow felt comforting amidst the chaos and catchiness of the music. Still one of my favorite spins on my iTunes.

Download 07 Always Ten Feet Tall

1. Alkaline Trio - Goddamnit - What is there to say about Goddamnit that I haven't already written in detail? Not only is this the greatest debut album of all time -- it's simply the greatest album of all time. Disagree? Feel free to put your favorite album up against mine in the comments. As a warning -- I will argue Goddamnit's rightful place in punk history to the death.

Download 03 San Francisco

Interview with Dustin Kensrue of Thrice

Fresh off their quadruple EP concept album, The Alchemy Index, California-bred Thrice like to keep things interesting. Currently touring the country with punk superstars Rise Against and Alkaline Trio, Thrice has built a core fan-base as pioneers of the contemporary hardcore and punk scenes, blending elements of metal, pop-punk, folk, electronic and classic rock to formulate a melting pot of aural goodness. IBreathetheUnderground caught up with front man Dustin Kensrue before Thrice took the stage at the Congress Theater this month in Chicago.

IBreathetheUndergroud: How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?

Dustin: It’s always been changing but it has roots in punk and hardcore. It’s been, over time, incorporating a lot of stuff from a ton of different genres. At this point it’s like kind of dynamic and versatile rock. I don’t know. There’s a lot of heavy hitting stuff and there’s a lot of melody in there and everything in between – from stuff that’s super mellow at times to things that are really, really heavy.

If you could set one thing on fire, what would it be?

That’s an interesting question. I don’t know. I always think too literally for these questions. Too bad you can’t set fire to ideas.

I’d probably set fire to the 911 Commission Report because it’s a giant pack of lies and omissions.

What’s it like touring with legends of the scene like Alkaline Trio and Rise Against?

We’ve known both of them for awhile. We’ve known Alkaline for a really long time. They’re like friends and peers to us. They’re all awesome guys and great live bands, so it’s definitely a pleasure being out with them. It’s great being out with Gaslight [Anthem], too. They’re a great band. I hadn’t heard them much, hadn’t heard them at all until we knew that they were going to be on this tour. Then, I picked their record up and I’ve been digging that quite a bit.

What are your preconceptions prior to the first of a two-show homestead for both headliners, especially in a town that takes so much pride in its hometown legends like Chicago?

Our outlook on this whole tour is we’re two of four on this, and we haven’t done something like that in awhile. It’s been a lot of fun. You have to earn it, you know, and just go out there and play hard for forty minutes. Play for the people that are there to see you and play for the people who have never seen you before. You can never see how a show is going to go. It’s really unexpected – especially when you’re earlier on the bill. Sometimes you think it’s going to be a really good reaction, and it’s not. But then, later, it seems like it did something. Sometimes, the total opposite. You think it’s going to be awful and people are just having a great time. We really don’t think a whole lot about that kind of stuff. We just go out there and play.

What is your favorite body of water?

I would have to say the Pacific Ocean because I’m from California and I feel an affinity with it, I guess.

How important do you feel your art is to your music?

I don’t differentiate our music from art. I see art as being a pretty broad concept and I feel like the aspects of the music and the aspects of our lyrics and whatever [album] design we’re doing is all speaking to and coming from some other place. If you talk about the contrast between art and a consumer product, I think we try to focus on it as art and not as a product.

Musical evolution is a key component to creating a successful legacy for your act, and Thrice has certainly done its part to move forward sonically. Do you ever step back and think, “Are we changing too quickly for our audience?”

I definitely think we have at times, but, when you’re trying to be true to yourself and what you want to make, that’s a better gauge of how you’re progressing than if people like it or not. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, this issue, and what it means for us to even be making music at this point, ten years in, and what our band is. When we’re writing a record, it could one of a million places, you know? Especially at this point, after The Alchemy Index. I was just thinking that what makes us who we are is not just who we are as people now, together playing music, but where we’ve come from. I’m hoping to try to build a new fort without completely shredding our artistry. We’re trying to do what we can do best and better than anyone else, the places we can go that maybe no one else would go. We all just love different kinds of music. More and more everyday we’re into completely different things. We have a lot of core bands that we like together.

It’s a weird dynamic. I definitely feel like we alienated a lot of fans at certain points. But I do feel like a ton of people really appreciate the fact that we’re just trying to push ourselves and do something different. There’s no right or wrong way that that could have been done. So it’s just more opinion if people want to hang out or not. I definitely appreciate people that take the time to just listen to the records that we’ve made and try to understand why we’ve made that record and where we’re going and why we like it. I think usually those people who’ve been fans before will take that time in appreciating the new records.

Have you ever had a mud facial?

No. I’m not big on massages and stuff like that because I don’t feel like it’s worth the money for me. I buy my wife massages and stuff like that but for me – I don’t need that. I gotta keep that money for something else.

The Alchemy Index is a ball of concepts. There’s the surface concept (man’s relationship with the elements as depicted lyrically), but more important is the deeper idea behind the quadruple EP, revolving around the elements that make up Thrice as a band. Having broken it down, do you feel like it’ll be easier for you to fuse these elements to perfection on the next album?

No, I think it probably makes it harder in a certain way, but I do think it was good for us as an exercise and even just to clear our heads and be able to refocus now on where we could or should be heading. I feel like its good in that sense as something we needed to do.

What prompted you guys to break with Island [Records] and how did you choose Vagrant as the next step?

The Island thing was pretty mutual. They didn’t know what to do with us anymore, and we knew that they didn’t know what to do with us and didn’t really want to invest in the band anymore. Most of the people we had worked with over there had gone at that point. The music industry is just shuffling all the time, especially with the majors. They balked when they heard the majority of the record and our A&R guy at the time actually had to leave after we left. We’re really glad we left because he was our dude there. He kind of helped us negotiate getting out of there – Island saving a bunch of money and us getting to keep the record that we worked so hard on. I feel like it worked out better for everyone. There wasn’t any bad blood. It was just kind of like, “This doesn’t make sense for either of us anymore.” It was nice that it didn’t get super-messy.

So what’s next for Thrice? Have you guys decided on your direction for the next album? Have you started writing?

We’re in the process of writing. We could write anything, so it’s like, “What should we be writing and what kind of direction does that look like?” I think we’re still figuring that out. It’s definitely not set enough yet to put into any kind of words.

What US city that you’ve visited has the best air? You take a breath and say, “Damn, it feels good to be alive.”

Maybe, like, Seattle. There’s a freshness there. Same with Portland. There’s a freshness and there’s also a damp quality that’s not humid really. I hate humidity. I almost said Denver or something, but I really like the kind of wet, earthy smell. You’ve got the ocean coming in and you have plenty of rain. I like how it smells.

Neither Ironic or Agonizing, New Alk3 Album Does Not Live Up to It's Name

Holy shit, it's here. Well, almost.

The three demonic 'bubble-gum' punkers are back with much randomly placed clapping and consistently developing goth inspirations to provide their drooling public with a worthwhile sing-along album. The Unreleased CD Fairy left me a double prize this weekend; in addition to the new Less Than Jake album, I found the album I'd been waiting months for: Alkaline Trio's brand-spanking new Agony And Irony.

If Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder were dead, they'd be rolling in their respective graves right now. You didn't catch that reference did you? No, I'm not 50. I'm just full of random music information. You should know this by now.

About fifty percent of you are still lost right now. Google it.

Oh those Alk3 boys and their plays on words.

Moving on, I think we left off at the Unreleased CD Fairy and my plethora of punk rock presents. Agony and Irony has solidified Alkaline Trio's continued progression away from the pop-core tendencies of classics Goddamnit and Maybe I'll Catch Fire, away from the bouncy-quick drum tracks of From Here to Infirmary, hell even away from the maudlin tendencies of Good Mourning. There's a bit more of a consistency with 2005s Crimson, with both albums exuding a sort of nostalgic horror-pop.

I want to give a special 'kudos' (not the granola-candy bar) to Derek Grant for some spectacular drumming on this album -- it really helps establish some power behind those unique hooks, some of which sound they might sink without the anchor of strong backing drums. And Matt Skiba...your vocals are back with a vengeance. The one thing that I think Alkaline Trio fell away from but has come back to in a big way is the vocal chess match between Skiba and Andriano. Somehow, it feels real again, albeit in a different way than old Alk3.

I've got a feeling this album is going to grow on me in a big way. Only time will tell. Oh, and this will hopefully be the last Alkaline Trio post for a long time.

For all you unspecial people out there who don't believe in the Unreleased CD Fairy -- you can pick up the album July 1st. You gotta believe. Clap your hands. Keep clapping.

"There's a killer on the corner and he's looking for love / he's....looking for love / yeah, he's looking for you, my love."
- Matt Skiba, "Calling All Skeletons"