CHVRCHES @ The Wiltern, Los Angeles. 11-18-13.

Youtube is a strange and wonderful place. Sometime last spring, while scouring the site for kvlt Scandinavian black metal, I stumbled across Chvrches: a Scottish synth pop trio that makes some of the sweetest/catchiest ear candy imaginable. All thanks to that misspelled "v." Like I said, Youtube is a strange and wonderful place.

Flash forward to the present. I've been hooked on Chvrches Recover EP and their recently released debut full length, The Bones of What You Believe like Tyrone Biggums searching for another hit. Something about the band's music conjures images of ethereal landscapes and neon lit pizza parties at Chuck E. Cheese's. Maybe it's the saccharine synthesizers that permeate their recordings? Maybe it's Lauren Mayberry's siren-esque voice, that retains both a childlike innocence and a nurturing Gaelic tone throughout, or maybe it's the misspelled "v" that does it? Either way, this is a far cry from the extreme metal nonsense I usually pollute my ears with and I love it.

Within the past year the band's popularity has grown by leaps and bounds. They went from playing small capacity clubs like The Echo and The Troubadour to selling out an evening at The Wiltern (w/ a capacity of over 1,800 people). Chvrches' single "The Mother We Share" has picked up serious airplay on radio stations and they've even made appearances on both Jimmy Fallon and Kimmel's late night TV shows. All this exposure meant the sold out crowd was beyond hyped for this relatively new band with less than an hour's worth of material in their catalog. Had the band not been awesome, things could have turned ugly.

Thankfully, Chvrches put on one hell of a show. They played their entire new album for the adoring crowd and supplied one of the coolest light shows I've seen since The Main Street Electrical Parade. Lauren's voice and odd, self aware dance moves along with her band mates' impassioned performances (bass, keyboards, backing vocals...and more odd dancing) kept the crowd hypnotized all night. People jumped and danced to upbeat jams like "Gun," "Lies," and "Lungs," then quickly fell under the trance of moody numbers like "Tether" "Night Sky" and "By The Throat." My favorite moment of the night was during "Recover," easily the peppiest pop song since since the Reagan administration, when the programed audio claps gave way to legit enthused hand clapping from the audience...twas awesome.

For an "electronic act" that predominantly relies on pushing buttons than shredding on traditional instruments, Chvrches put on one of the best concerts I've seen in a some time. Hell, even the opening electronic act, Basecamp, was good. Aside from the great tunes and an awe inspiring parade of lights, it should be noted that the show ran quickly and smooth as hell. No audio problems or hiccups and best of all, no waiting for instruments checks/tuning. Check out Chvrches next time they're in your neck of the woods. They got some great songs...and they're punctual. 

Paramore @ The Wiltern, Los Angeles. 5-1-13.

 I was on the fence about this show for sometime. The last time I saw Paramore in concert they were wrapping up dates on the tour cycle for their awesome Brand New Eyes album. That was back in 2010 (as I was first starting this here blog) and the band has undergone some massive changes since then.

Josh (guitar) and Zac Farro (drums) quit Paramore in late 2010. The split was pretty nasty. Since the band's inception, Josh and front woman Hayley Williams served as the groups main song writers. With the Farro's abrupt departure, the band not only lost one of it's main songwriters, but lost it's musical core as well. Like Pantera without the Abbotts, Vinnie and Dime, or Van Halen without...the Van Halens. How on Earth would Paramore sound without the Farros?

Well, their new self titled album finally dropped earlier this year...and it was kind of a mess. Long rant short: I didn't hate it with a passion, but really, really miss the Farro brothers.

lifted from Rolling Stone...because Blogger is acting crazy and won't let me upload ANYTHING

 Well, the night was upon us. Showtime. A sold out show in fact. Lucky for me I had a inside connection that came through and got us great seats for cheap (Craigslist, wat up?!?). The opening band Kitten was, well they were horrible. I don't want to bash them too much because I just read that the main girl in the band is like only seventeen years old, but man they've got some work to do.

So Paramore came out and the rabid sold out crowd went nuts. Several thousand females shrieking their brains out, it's almost deafening. So here's the good:

• The new songs sound much better live than on the overtly polished new album.
• Hayley Williams is still an amazing front woman/singer (she was recovering from throat problems but still danced/sang her heart out).
• The back up musicians they tour with are all top notch hired guns and really nailed the songs (this was the heaviest the band has ever sounded).

 Ad now...here's the bad:

• The band currently exists as a trio, without a permanent 2nd guitarist or drummer which is...insane.
• The hired guns do all the heavy lifting (lead guitar and drums, hello) but stand in the shadows all night.
• Taylor York, the only official guitar player in the band and Hayley defacto song writing partner is still playing rhythm and lets the hired gun behind him play all of Josh's lead. Step it up dude.
• The stage show/production is kind of annoying.

With the brothers gone, it seems Hayley Williams is free to do what she pleases with the band. Her version of Paramore 2.0 still put on a good show, but I couldn't help but notice what was missing. Back in 2010, Paramore was a hungry young rock band who came to do just that, fucking rock. Now, they've gone all jazz hands on us. They've got a fancy, glittery stage production with lots of bells and whistles, and three hired guns lurking in the shadows adding more guitar than ever to overcompensate for the missing piece of the Paramore puzzle, the Farro bros. musical core that, along with Hayley's voice, all but define the band. Hopefully they'll all make amends one day. The world will be a better place for it. If not...at least put the house lights the backing musicians who are doing all the damn work.