(Above) Holy Fuck photos by Spaghetti In a Box Camera
"How are they going to follow that?" This echoing statement traveling through the audience was the same sentiment that followed each band that played; and that's just how fantastic the lineup was at Johnny Brenda's last night. Unbelievably fantastic. Locals Gildon Works and Brooklyn's A Place To Bury Strangers were more than just the icing on the cake. While Gildon Works literally worked the crowd up into a frothing frenzy with their pounding movement-styled rock, A Place To Bury Strangers laid the crowd to waste with their trademark wall-of-sound after they nearly buried their guitar into the stage. And when Holy Fuck hit the stage, it suddenly turned into the hottest dance floor ever.
Gildon Works, were looking fit and light on stage as they worked out to their set of crafty and catchy tracks--bouncing up and down and shaking their heads along to their own music. Adding to this cool mix of heavy keyboard, urgent vocals, and drum thumping rhythm was their brand new tambourine and crash cymbal player--a gal whose name we'll need to get up to speed on real soon, we're sure of it. Watch out for Gildon Works' debut full-length to drop at a CD release in April--and, don't worry, we'll keep you posted!
A Place To Bury Strangers came on stage quickly, their drummer Jay Space setting the band's pace early on--move fast, and destroy. With a slide set of moving images of landscape and audio measures that were projected across the back of the stage imperfectly, it felt more like being in a moving video surrounded by a sonic explosion of sound. The climax of APTBS's live set came faster than most, with lead singer Oliver Ackermann (who actually builds custom guitar pedals for a living) throwing his guitar to the ground in a swooping motion to get all of the wall-of-sound feedback the audience could handle. Ackermann was left holding his guitar by only a few tenuous strings before working this directly into the next song. And with a solid backbeat of drum and bass led by his band mates, he grabbed his second guitar and worked it back into the next song. The crowd erupted into cheers, and as the white strobes flashed along, a sonic white sound washed over the audience and finished their amazing set.
Holy Fuck came on amid cheers and clapping for one of their hottest sets, and the excited crowd got moving fast. As a four-piece group (this time around) who really groove while jumping around to their own beats and loops, they were charging through track after track of crowd favorites. Holy Fuck are like a five-manned party vehicle on stage, playing for their own pleasure, and constantly sending the crowd into enthusiastic applause. Holy Fuck's knob-twiddling, and loose style of electro-rock thrives in a live setting like no other. Set to grab at everything they can on stage to throw it into the live mix--and armed with two mixing boards mirroring each other--Walsh mixes and grabs at one mic, while steady-handed Borcherdt grabs the other and leads the group while adding elements of looped and scratched-up film tape. A bassist and drummer back them up, and while both Walsh and Borcherdt are on the constant move to get the effects that the group needs to make the song; time moves fast. The show is nearly over and the crowd shouts for more--and isn't that the way it should be? Check, the name.
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