The Dudestorm Tour
By
Friday. Nov 04, 2:23 AM
live at Gypsy Tea Room (Dallas, TX) October 17th, 2005.

(photos by Andreams)

"Can you say swallow?"

Metalcore has always been the other white meat to the music industry. From radio play to promotional pay, it’s always been ostracized. This was certainly the case at this show. While the whole city was gearing up for the long awaited NIN/QOTSA show at the cattle-compiling arena nearby, Gypsy Tea Room on Elm was playing host to the other white meat, The Dudestorm Tour.

Opening up for the (mostly) Equal Vision Records lineup was a Houston, TX based band, The Jonbenét. It only took a few riffs of exposure for the indie label talent (Pluto Records) to understand why they earned not only the Dallas stop but all legs of the Texas tour. Fresh sounding, they kicked off what would turn out to be a handful of amazingly brutal performances.

Alright, let's set up the next act with fair information on the situation. “No Brian, you can’t do a live show review of an artist that you just ripped apart in the reviews section.” These were the words of our favorite proprietor Tim Den. As I waited in agony for the appearance of The Fall Of Troy, my expectations were low.

In agony, as I expected a whiny sloppy little mess of emo-trying-to-be-core songs after reviewing their album. Finally the agony was over: not cause the band was done, but because their set was in all honesty one of the most electric three-man performances I’ve seen since that different version of those Chevelle kids back in ’99. The Fall Of Troy possessed synchronized stage performance, lighting, and a gritty, pulse redefining instrumentalist perspective. Though the vocals were still nothing to clutch onto, what I was able to make out had a substantial amount of aggressiveness as in comparison to their recording, Doppelganger.

After a Since By Man set that kept the show going, but left me uninspired, I could sense an excitement in the humid club air. Maybe I was biased, as I’ve seen Bear Vs. Shark before, and I knew anyone else familiar with their set felt the same excitement. I was more so excited for those who had never caught the theatric performance these Michigan boys throw down. Right to the heart of it, multiple observations about frontman Marc Paffi’s overall stage movement is a must. Like he’s off in the lymph notes of his band mates’ performance, sometimes he floats into the crowd. Gently, but suddenly stumbling upon the random fan, he even grabbed the lens of our photographer. To put it simply, expect a show, not just seven songs thrown together.

When it comes to Fear Before The March Of Flames, I have to get a few things off my chest. They’ve got very uniquely designed ‘core/metal. And though I sometimes lose the vibe in my simplistic attention span, I can without a doubt respect their blend. For the second time tonight, a band kicked more ass on stage than on recording. This was a stomping set of high-tempered goth-like performance, with the lighting to boot once again.

With all the artists who brought a sick energy that night, one commonality ran rapid: they all interacted with their crowd. Whether it was breaking down a chord in the middle of a song (yes, even in metal) or vocally playing off the sometimes-rude behavior of the Dallas crowd, they knew it was an individual crowd rather than some long awaited, over-hyped tour stop.
www.marchofflames.com
www.bearvsshark.com
www.thefalloftroy.com
www.thejonbenet.com

Brian Rutherford

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