BAND REVIEW: The Social Network

The Social Network

I had never encountered this band before (but you can always count on Grown Up Avenger Stuff to book interesting fresh talent), but they were quite interesting. There were three of them, but it wasn’t your typical three-piece… it was just vocals, drums, and BASS GUITAR… no guitar or piano or… yeah, just bass. I really like the originality of that, actually, and while they were setting up and checking sound levels, I wondered whether or not they’d pull it off. They started off with a Rage Against the Machine cover, which, thanks to some kind of beefy bass effect, actually sounded good. The bassist (whose poufy red hair gave him the look of a less-weird version of Carrot Top) had good agility, so all the guitar-led riffs were there and came across well—until the guitar solo. Then it would’ve benefitted from a loop pedal to play the main riff while he went off on the solo—it was good, and the bassist is rather amazing, but it just sounded so empty. By the second or third song, I started to notice that the drum parts weren’t quite all there, either. When they played “Everlong” by Foo Fighters, it sounded a bit like a bunch of drunk people trying to play Rock Band and missing notes. Finally they explained why it was that things sounded so weird: their drummer couldn’t play the show, so the guy who’s usually their GUITARIST was the one playing drums… which explains both the less-than-stellar drumming and the lack of a guitar player. Quite a ballsy move to play a show without an actual drummer or a guitarist. Oddly enough, with a little tweaking, it would work as a regular lineup. The drums weren’t that bad, it was just apparent that he hadn’t practiced regularly—he clearly has some talent there if he chooses to pursue it. As far as vocals, I couldn’t hear them that well, but nothing was off-key enough to make me cringe and I could tell the rhythms were right. I loved the use of the CB radio and the bullhorn. My friends and I all agreed that was pretty nifty, and was a point by which to remember the band (in addition to that whole no-guitarist thing). There was one song where there was some kind of weird pterodactyl scream at the end… feel free to lose that, guys. One of the last songs was another Rage Against the Machine cover in which the guitar solo was once again played on another instrument—vocals. Actually, I liked that a lot better than the bass solo, because it reminded me of myself singing along to guitar solos on the radio. It’s funny, it gets the music across, and there’s still the bass support for the main riffs during the solo. They need to pick one or the other Rage cover, though, or at least alternate between shows, otherwise it starts to look like a Rage tribute band. All in all, it was fun to watch the band, and I would see them again--especially if they keep the odd lineup.

--a.c.--