As a writer and reviewer, my job is to get the reader to play into the feelings and visions that I took away from the subject matter at the time of inception. Therefore, to start things off in my eyes, I’m currently a passenger to a vehicle that’s about to get off the GWB into the heart of Bronx, NY…and yes, the School Of Rock is indeed located in S. Hackensack, NJ. The hilarity of the situation subsides as we get about 40 blocks into the city and we are on our way back to Jersey. A few (correct) right turns and another toll later we have arrived. Thankfully.
Getting out of the car, I was greeted by the vibrations of the wall from the bass drum mic check and Jeffery Eaton, vocalist for Modern Life Is War, introducing his band to the crowd. Once inside the venue, and entering the room I see that things have started off in true Mod. Life fashion. Intense. Being a photographer, I find my spot at the front left of the stage, close enough to get into the action but still enough out of the way that the hordes of kids can claim their mic time and stage dive into the sea of hands beyond the monitors. As with every Mod. Life show, this doesn’t let up and tonight was no different as passion-filled gasps lingered until the very last note.
Finally getting to catch Some Girls, a band containing one of my alltime favorite frontmen Wes Eisold, was something I looked forward to greatly. I knew it wasn’t going to be a run of the mill set and it sure wasn’t. From the fast, warped guitar lines to the sometimes futuristic bass sound of Justin Pearson (also in The Locust), the music left new onlookers somewhat dazed as to what to make of the performance. They closed their set with a nine minute beast of a song called “Deathface,” which I believe they stretched a couple extra minutes just to facilitate their fierce desires.
After an extra 15 minutes or so of technical difficulties, the bringers of extreme music hit the stage. Kurt Ballou, soloing the intro to the song “Plagues,” brought the crowd to the proper level as Jake Bannon laid the first ripping set of vocals into them. Short on talk time, Converge went through their set one right after the next, just raising the bar of concentrated energy till it went over the top with tracks “Forsaken” and “Locust Reign” played back to back. It was relentless to say the least, an attack on the senses.
When it was all said and done, there’s no doubt why these three bands are touring together. Grabbing a little bit of each form of heavy music and pushing the limits, they all made this one of my favorite shows of 2006.
