I never really held out much hope for my continuing like of Anotherrace from the moment I read a short review of their new single "Jumpin'" in Beat Magazine a while back. I could foresee a Limp Bizkit crossover, and I was a trifle nervous about sticking around for the performance, but hey, I wasn't done drinking yet! So we decided to brave the bleached blonde, perfectly manicured, matching outfitted front row of the "crowd" and attempt to enjoy the music.
With a sense of humour, the singer caught me looking at my watch, and though I was merely seeing what the time was, not insinuating anything, he shook his head and said "I know, trust me I KNOW!" I laughed, OOPS! They must have been running late, I wouldn't have had a clue.
FInally the entire band too the stage, in matching Westy's t-shirt for 3 of the four. I noted that they all appear to be shopping in the kids department, none of their pants reached their ankles, poor guys, life mustn't be serving them up many gigs like the Incubus support one!
As the first song was played, I was not surprised to see that aside from the airhead crowd, very few people seemed to know the words to any of the songs. There were a couple of obviously old school Biscuit fans, and some normal looking people, but the airheads reigned supreme. They flicked their hair, gyrated and giggled their way through the first two songs.
At this point, the 3 band member in matching t-shirts stripped them off and bared their chests to the giggling audience, to the great delight of the bimbo brigade. I groaned and shook my head. Local bands really need to make themselves a name with their own methods, the singer's blatant wannabe Brandon Boyd image was already getting tiresome. The earrings, the hair, the tattoos, the strutting, the stripping! At leat the songs sounded like old Incubus, not the droning monotony of their latest albums, that was a positive, at least they were imitating the right era.
I then noticed the bass player. He flicked his perfectly made, evenly distributed, "dreds" from his face and gave the girls in the crowd his best sultry stare.
I could almost hear the voice in my head being echoed through the subliminal porn images being played on the big screen behind the band,
I dub thee, Sir Fabio!
His hairy chest was gleaming in the lights, his manly physique leaving no too few, brain impaired, girls weak with desire I am sure.
A short break between songs, enough time for Mr Singer to jump on his mobile to the US, "Hey! Mr Boyd! I was just wondering, um, do you mind if I hang on to your persona just a liiiiiitle while longer? The stripping of the shirt things seems to have gone over a treat with this crowd! Really? What do you mean you are going for the sensitive, mellow image? I can keep this one? Sweet!"
The "renegade" guitarist seemed to be eyeing the rest of the band with distaste. I dubbed him this after he not only showed up to the gig wearing the "wrong" t-shirt, but he dared to NOT take it off, throughout the entire gig! He rarely smiled or showed any enjoyment in his performace, altogether a huge ball of fun.
So that leaves the drummer, but where do you start with a drummer? Shirtless, flurry of rapidly moving legs, and a cymbal for a head. Well as far as I could see, damn raised stages! No I have no witticisms for the drummer at this stage.
Havign spied the setlist a trifle earlier, I noted with "anticipation" that their single, "Jumpin'" would be played as their 6th song. So with baited breath, waiting for them to prove me right, I listened, in awe, to lyrics such as:
"And the place is Jumpin'
And the bass is pumpin'"
Hey wasn't that a Vanilla Ice lyric? Such inspiration, your mentors must be so proud.
Scrap the Brandon Boyd thoughts, he is only the inspiration for STYLE, all talent is direct from the Limp Bizkit genepool, and missing more than one chromosome I think.
Having said all this, the band performed well, they were focussed, tight, and mostly, gave a lot of energy to each and every song. The crowd seemed to like them, and reacted enthusiatically, well this of course excluded the large number of people I saw vacate the minute FSD finished playing. If you are a fan of their new style of music, they are definitely worth checking out live. And hey, we should support all local bands to some degree shouldn't we? Well with the exception of Legends of Motorsport of course!
It is always great to find a Victorian band doing incredibly well, when they deserve it (see my page on the Legends of Motorpsort for a band that doesn't *grin*). And Anotherrace are certianly pushing their way into that category. The whole band has a great stage presence, and really managed to work the crowd up in anticipation for the headliners, not that Incubus needed ANY help whatsoever!!
The singer (I haven't looked up his name yet, oops!) gave off a very Scott Weiland type image on stage (although I have yet to see Stone Temple Pilots live), which was a plus for me.
All in all, they will be a band to keep an eye on around the place, and I will put up some new gig information as soon as I find some for those of you who would like to check them out at some stage.
