Alien Ant Farm, Dredg & Spiritfall

You know you are at a teenybopper show when you are sitting in the balcony at the ‘Brick, having drinks with the parents of the kids who are moshing. There was a large underage contingency at the show, maybe due to finals being over for the high school kids, or maybe because kids know good music when they hear it.

Opening were local boys Spiritfall, led by Anthony Stone and his quavering, strong vocals and Stefan Dekker or drums, who probably didn’t miss a beat during their set. Christian Spencer (guitar) and Ben Souza (bass) were on target with the jam, but their stage antics could get them an audition with the Chico Dance Team. Spiritfall has potential written all over them. Their moody, angst-ridden, young-man-fighting-the-world sound really works, especially with the music industry today. Emotions and strong feelings are the way to go.

Dredg, straight from Los Gatos, took the stage and turned it around. The sound was distorted, substantial and emotive; again, a power quartet rocked the casbah. The lyrics were dreamy, hard-hitting and put to the test with a slide guitar played with a screwdriver. Prog-art-rock is the best description for the band, but their audible influence ranges from rock to jazz to ambient.

The whole picture that comprises Dredg leaves the listener with a feeling of listening to something they have never heard before. Frontman Gavin controlled the stage with two mics — one regular and one bringing a distorted sound to the mix — and Drew on bass played with the intensity of a lead guitarist. They incorporated an original art piece on stage to give the crowd a feeling that Dredg really wants to make each show their own.

Alien Ant Farm brought with them a zeal that can only come from a band recently signed to a major label (New Noize, thanks to friends, P-Roach). All I can say about AAF, is they played a rendition of "Criminal" that put Michael Jackson to shame. The kids downstairs might have thought it to be an original, but upstairs, the handful of over-21ers knew that we were hearing something fueled by the rudimentary urge to recreate past glories.

Dryden Mitchell, lead singer, sang with intensity and screams, allowing the little moshers to dance a little harder. Mitchell sang their hit song, "Movies," while demonstrating that he wants AAF to be a non-singer-led band. He would jump into the audience, serenading the band, stand behind a speaker, or literally take himself out of the spotlight, lending his vocal work to become a sort of soundtrack for the audience, watching the band get into the music. If you missed this show…too bad for you. You probably won’t be able to catch AAF until they are on tour with Papa Roach in March.

– Laney Erokan

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