Thursday, Cursive, From Autumn To Ashes & Engine Down

"Does anyone else feel like this is some sort of high school talent show… I used to have nightmares about this sort of thing," Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly mused midway through his band's short, but not unsatisfying set last Wednesday at Chico State's high school gym-esque BMU Auditorium. Although his comments were more inspired by the stifling immensity of the venue in question, the relative tameness of the majority of the crowd also lent to the stagnancy of the event. Nevertheless, the four bands in attendance that night, each with a strikingly dissimilar style, did their best to try to stir the emotions and intellect of the crowd.
Engine Down, the night's openers, were nothing if not impressive. Sounding somewhat reminiscent of The Dismemberment Plan (except without the indie funk, and with more of an emo-ish twist), Engine Down were mellow, yet engaging. The cellist from Cursive joined them for one song and the amplified strings did much to augment the already introspective nature of Engine Down's sound. Shortly thereafter, Engine Down was replaced on the stage by From Autumn To Ashes, who, although equally unknown to the majority of those in attendance as their predecessors, did have a small but vocal front-row contingent of followers. But for a hardcore band, FATA didn't really have much of a stage presence. While the music emanating from their respective instruments was brutal, the overall demeanor of the members of FATA, with the notable exception of the howling frontman, was placid and disinterested. The drummer wore a headset mic and occasionally spouted some high-pitched emotional yin to the frontman's guttural yang. Cursive was next upon the stage, and, in a word, they were weird. Not bad, just weird. A five-piece, including a cellist, two guitars, bass and drums, Cursive vacillated between a kind of Cure on crack art-pop madness and full on post-core insanity. Cursive ended up playing by far the longest set of the evening, which was fine by me, as their unique brand of rock music pleased me to no end.
As the members of Thursday mounted the stage, a previously unseen level of near-excitement overcame the reserved crowd. For most, the previous three bands had been forced culturing; a brand of dues-paying in order to see their true objects of affection, Thursday. I doubt if any of those there for this purpose were left insatiate. Although short in length, Thursday's set included most if not all of my favorite songs: "Understanding (In a Car Crash)," "Cross Out The Eyes" and "Standing On The Edge Of Summer," all from Full Collapse, and an unplanned detour in the form of "Porcelain" off Waiting. Frontman Geoff Rickly was animated, and endearingly positive, maintaining a jovial manner throughout. Although obviously uncomfortable with their cavernous surroundings, the band never missed a beat musically, playing with the passion and technical prowess that occasioned such numbers of black-shirted youths to spend an evening awaiting their musical expressions.
- Daniel Taylor
- Photo by Alyssa Starkey

Bookmark:

Comments down for maintenance.