The Audio Perv

By Cassandra Paiva

“The power of three compels you” seemed to be the motto of the night as the Triple Threat line up took their tour to Boston to rock the night away at House of Blues.

The only band on the bill that isn’t a trio, five piece band Young Guns came all the way from London to open their first US tour. Their sound was very appropriate for the bill, altering between heavy, thumpy bass lines and rhythm rock with a slight tinge of British punk rock.

For the fifth show of their first US tour, they were pretty impressive, demanding the crowd’s attention as water splashed from a rattling cymbal and frontman Gustav Woods ran and jumped around the whole stage, occasionally firing the crowd up with chants of, “Boooostooon!” The second song intro riff almost sounded like “Hitchin’ A Ride,” which then prompted the comparison of Woods’ voice to a British Billie Joe mixed with bit of Tim McIlrath of Rise Against.

Kyng came next, starting off really heavy metal and somewhere around mid-set completely flipping a switch and turning into a soulful, half bluesy/half classic rock band. Their first set part hinted at traces of early Soundgarden blended with Alice in Chains and their own unique split melodies and harmonies. “Bleed Easy” was a stompy jam with a killer bass line that resolved into harmony that kept the audience dancing. Contrarily, “Takes Its Toll” was where the classic rock, down south bluesy-ness kicked in with powerful vocals and softer guitar.

Highlight set of the night, Sick Puppies came on in a whirl wind of rock. An intro of a mash up of their songs and TV clip audio set the stage as each member took the stage before lead singer, Shim Moore ran out with a pair of SP underwear on his head (available at the merch table). Starting off unusually slow with Tri-Polar single “Odd One,” the diehard SP fans in attendance were slightly thrown off. However, to their delight, bassist Emma Anzai was singing more of the backing vocals than usual.

Dressed Up As Life favorites “Cancer” and “My World” followed, picking up the pace as Moore started his playful demands with the crowd, “When I say kicking, you say… SCREAMING, I want to hear you!” Another DUaL single, and the song that put them on the map, “All the Same” left the audience singing every word wholeheartedly.

Being the enthusiastic frontman that he is, Moore announced that he wanted to meet everyone, so they’d better buy merch and enter for a chance to listen to their upcoming album backstage after the show. Then he broke into “Maybe” which continued the slew of slower songs, but consisted of Moore’s weird faces and interpretive hand gestures and Anzai’s powerful echoing vocals. A cover of Tears for Fear’s “Mad World” followed, starting eerily a cappella and slowly growing into a fully amped up, rock and roll version that was equally as good as the original.

After getting all of the slower songs and ballads out of their system, “Riptide” kicked off the nonstop rock portion of their set. Anzai’s heavy bass line and Mark Goodwin’s hard, pounding, rolling drumbeats gave an additional power to the song that can’t be heard on the recording. With an outro of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade,” SP initiated that they were about to get even crazier, especially when they broke in to a short instrumental tease of a newly recorded song. If it’s any indication of the rest of the album, it’s going to sound heavier than T-P and more like DUaL.

With a cry of, “Don’t you fucking bitch out,” Moore instructed the crowd to raise their arms above their heads and lower them on to the person in front of them because the whole place was about to jump. Breaking out into one of their old school jams, “Nothing Really Matters,” I swear the whole place was shaking and everyone was in the air. Moore didn’t think that was good enough, so the band demanded more from the crowd with a rip roaring combo of “War” and “You’re Going Down” until the audience was collectively gasping for breath and commenting on how amazing the performance was at the same time. Usually they start their sets with “War,” but moving it to the middle of “Nothing” and “Going Down” proved to be a real “triple threat” of crazy rock and roll that made their set the most exhilarating of the night.

With dry ice was blowing through trying to cool the place down, mysterious covered set pieces were being rolled on stage as Seether prepared to come on. After all was revealed, a mic stand wrapped with lights and pressure gauges, a giant jukebox with a meter that diminished as the set unfolded, and a car dashboard with a flying V hood ornament decorated the stage.

One by one the members took the stage, first, drummer John Humphrey, then bassist Dale Stewart (wearing a metallic skeleton mask), and finally singer/guitarist Shaun Morgan, breaking out into “No Jesus Christ.” From the first notes, the audience was into it, entranced by their dim lit backdrop. “Gasoline” and “Needles” started massive sing a longs over driving drumbeats and raging riffs.

Amongst a wave of screams, first single released as Seether “Fine Again” unleashed a ringing guitar and traces of post-grunge rock with an elongated outro that kept the audience going. Keeping us transported back a decade, “Pig” followed with throaty screams and drop bass.

Rolling out a weird chair contraption complete with a skull and bubbling liquid, Stewart traded his bass for guitar, sat in the chair, and made things a little sweeter with “Broken” which the audience completely ate up, singing every word.

Humphrey got his chance to shine with what felt like a 5 minute drum solo, banging and clanging with so much passion and energy.

Getting into their newer material, “No Resolution” started with a whirring guitar solo and a more radio-friendly sound than the first half of their set. Coming with a “disclaimer, because this is the first time playing this song live” the band treated us to “Here and Now,” which in the end didn’t need the disclaimer because they played it flawlessly.

Continuing on the path of singles, “Tonight” and “Country Song” followed. The latter causing an uproar in the crowd with its “Dead or Alive” reminiscent, foot tapping intro, done with two guitars, before erupting into hard rock and Stewart trading back to his bass.

Main set ender, “Rise Above This” was encompassed by instrumental jams and smooth bass lines, before they teasingly walked off stage for a few seconds. Running back on, but not exactly as an encore, obvious crowd favorites, “Fake it” and “Remedy” closed the set. Massive sing a longs, fuzzed up guitar distortion, and a fit of rage that knocked over the mic stand and ended with Morgan lying on the ground continuing to sing and jam out resulted in a picture perfect finale to a night of hard rocking.