Attack in Black is one of my surprise new favourite of the year. I'm pretty sure I have an album or EP of theirs or something kicking about, but I didn't know they were this in-the-flesh neat. Killer, killer drumming above all else, lots of onstage energetic vibe, and a sound that was a little left of centre for the general genre they seem to find themselves in. They seemed to tie the other two bands on the bill together nicely.













And those other two bands are about as far apart in stage presence as you can get.

Moneen is a band I haven't seen play a show in a while. The last one I recall the most was in a small all-ages room where they didn't have much space to move around. But the Commodore?? Starting off with a soft intro by a solo Kenny Bridges on the keyboard, one light - gentle - this belies the nature of this band as we were soon to see. I knew they were jumpy and a bit nuts on stage, but I had no idea what they were capable of when given enough space in which to cut completely loose. After the short intro piece, guitar tech/extra band member Haris flew out from the wings to heft the keyboard off to the side. Simultaneously, Bridges was readying his guitar and the other band members were filing onto the stage and raging into their instruments. Holy smokes! Perennially-emo-esque, 16-chapter song titles and so much damn leaping! How on earth does 'Hippy" Hughes manage to keep playing his songs fluidly while he's flying about like that? Great harmonies, great energy, so much excitement in the room.













And do they look happy to be there or what? Haris pops out from the side on occasion to take over additional guitar duties or keyboards, and he looks the most deliriously happy of all. He really is an extra band member - pretty cool. The most striking point came when Bridges unhanded his guitar, passed it over to Haris, who took over the song, and Bridges climbed out onto the crowd. I mean, standing. On peoples' shoulders, hands, whatever. Talk about danger! They could tear him to shreds! No wait, it's an emo crowd - they'd hug him to death. Well he escaped that unscathed. The guys are so gracious too - you can tell they mean it when they talk about how thrilled they are to be so loved, and how much they love their fans right back. Aww. Sniffle.













And to follow that - the calm, cool Sparta. One of the At The Drive-In post-projects, these guys took the more serene, melodic moments of that band to splinter into Sparta. They're a beautiful band - the vocals are so so rich, even live. They don't lose a speck of their power. In fact, they likely gain some. There's no jumping and flying about with these guys - they stay in their spots on stage and let the music carry itself over you. It's a band to close your eyes and hunker down to and just absorb.

Well-rounded emotastic night. I'm pleased! Gallery time!

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : April, 2007.