Reviews

Ah Friday the 13th. I'm a horror movie freak so usually when the 13th day of the month falls on a Friday, I host a horror movie marathon at my house. Projector, five DVD changer, popcorn, room full of couches. I go all out. However, SPEAK's August show was also on the same night. So I had to choose. Horror movie marathon or SPEAK? I chose SPEAK.

Guys, if that doesn't show the level of dedication I have for this project, I don't know what does. I went to Dallas for them. I sat through an episode of the Real World for them. Now I broke my Friday the 13th tradition for them. That, my friends, is what you call love.

And I wasn't let down. The guys were awesome as always. It amazes me how they've been playing the same songs month after month (every now and then they throw in a new cover or introduce a new song) and it's always good and entertaining but different enough so they don't seem like polished drones produced by their manager Whitaker. And they are always having a good time. I noticed this month that the guys just couldn't keep the smiles off their faces (as evident in the photos). Aww. That's adorable.

I think they were feeding off the crowd who were more than happy to see them. Maybe it was the $3 Shiners and free pizza or the dancing mood that was set by the three opening bands but everyone was just having a great time. Sadly, I didn't stay for the whole set because I was just too exhausted (long week at work). Sorry guys. What can I say? My love only goes so far. ;)

I have noticed as months pass by that while there are the same handful of familiar faces attending the shows, but the amount of faces I've never seen before enjoying SPEAK just grows and grows. And with the upcoming shows coming up for them which include ACL and the just-announced gig at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans (both in October), I won't be surprised if I'm gonna have to actually start fighting my way to the front at a show or have to request press credentials to even get a decent photo of the guys, let alone my monthly hello/goodbye hugs.

I always joke with the guys that once December is done, it's gonna feel weird not having to attend a SPEAK show for this project. Troupe jokes that I should keep it going for as long as we can and Joey hopes that I don't drop off the face of Earth once January hits. A friend calls me the SPEAK stalker and wonders why I would even consider doing this. Most of my journalism friends thinks this is an awesome idea and totally get why I'm doing this but mostly they want to know what I plan to do with all this stuff I've been collecting (photos and videos) after the 12 months are done. Ideas have been thrown around with the guys so everything is just talk at this point nor would I reveal that this early in the game. I still have four months to go. But I will say this, if the ideal finale comes together, it's gonna be a great way to end this series.

It just needs to be said: American Hi-Fi knows how to write some pop hits. And that comes as no surprise. This is the same band that gave us the always catchy "Flavor of the Weak" back in 2001. And for the past five years, frontman Stacy Jones and guitarist Jamie Arentzen have worked with Miley Cryus. Jones has produced other artists such as Plain White T's, Meg and Dia, and the list of their accomplishments just goes on.

Their newest album, Fight the Frequency, is filled with catchy powerpop song after catchy powerpop song. And the guys present them flawlessly and shamelessly in every way that they can. "Lookout for Hope" brings the feel-good rock anthem that reassures people that yes, "It can only get better," while on the flipside, the more aggressive guitar-driven "Frat Clump" is great for those moments when you just want to rock that attitude out.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

"An epic of epic epicness." That tagline pretty much sums up the geeky action film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Based on the Bryan Lee O'Malley comic book series, the story centers on 23-year-old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who, in order to win the heart of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends and one ex-girlfriend (from her "sexy phase").

From the moment the Universal Studios logo appears in 8-bit to an 8-bit Pilgrim beating up "The End" (gotta stay for the credits for that one), the movie uses old school references to the 1980s Nintendo console with today's movie magic to really make it pop. Additional effects like floating text biographies to introduce each character and a "pee bar" that's just like a health bar but monitors Pilgrim's bladder that makes it more than just a movie adaptation. This is a live action comic book/video game.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

With an earlier-than-normal start time for the show, the Emo's outside stage was a bit slow to fill up. But hardcore Thrice fans were there early, keenly aware of vocalist/guitarist Dustin Kensrue's promise that the band would be playing older material on this tour, including "a couple shredders." These fans were smart to claim their front-row spots after doors opened, though they may not have expected three young indie acts—The Dig, Bad Veins and Kevin Devine—to be opening for these post-hardcore veterans. By the crowd reactions, no one seemed disappointed. Those who just wanted to see Thrice stuck it out or hung out in the back.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

June
You know, not all shows can be winners. Every band has an off night and for SPEAK, the June show was an off night. I dont know what happened. Everything was in line for a great show. The three opening bands, The Frontier Brothers, The Eastern Sea and Marmalakes, were great. They got the crowd all warmed up ready for more pop goodness when it was time for SPEAK.

But when the guys got on stage and started playing, something was off. That spark just wasn't there. I immediately panicked thinking this crazy idea of following SPEAK for a year was finally getting to me and I was starting to lose interest in them. Noooo. This can't happen so soon. But I glanced at my friend next to me who saw them in April and she agreed with me that something did indeed seemed off.

The music was there. The songs were tight. But that extra oomph just wasnt. Maybe the guys were tired? Maybe its time to change the setlist? Who knows. However, I'm not saying the show was a complete bust. Because it wasn't at all. After they played a Prince cover, they got their mojo back.

July
Now on the flipside, I think this show was their best yet. July SPEAK show took me to Antone's for the 35th Anniversary show with Bob Schneider. For those not from Austin, opening for him is kinda a big deal. It's amazing how much buzz they're getting from the short time it's all happened. What a year. Getting these heavy hitting shows is awesome for them. Not so awesome for this girl's wallet. Cover is starting to become too steep for my budget (ACL in October is gonna be a bitch.) and I almost didn't make this show. However, the boys came through for me so I got to see the show. Hooray.

Anyway, the majority of the crowd was there for Bob so they met SPEAK for the first time that night. I heard a lot of people asking each other "Who is this band?" (which means SPEAK got their attention) and even saw one guy's face lit up when SPEAK played my favorite cover of theirs "Don't You Forget About Me" from one of my favorite movies ever. It kinda reminded me of that show when I discovered them in December in that same exact venue. It was like this show was bringing us all back in full circle... but I still have five months to go.

Stubb's Bar-B-Q's outdoor amphitheater is notorious for insanely humid, sweaty summer concerts, so I was relieved when I found out the Athlete and Carney show would take place on the inside stage. But it turns out it wasn't all that refreshing inside either, so I was sweating anyway. While the two bands were enjoyable, it would have been a better experience if I wasn't constantly wiping sweat off me and desperately wanting some AC.

Opening act Carney (photo below) more than just warmed up the audience with it's '60s-inspired blues-rock. Singer Reeve Carney and his brother guitarist Zane took turns letting each other shine. Doesn't mean bassist Aiden Moore and drummer Jon Epcar are only there to fill the beat, though. They were also provided their time as the Carney brothers took a step back and let them have their own flashy parts. The guys performed big-top-inspired songs as a play on words from the Carneys' last name.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

If you know what I look like, then you're probably wondering why a skinny delicate girl such as myself was spending a Friday night in the cramped Beerland filled with sweaty punk rockers?

Easy. One band, two words. Riverboat Gamblers.

Now I've seen Riverboat Gamblers before at various music festivals but that Friday's performance on May 28 was special and a must see event for any RBG fan. Why you ask? Because they performed one of their earlier albums "Something to Crow About" in its entirely.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now I want you to use that gift that Mr. Rogers so verily gave you called imagination and I want you to think back. I want you to forget what going's on right now. Forget that all our shores are filled with oil. I want you to think back to the year 2003 when you only knew one guy who had a cell phone and text messages wasn't there and there's a young scrappy band from Denton, TX..."

-vocalist Mike Wiebe

Drenched in sweat, the band and the fans relived 2003 all over again. Of course, no Riverboat Gamblers show is complete without Wiebe invariably jumping into the crowd. I think he secretly does it to make sure the fans are still paying attention. I wouldn't want one of his boney elbows hitting my head. Luckily for me, I was secured on top of an amp witnessing all the action.

After the quick 30 minute album was performed, the fans still wanted more. So the guys, not letting them down, gave them a two song encore from the more recent recordings.

Click on the photos above to see more from the Beerland set.

Reason #175 why I love being a journalist: To explain why I did the crazy thing that would under different circumstances classify me as a fangirl of driving over three hours to see an Austin band in Dallas even though I've seen them for the past five months can simply be said like this: "It's for a story."

This month's show for SPEAK required a field trip to Dallas as it was the only show scheduled for the month. I was invited to a house party they were playing at earlier in the month but I scheduled an interview with another band at the same time they were scheduled to perform. Oh well, a trip to Dallas it is.

The drive wasn't too bad as one of my best friends Marlee came along. We chatted during the entire ride over, stopped for lattes and kolaches and sang off the top of our lungs to old school Austin Punk Rock tunes (Air Tight Alibi, Firekills, A Still Second) and other randomness (Vampire Weekend, Audioslave, Riverboat Gamblers, etc.) on the way home. It was fun times all around. I haven't been to Dallas since last year when I was there with the Accent staff for the 2009 TIPA Conference. It was a nice blast from the past to drive by the hotel we stayed at.

Anyway, the guys played at the House of Blues which is a pretty cool little venue (well the room they played in anyway) and the sound wasn't bad at all. I got an amazing spot right in the front so I took a lot of photos. The show overall was like being at another SPEAK show except we were in Dallas. The guys sounded tight as usual. No catastrophes occurs and the stage was large enough for all the high energy they always produce. Good show all around. I think there was a new song thrown in the set list because I didn't recognize it at all and they didn't play "Foreign Love" (which is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Ah well.) I saw a few familiar faces from the Austin crowd at the show but it seemed to be that the majority of the crowd were new listeners as well as seemed to be an older crowd than what they usually draw.

The cover of the night was Bee Gee's "Stayin Alive," but instead of describing how awesome it was, how about I just show you. My camera is in desperate need of a better SD card so I only got 40 seconds of the song but those 40 seconds are totally worth sharing.

SPEAK covering "Stayin Alive" from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

And as for the guys' reactions to seeing me at the show... They were surprised, but not because of they weren't expecting me. After all, they know all about this series. They seemed to be surprised I actually made the trip. Luckily for me, the next show in June is at the Parish in Austin down the street from my house. Phew.

So I realized one day that I've seen SPEAK perform live every month since December. This was completely unintentional, but after SXSW, I asked myself "I wonder how long I can keep this going?"

So when guitarist Nick invited me to last night's benefit show a month ago, I posted a comment on his Facebook wall...

"Hey Nick, you do realize that if I go to your Mohawk show this month that I will have been to a SPEAK show every month since December? :)"

His reply?

"Nice! hmm you should try and and make a it a whole year."

Sorry Nick, whether you were kidding or not, I've decided I'm gonna try. Seriously. How hilarious would it be to see one band every month for a year? What exactly would happen? Would they think I'm an insane fangirl and file a restraining order? Maybe. Will I eventually grow hatred towards their sugary goodness and never ever want anything to associate with this band ever again? Probably. But time will tell. So far I've seen them for five months now and I'm still going strong. I haven't been this excited over a band since Firekills and The Drawing Board.

So here's the plan:
Attend a SPEAK show once a month. Take photos and write a recap/review. Easy enough right? What if they don't have a show planned during one of the months? No big deal. I just won't write about it. So far on their myspace page, the only show lined up is in May and it's in Dallas. And nothing else is planned. So this idea might blow up in my face and last night might be the last show I'll see them this year but again, I'm just seeing how far this can go. I'm not married to the idea.

Now that the guidelines are settled, time to play catch up for the first five shows I've seen.

December
Ah that very first show. The short version of how I ended up at this show was this: A friend asked me to go to Cage the Elephant's show with her. I figured since I was going, I decided to interview Scorpion Child who also performed that night.

The interview happened before the doors open so afterwards, I hung out at Antone's until they took the stage. So what else is there to do except watch the opening band right? SPEAK was the opening band.

I was taking notes and posting on Facebook during the night so I'll just let you read those:

Facebook status dated December 1st 9:23 p.m. "Damn. As much as I'm sick of indie pop. I just can't deny well written indie pop. Watching speak at antone's."

Later on at 9:24 p.m. I posted: "Omg they're covering don't you forget about me by simple minds. They have won me over."

From my show notes:
Speak: damn thats some good indie pop. They looked like the backstreet boys: the next generation, but they have well written songs. Not cheesy, but not typical. They covered simple minds' dont you forget about me and did well! Singer's voice sounded like the original. Had some tuning problems during one chorus but good overall.

Yes, I actually wrote that they looked like the next generation of Backstreet Boys. I didn't mean that they do choreography or anything like that. I was mainly referring to their young boyish looks and how snazzy they dress, but turns out I wasn't the only one who has thought about this:

FERNTV: Would you be okay if your listeners called SPEAK a "boy band"?

Troupe: That's a hilarious question, because there's not much we can do about what people call us except be okay with it. The first time we were described as a boy band we were sort of taken aback, because that term has very negative connotations to a lot of people. Obviously we aren't a packaged group that was assembled in a certain way and given a certain set of songs, which is how most people think of a "boyband". But we are a band of very boyish-looking young men, so who are we to argue?

So after their set, I decided to inteview them. I hadn't done a sponatenous interview in a long time but if I was going to write a show review, I better get some info on the band right? After a smooth 20 minute interview of getting to know the band, I went home a new fan.

Speaking of that interview, here's a short clip of the interview that never saw the light of day ...until now.

SPEAK debates from Sarah Vasquez on Vimeo.

January
I briefly mentioned the guys during my Twitter-style reviews for free week but here's some more in-depth about the show.

I was out pretty much all week for Free Week and since there was music constantly going on, I would wander around all night seeing band after band. So I stopped by SPEAK's show at Emo's. Sadly, I didn't stay long because Betaplayer was playing at the same time at Beauty Bar so I only saw one song. I didn't take any photos that week either so I don't have any photos of SPEAK at this show.

However, here is a video one of my buddies from Red River Noise Sara Strick shot with her awesome camera.

February
I already covered this show at this blog post here.

March
Again I mentioned them in my Twitter-style reviews of SXSW.

Ok so seeing them during SXSW was completely intentional. What? It was after the EP release that I wrote an article for and I had been listening to this said EP more than I care to admit (and still do). I wanted to see the songs live since I now knew the words to sing along.

I was a little disappointed because I had talked up to people about the awesome Simple Minds cover they do and they didn't even perform it. However, once I heard the bass line of the Bee Gee's "Staying Alive" playing while Troupe was introducing it to the crowd, I knew I was in for a treat. Let me just say that the cover was so awesome that my dad would have been proud. He lived for those John Travolta white suit days. Trust me, I've seen the pictures.

April
So last night was pretty special. Not only because it was the first time the guys said hello to me without seeming awkward from either parties and not because I actually shot photos from the other side of the band but because it was the first time I met the bassist Joey. You see, if you go back to the interview clip under December, you'll noticed there are only three members in it. That's right. I've only known three of the guys up until last night. What was extra cool about the whole meeting with Joey was that he knew who I was. Whoa. Apparently the guys have been talking about this blog here and that is awesome.

Anyway, the show itself was pretty good. Not one of thier best but it wasn't a train wreck. The stage seemed too small for their energy which is funny because the stage at the Independent (February) had to be smaller for sure. Poor Nick kept knocking over his mic stand. There was feedback constantly. Joey would tried to jump around like he always does but he would almost hit something: a wall, Jake's drums, a mic stand...

The vibe from the guys after the show seemed to be that they weren't feeling the mix in the monitors but I thought it sounded pretty good and people were dancing and singing along (this girl included). The cover of the night was of course "Toxic" since the video I posted seemed to hit the blogosphere as well as Twitter. Jen and I would like to take some credit for that, thank you. ;)

So there you have it. Five months of SPEAK. Oh yeah, so the guys asked me what series I was going announce so I told them the idea. Not only did they NOT think I was crazy but they totally ran with the idea and gave me suggestions I could incorporate in this series including charts, a rating system, etc. And Joey would like another interview done with all four members next time. Done deal guys. That sounds like a project during one of your off months.

My apprehension before White Rabbits hit the stage at The Independent was with the recent album It's Frightening. It sounded too much like a Spoon album. But being produced by Spoon's main songwriter Britt Daniel, this was not a surprise. Anyway, my point is that I had low standards for the newer material. I was worried that there would be a disappointing contrast between both albums in a live setting. And I was wrong. So so wrong.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.