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Posts Tagged ‘Breathe Carolina’

  1. The Audition and Envy on the Coast with Danger Radio, Another Day Late, and Breathe Carolina at Chain Reaction

    January 29, 2008 by Steph

    The Audition and Envy on the Coast with Danger Radio, Another Day Late, and Breathe Carolina at Chain Reaction

    So I get a text from another show addict of mine. “There are more
    people than I thought there would be.” I know these aren’t local bands
    but I didn’t really think that it would be a full house. To my
    surprise, the long line in front of the box office was will call only
    which was plain because of a large sign “Tonight’s show is sold out”.
    After a bathroom stop and a quick huddle at the back of the venue,
    three of the five of us decided to make our way up to the front. (What
    other way is there to experience a show?).

    Breathe Carolina’s David. Singer and creator.

    Breath Carolina starts setting up their equipment and one of the
    boys, nicknamed “The Future” who is officially in charge of
    “Lights/DJ”, came on to stage, scrawny, shirtless, and covered in
    script chest-tattoos. That was the first tip off of douchiness. Then
    about halfway into the first song, I noticed that their only
    instruments were a keytar and a keyboard. The other two “instruments”
    were laptops. And when the screamer for this, mind you otherwise power
    pop techno, band started to head bang, I decided to completely tune out
    for fear of catching their idiocy.

    The idea sounds innovative enough – screaming on techno tracks, and I
    honestly may have appreciated their creativity had I heard them on
    Myspace or a disc, but their stage antics, typical of a bunch of high
    school teenagers mimicking rockstars was unimpressive and quite honestly repulsive.

    I think I would have been happy with just any other band that came
    on next, but Another Day Late surpassed my bare minimum expectations.
    Their typical emo-core appearance is only slightly telling. I don’t
    think I would genreize them as “emo” but more correctly as alternative
    or progressive rock.

    The vocals can be likened to Coheed and Cambria and their fast guitar
    melodies are more akin to Chiodos than your typical “emo” set up. I was
    especially impressed with the guitars’ intertwining harmonies in
    “Talking While Taking Pictures.”

    The night kept improving because next up was Danger Radio. These
    guys don’t take themselves too seriously and appear to have some fun on
    stage which quickly spread to the crowd. Encouraging us to dance, lead
    singer Andrew De Torres not only had a sense of humor but some serious
    pipes! Their sound was power pop with a hint of funk beats which suited
    De Torres’ high pitched vocals perfectly.

    I needed a little bit of a break from the obnoxious fan-girl to my
    right so during the set change, my friend Cassie and I headed to the
    back to recoup. When we heard Envy on the Coast come on, I knew I
    couldn’t miss the opportunity to mosh so Cass and I just start shoving
    our way forward and before we knew it we had started an amateur circle
    pit. Next thing I knew, I was pulling Cassie off the ground and
    laughing from the fun.

    Envy on the Coast, Brian Byrne on guitar and vocals

    Sal Bossio on vocals, guitar, and piano

    The adjustment from Danger Radio to Envy on the Coast was a huge
    one. On stage comes this kid (Ryan) with unkempt dreds and a badass
    attitude. As soon as the drum beats start, he hunches over and begins
    pulsing to the beat. (Cassie joked that it looked like he was
    perpetually about to c*m). His evil glares through the show were
    hypnotizing and slightly nightmarish. The music was equally
    hypnotizing. The heavy beats and vocals that were strangely sweet,
    contrasting with Ryan’s stage persona, made Envy worth seeing.

    The Audition, the band I came to see, were right on script. They
    did sound like their album, which is more than I could say for most
    bands but they bore me a little. Maybe I was just distracted by the
    immense amount of time I waited for them to get their asses on stage,
    but I was bored and ready to leave, which I did a couple of songs into
    their set. The fact that Danny Stevens, lead vocals, said that he
    didn’t want anyone to leave until they had bought their new album,
    didn’t add to my unimpressed mentality. Otherwise, yes, they sounded
    just fine.

    The Auditon, Joe Lussa on Bass

    More photos on The Audition Myspace album