By Andrew Bansal
March 8th 2014, The Lyric Theatre, Los Angeles CA: Based out of Houston TX and Berlin, Germany respectively, Scale The Summit and The Ocean have both made a habit of touring America on a regular basis, and still on the touring cycle for their spectacular latest album releases, the two bands came together for a co-headline tour, along with support acts The Atlas Moth from Chicago and Los Angeles’ own Silver Snakes. The trek began in Seattle on March 5th and made its way to Los Angeles last night. Even though most Los Angeles-based fans of The Ocean and Scale The Summit would have seen them in the recent past, this show promised to showcase these bands in a manner completely new and previously unseen.
Located in a strange part of town that’s definitely not known for its rock ‘n roll, The Lyric Theatre also presented ticket holders with a sense of adventure and curiosity. Upon entering, the venue welcomed attendees with a pleasant atmosphere, and a very intimate setting with a low stage and a capacity that couldn’t have been more than 200. The lightning was minimal which made for an overly dark setting, but as it turned out, the sound quality was excellent which was an important aspect for a show of this nature. The doors opened at around 7:20, much later than the originally scheduled time of 6 PM, but the place got filled quickly and people waited patiently for the show to start.
At 7:45, Silver Snakes took the stage with a 30-minute set that carried a strong post-hardcore vibe but also demonstrated other hard rock and doom elements along the way. They’ve been around for three years and just released their second full-length album ‘Year Of The Snake’, and in front of an audience that was largely unfamiliar with them, they gave a good account of themselves. The experimental nature of their music makes it the kind that would take a few listens to understand and appreciate, but doesn’t create a bad first impression either. Folks attending any of the shows on this tour might be well-served to show up early and give Silver Snakes a try.
Visit Silver Snakes on the web:
YearOfTheSnakes.com
facebook.com/YearOfTheSnakes
twitter.com/Silver_Snakes
instagram.com/Silver_Snakes
Next up were Chicago-based psychedelic doomsters The Atlas Moth who got an overwhelmingly positive reception from this crowd for their short but powerful set, a clear indication of the extent to which their fan base has grown over the past few years. They did the first Metal Alliance Tour in 2011 and toured with Gojira and Devin Townsend early last year, and this one should turn out to be yet another successful, well-chosen tour for them. Their performance here was nothing short of entrancing, as the majority of heads in the audience swayed to the delightfully slow rhythms of The Atlas Moth’s tunes. The Ocean’s new guitarist Damian Murdoch also joined them on stage for a song. They played a few tunes from their forthcoming studio album ‘The Old Believer’ as well, including the title track. The album comes out in June, and judging by the material they played in this set, it’s going to be one to look forward to. Killer set by The Atlas Moth, in every aspect.
Visit The Atlas Moth on the web:
facebook.com/TheAtlasMothBand
twitter.com/TheAtlasMoth
TheAtlasMoth.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/TheAtlasMoth
This is Scale The Summit‘s first ever tour with video production, and aside from the unwavering brilliance of their musicianship, the video aspect undoubtedly made last night’s set the best they’ve ever played in Los Angeles. The title of each tune was spelled out clearly on the screen in the stage backdrop, followed by an array of visuals that directly represented the meaning of the title. Making tunes memorable to listeners even without any vocals or lyrics has to be the biggest challenge faced by instrumental bands like them, but with this style of performance, Scale The Summit have definitely overcome that, as now for every tune the audience has a sequence of images etched in their minds. On their recent headline tour they played almost the entirety of their latest album ‘The Migration’ and while they’re still focusing largely on the same, there’s more material off of ‘The Collective’ in this set, along with a couple of older tunes. ‘The Dark Horse’ and ‘Narrow Salient’ came across as the highlights of the set. Their newer material clearly shows a heightened level of songwriting prowess and maturity, and it’s more and more evident every time they perform it live. This is absolutely the best tour to catch Scale The Summit on, as it’s the most powerful set they’ve ever presented. Surpassing their previous efforts every time they write new music and now coming up with new ideas to enhance their live performances, Scale The Summit are well on their way towards achieving true prog greatness.
Check out Scale The Summit’s tour production teaser video to get a taste of what to expect:
Visit Scale The Summit on the web:
ScaleTheSummit.com
facebook.com/ScaleTheSummit
twitter.com/ScaleTheSummit
youtube.com/ScaleTheSummit
Set List:
01. The Levitated
02. The Dark Horse
03. The Olive Tree
04. Redwoods
05. City In The Sky
06. Black Hills
07. Whales
08. Atlas Novus
09. Odyssey
10. The Traveler
11. Narrow Salient
12. Origin of Species
Rotating the closing spot with their co-headliners, The Ocean got to play last at this particular show, and like Scale The Summit, they also added video production to their show for the first time in Los Angeles. They played their latest epic masterpiece ‘Pelagial’ in its entirety, exactly the way it was written and meant to be played. They participated in last year’s Summer Slaughter tour wherein they got only a 25-minute set with no video production, and even though it was probably great for exposure to larger audiences, for guitarist and principal songwriter Robin Staps it must have been a huge compromise as an artist to have to portray ‘Pelagial’ in a manner far less than ideal. But through tours like Summer Slaughter and a few others before that, The Ocean have ridden the rites of passage and worked hard to build up their fan base to reach where they are in America today, being able to portray their art like they always wanted to, and it was extremely heartening to witness them do it here. One got a feeling that their fans gathered at the Lyric were even happier than the band members themselves to see The Ocean in this incarnation.
The live rendition of ‘Pelagial’ sounded fantastic, and the visuals displayed on the screen were a very accurate depiction of what listeners would have imagined in their heads while mentally immersed in the depths of this album. The Ocean’s performance of Pelagial comes across with such power and expression through this combination of live musicianship and imagery, it can be compared to Roger Waters’ portrayal of The Wall. Whether or not you’re a fan of The Ocean is almost rendered insignificant by the enormity of what The Ocean are doing on this tour, and this is a performance every fan of music and art must experience.
Playing-wise, Robin Staps and his band mates were right on-point, including new drummer Paul Seidel and guitarist Damian Murdoch. Unlike all LA shows The Ocean previously played, this one had no barricade which allowed vocalist Loic Rossetti complete freedom to be in his element, diving into the crowd several times and interacting closely with fans in the front row all while belting out the vocals. After finishing Pelagial, they came back out for an encore of two tunes from ‘Heliocentric’ and brought the evening to a great end. Attendees loved every moment of it, and overall, this was a show of truly epic mind-blowing proportions.
Visit The Ocean on the web:
TheOceanCollective.com
facebook.com/TheOceanCollective
twitter.com/OceanCollective
youtube.com/TheOceanCollective
Set List:
01. Epipelagic
02. Mesopelagic: Into the Uncanny
03. Bathyalpelagic I: Impasses
04. Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams
05. Bathyalpelagic III: Disequillibrated
06. Abyssopelagic I: Boundless Vasts
07. Abyssopelagic II: Signals of Anxiety
08. Hadopelagic I: Omen of the Deep
09. Hadopelagic II: Let Them Believe
10. Demersal: Cognitive Dissonance
11. Benthic: The Origin of Our Wishes
Encore:
12. The Origin of Species
13.The Origin of God
Remaining Tour Dates:
3/9 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
3/10 – Tempe, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
3/11 – El Paso, TX – The Spot
3/15 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s
3/16 – Metairie, LA – Cypress
3/17 – Tampa, FL – Crowbar
3/18 – Pembroke Pines, FL – The Talent Farms
3/19 – Orlando, FL – Backbooth
3/21 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
3/22 – Louisville, KY -The Diamond Pub
3/23 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean
3/24 – Pontiac, MI – The Pike Room @ Grofoot
3/25 – Cleveland Heights, OH -The Grog Shop
3/26 – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar
3/27 – Washington, DC – DC9
3/28 – Philadelphia, PA – Voltage Lounge
3/29 – New York City, NY – The Studio @ Webster Hall
3/30 – Cambridge, MA – Sinclair
Visit the Lyric Theatre on the web:
LyricTheatreLA.com
facebook.com/TheLyricLA
twitter.com/TheLyricLA