Review by Andrew Bansal
[Photos by Matt Nielson]
April 25th 2014, El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles CA: Following a brief break after yet another highly successful North American tour as main support act to Between The Buried And Me, San Francisco’s fastest rising band Deafheaven returned to Los Angeles to play a sold-out show at the aptly chosen El Rey Theatre, their biggest headline show till date, along with Seattle instrumental drone doom pioneers Earth and Los Angeles atmospheric rockers plus Sargent House label mates Marriages as opening acts. This was an eagerly awaited show among locals, was officially sold out five hours before its start, and the long line of excited people waiting outside the venue foreshadowed a special event in the offing.
Doors opened at 8 PM and upon entering, the first 100 attendees were handed tickets to pick up free souvenir posters designed specially for this event. The place got filled quickly and promptly at 9, Marriages began proceedings with a 30-minute set. As an opening act they always tend to find themselves playing great-sounding rooms with like-minded bands. I saw them play their very first live show opening for Russian Circles and Deafheaven at the Troubadour in November 2011 and with Boris and Deafheaven again at the Echoplex in May 2013. Nearly a year on from that show, the trio of Emma Ruth Rundle (guitar/vocals), Greg Burns (bass) and Andrew Clinco (drums) took this stage at the El Rey, showing that they’ve progressed as a group of live musicians and presenting a couple of newer unreleased tunes that sounded richer and fuller than the ones they’ve been playing in the past. Aside from a weird humming feedback coming from the bass that drowned out everything during one of the songs, this Marriages set was impressive as the three musicians combined well together to put forth a sound that’s stylistically an acquired taste but its smokey vocals and ethereal melodies intertwined with heavy grooves and violent outbursts makes it undeniably powerful and moving to anyone who listens to it, whether it be live or otherwise. Their upcoming full-length album on Sargent House promises to be one to keep your eyes and ears peeled for.
Marriages links:
MarriagesBand.com
MarriagesMusic.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/MarriagesBand
twitter.com/MarriagesBand
Next up was Earth, whom I was seeing for the first time since their headline show at the Echoplex in the summer of 2011, the most mind-altering experience I’ve ever had at a show, which is no small statement considering the number of shows I’ve seen. Their spine-chilling blend of drone and old-school folk came across to me as nothing short of otherworldly on that occasion, and their appearance on this stage was a moment I had long waited for. Playing as a three-piece this time sans the cello player who contributed to the two ‘Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light’, Earth comprised Dylan Carlson on guitar, Adrienne Davies on drums/percussion and Bill Herzog on bass, and focussed this five-tune set on new compositions ‘Badger’, ‘Even Hell Has Its Heroes’ and ‘There Is A Serpent Coming’ before closing out with the first ever tune they wrote, ‘Orouboros Is Broken’ off of the ’91 ‘Extra-Capsular Extraction’ EP. This was in many ways a different set with greater emphasis on the guitar, as Dylan Carlson made every single note resonate, letting the audience absorb every ounce of the music. There’s certainly an art and method to this style of guitar playing, wherein it’s not just about what you play but more so about the tone, the tuning, the distortion, the feedback and the manner in which you bend, shake and wave the guitar while a note is still resonating. Dylan Carlson was exemplary in all these aspects and the way he portrayed himself sonically and visually, he could simply do no wrong. The Rainbow patch and Dio button on his vest added to the coolness factor furthermore. Behind him, Adrienne Davies on drums with her minimalist drumming was his perfect ally as every single beat gelled with the guitar notes and bass lines. Despite its extremely slow and minimalist nature, Earth’s music is incredibly fascinating and its impact heightens tenfold in the live setting. Its power simply can’t be explained in words, and has to be experienced first-hand to be comprehended.
Earth links:
ThronesAndDominions.com
facebook.com/ThronesAndDominions
twitter.com/EarthSeattle
And finally at around 11:05, Deafheaven appeared to massive cheers. Even though they’re based out of San Francisco, their LA fans have always been so fantastic to them every time they’ve played here, I couldn’t imagine them getting a better response elsewhere and they might as well call our city home. As expected, during this set they concentrated their efforts on their sophomore release ‘Sunbather’ which has garnered them so much acclaim over the past one year, playing it in its entirety with the 12-minute epic ‘The Pecan Tree’ truly the standout amongst the 7 tracks on it. But in addition, unlike their recent shows as support act where it’s been nothing but ‘Sunbather’, they also revisited the debut album ‘Roads To Judah’ on this occasion with an encore performance of the 10-minute composition ‘Unrequited’.
When I first saw Deafheaven at the aforementioned Russian Circles show in 2011, while I was blown away by their music I don’t think I quite understood it fully. With every subsequent time I saw them since then, my understanding of this music got better, and last night I was able to observe and absorb the various facets, intricacies and layers behind what’s superficially described as extreme metal. In reality, Deafheaven’s music transcends into territories far beyond what the term ‘extreme metal’ entails. Aside from George Clarke’s aggressive vocal delivery and on-stage personality, it boasts of dreamy melodic patterns beautifully woven into the heavy chaotic passages, and is without doubt ‘extreme’ in a more holistic way. The mix of contrasting styles caters to a variety of audiences, and it’s no surprise to see them achieve such rapid success at this level.
The reaction of the crowd to Deafheaven was expectedly incredible, with plenty of mosh pits and stage dives occurring during the set and George Clarke himself taking the liberty to crowd surf on more than one occasion. This crowd gave Earth and Marriages a great response as well, and not a single person left this show unsatisfied. If anything, the amount of cannabis cloud in the atmosphere inside the venue was surprisingly and disappointingly low, specially for someone like me who’d run out of my own supply and was hoping to catch a contact high.
In conclusion, this was by all means a greatly diverse and powerful musical treat from Deafheaven, Earth and Marriages for the gathering at this sold-out El Rey Theatre.
Check out some more killer photos of Deafheaven, Earth and Marriages below (view them here if you’re on a non-Flash device):
Deafheaven links:
Deafheaven.com
facebook.com/Deafheaven
twitter.com/DeafheavenBand
Set List:
01. Dream House
02. Irresistible
03. Sunbather
04. Please Remember
05. Vertigo
06. Windows
07. The Pecan Tree
Encore:
08.Unrequited
Deafheaven summer US dates:
06/06-06/07 – New York, NY @ Governor’s Ball Music Festival
06/08 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
06/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary
06/10 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
06/11 – Richmond, VA @ The Canal Club
06/12-14 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/15 – Miami, FL @ Churchill’s Pub
06/16 – Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
06/17 – Tampa, FL @ The Crowbar
06/18 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s
06/20 – St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird
06/21 – Detroit, MI @ The Magic Stick
06/22 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
06/23 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
06/24 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
06/26 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
06/27 – Austin, TX @ Red 7
06/28 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
06/30 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
07/01 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
07/02 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
07/20 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Festival
El Rey Theatre links:
TheElRey.com
facebook.com/ElRey
twitter.com/ElReyTheatre