By Lisa Burke
May 6th 2016, Fonda Theatre, Hollywood CA: Last week was all about the Fonda Theatre for me, since all the shows I was interested in attending were at that location, which added up to a total of four. If the general prices there were more reasonable I would go see every show at the Fonda since its size and sound quality are very ideal for rock ‘n roll and heavy metal shows. On Friday May 6th 2016, it was my third night at this same venue with headliners Kvelertak, and the other bands along on the tour were Torche and Wild Throne and opening the night was All Souls.
I arrived to catch Bellingham, Washington’s Wild Throne and while I respected what they were aiming to accomplish with their interesting mix of thrash, prog and straight heavy metal along with other interesting genres thrown in, it did seem slightly unplanned or lacking in structure, which at times just confused the audience. They are skilled musicians, and for a trio they definitely bring the noise, and there were a few times I could justify their sound in a similar way to the style of Katatonia, which was a plus. Also, the vocals were slightly strange to me in style with the tunes, however I didn’t mind it as much as I just didn’t know what to make of it. All in all, with the right amount of cohesion this would have captured my interest to a higher degree, but it was among the better openers I had seen this week, so they get that credit for sure.
Next on the tour package was Atlanta’s rock quartet Torche who had some great jams and a heavy stoner vibe. The vocals were few and mainly purposed for harmonizing that fit into the style of the jams well. The mix in of sludge was just the right amount to keep it from sinking in too deep in the muddy waters and verging on monotonously boring, which some sludge tends to be for me. The drumming was interesting in its off-beat rhythms and I found these guys to be a fresh breath of life for the audience. Whether or not they were the trend setters or the followers of this genre, their never-ending jam-filled tunes were definitely fun to listen to and I’m happy to have seen them in this live setting.
Finally, Norway’s Kvelertak took the stage and this is one of those bands that fits in everywhere and nowhere all at once with their interesting mix of stoner rock, hard rock, punk, and whatever else you can throw in to describe them that I’ve left out, such as perhaps black ‘n roll which is a fantastic name of a genre. They have only been around for less than a decade and only have three studio albums under their belt but are rising further to the top by word-of-mouth from their positive touring feedback. I doubt I’ve seen them headline a tour before and they definitely did a fantastic job, and anyone who questioned seeing them live as headliners should have done so. I remember their last show a few years ago which was at the same location and what makes them memorable when you first see them live is the singer who always starts the show wearing an owl head dress in all of its spiritual mystique, and there are also three guitar players who just keep acting as if they are having the time of their lives and play similar fun riffs off each other that at times can get repetitive yet definitely never boring. The singer’s persona reminds me a little of Matt Pike without the gut or the guitar, and even some of the music has some High On Fire barbarian flavor as well. There was a fun bouncy mosh pit and the singer crowd surfed, and then once back on stage did some silly karate kick move that somehow totally worked in with the song. This is also one of those bands that is again very difficult to categorize and they should appeal to the masses, yet perhaps they are slightly overlooked unless viewed in a live setting because this is where they truly shine. The vocals carry a great tone and the song titles mean nothing if you don’t speak their language, but they look pretty and sound catchy, so who cares because they are there to have fun, as they indicate by their charismatic stage presence and they want you to have fun too. I enjoyed the whole set and didn’t care to question why they have three guitar players, because with this band the more the merrier. I’m going to make a rule I bet will be hard to break and say that there are no bad bands that come out of Norway in the world of rock ‘n roll and heavy metal, but feel free to challenge me on that front.
This was definitely a better live tour than you would anticipate, and if you get the chance to jump on a show then don’t hesitate to do it. You can’t judge any of these bands fairly on a YouTube video, so you need to see them live if you can. For once, this was just a pretty straight forward show with no crazy unexpected problems or comedic moments to share, but worth the adventure for sure. Also, if the Fonda security doesn’t know me by after this week then I’m doing something right or possibly wrong depending on how you look at it.
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