Show Recap: Gwen Stacy @ Cervantes

I was planning on hitting up this show on my own since none of my friends out here in Denver are big Gwen Stacy fans, and the rest of the lineup was pretty weak, but fortunately for me my buddy Jordan tagged along. For $15 you couldn't really go wrong, but this show attempted to be a waste of money, one of the few times when i feel let down but a live concert.

I've been a Gwen Stacy fan for quite a while, they have hardcore roots and don't really venture too much into metalcore which is nice. They have some awesome breakdowns with great sing alongs like "This is family, this is pure!" and i haven't had the chance to catch them outside of last year's Scream the Prayer Tour where they weren't playing anything from their latest release A Dialogue. I was pretty excited to finally catch them, and the fact that they were headlining was surprising to me since they didn't have that big of support last summer when i saw them at Sonshine and STP Tour.

Well, they still don't have great support and probably shouldn't have done a headlining tour, the venue was practically empty, easily less than 100 people. The front of the stage was maybe 2 people deep in the middle, and only about 10 kids were really dancing around. We stood near the back for previous bands but we knew that Gwen Stacy would call people out so we moved close to the stage. Sure enough Geoff, lead singer for GS, did call out two girls that were sitting up in the balcony and we spent easily 5 minutes coaxing them down to the stage. Surprisingly Geoff was using a plethora of foul language on the mic was threw me for a total loop.

Normally foul language at a show is nothing new, and i don't have a problem with it at all, but bands that represent themselves as a "Christian Band" and represent a known Christian label like Solid State Records, swearing on the mic seems a bit poor in taste. I was starting to wonder if the band no longer considered themselves to be representing Christ through their platform and after the show i was able to find out that in fact the band no longer considered themselves a "christian band" and that Brent, bass player and the founder of the band, was really the only Christian left. this was disheartening to say the least, but it is what it is.

After instructing the crowd to get "A#% to balls" and pack it in, all 40 of us enjoyed a set that opened with "The Path to Certainty" and then rolled through "The Fear in Your Eyes" and "I Was Born With Two First Names". They also played crowd favorite "Gun Held to the Head" from there initial demo. I believe they only played two tracks from their latest release A Dialogue which were "Profit Motive" and "The First Words" my favorite track. They closed with "Gone Fishing" i think.

The new band was solid, the new drummer Brett Sibley did well and adding the 2nd guitarist (Matt Strahl) really help the overall sound even if he was deathly ill. Frontman Geoff is solid, but he seemed a little off tonite, possibly due to some alcohol consumption before the show? who knows, either way he's pretty good considering there weren't many kids at the show, and he spoke about people using their heads to make decisions, and that the band is about "mutual respect" saying "when you die you're only accountable for yourself."

The other 2 bands we saw were City Serene and Lower Definition. City Serene is a female fronted mini-Attack Attack! with some electronic synth mixed in. they were pretty weak in my opinion, and once again i'm not impressed with female-fronted hardcore bands, i just don't buy it. Lower Definition has a solid sound and plenty of energy, but the lead singer totally ruined it for me. maybe it was the fact that he "drank three bottles of whiskey before the show" and was "totally faded" but he was just stumbling around and kept pulling the mic away from his face when he was singing the clean vocals like he was Justin Timberlake or something. never could hear him at all.

Just a bummer of a show. check out this picture and see how there was no crowd:

Gwen Stacy band no longer a "Christian band"

Gwen Stacy has apparently dropped their label of “Christian Band” after manys years on Solid State Records and tours including the Scream The Prayer Tour with stops at Cornerstone and Sonshine. The band is currently touring on the No Bummer Summer Tour with Lower Definition and all the members are very accessible through twitter and formspring. They are also featuring a new lineup replacing their longtime drummer TJ Sego and added a second guitarist.

Geoff Jenkins: “we aren’t a christian band anymore. People can never focus on anything but the label” -twitter

Geoff Jenkins (lead vocals) Formspring Twitter

Brent Schindler: “I am still a Christian. GS not being a Christian band has nothing to so with my personal faith.” -twitter

Brent (bass, clean vox): Twitter

Show Recap: Sonshine Festival @ Wilmar, MN

Alan and I camped out at the Sonshine Festival in Wilmar, Minnesota. 3 days of Christian bands spread out on 3 different stages, but we were there mainly for the metal stage. there were so many bands that i'm just going to give short recaps and fly through the bands that we actually saw.

Thursday night was essentially the Scream the Prayer Tour lineup, featuring For Today, Sleeping Giant, Oh Sleeper, Gwen Stacy, The Chariot, and Haste the Day. For Today and Sleeping Giant are what you might call "militant Christian" metal, in your face, tough-guy hardcore. Both bands didn't bring their A-game and were somewhat disappointing.

Gwen Stacy was the first good band we saw. They only played 5 songs but they bring it, fun choruses to sing along with, and quite the following for an early-in-the-evening band. After Gwen Stacy was Oh Sleeper, a favorite of Alan's and mine. They were on-fire! They had replaced their stolen guitar and were able to play 2 new songs, Son of the Morning and The Finisher, both were awesome. The crowd was totally into the set and Oh Sleeper responded, playing better than they did on Tuesday night in Denver, and they were having fun inciting chaos in the crowd.

After their last song, Vices Like Vipers, which was crazy, Micah the lead singer, said that we had one last chance to rock out, and organized the crowd for the "Wall of Death". Basically this is like the parting of the Red Sea, i've done this a few times, most notably at Sick of it All shows, in little venues where people don't have much room. but by the time to two sides of the crowd had split, there was easily 20 yards between us and them. As the front line people began to back out Alan and I found ourselves facing the front line full of teenagers with no feeling of pain. the song kicked in and both sides ran at each other (think Braveheart) and Bam!, bodies everywhere. i spent the next 30 seconds saving lives and enjoying my extra adrenaline-induced strength that allowed me to throw teenagers everywhere and saves the people who landed on the ground.

Wall of Death at a Sick of it All show (excuse the language):

after recovering from that we took a break, skipped Sleeping Giant, the Showdown and Agraceful. We went over to the main stage to check out Family Force 5, which lasted about 10 seconds before we decided that they were lame and went back to the metal stage to see The Chariot. They were great again, apparently their van had broken down and they just barely made it, but they were awesome. After that was Flatfoot 56 and they were terrible, and i hate them.

The headliners for Thursday were Haste the Day. Once again they were on their game, and once again the momentum slowed down when Stephen picked up a guitar and played the 2 slow songs. But it was cool because they played an encore, American Love, and all was forgiven. their new drummer, Giuseppe from Once Nothing (check out the link!), might be the best drummer i've ever seen, he's ridiculous, and he did a drum solo before the encore that was epic.

On Friday we got up early, 10a, and headed over to the hip-hop stage to catch Big Al. he was pretty good i guess. Christian rap is weird to me, but whatever. Then we went over to the main stage to get ready for Glorious Unseen. This is where i ran into one of Kassie's friends, Angela and got to talk to her. On the stage was Tal & Acacia, 2 girls who were quite impressive. Tal (or Acacia?) plays guitar and both girls sing. they were from England i'm guessing (wrong, they're from Nashville, thanks Alan!) and their style was a little quirky and both Alan and I liked it, but not enough to grab a pink cd!

Up next was the Glorious Unseen, one of our favorite bands, and they were awesome. They played Tonite the Stars Speak, Forever Holy, and some new songs of their upcoming EP. I wish they could of played longer than 30 minutes, they only got through 5 songs i think. But David Crowder was on the side stage obviously enjoying them too.

After that we scampered back to the metal stage to check out some bands we'd never heard of. For All Those Sleeping were pretty bad, the Midnight Suit, who are now called The Suit, were awesome. they were a blend of punk/hardcore and some heavy breakdowns. they really impressed, and were full of fun energy, playing a cover of Lady Gaga's Just Dance that went over really well (hear it on their myspace), totally checking these dudes out!

up next was local metal band Your Memorial, which Alan liked but i wasn't too into, they're straight-forward metal. Hands followed them and they were pretty good despite having a guitar player as their lead singer which usually takes a little off the intensity and crowd-participation. they were really tight and had a good crowd following, i'd check'em out.

after that we went and took a nap, skipping A Plea For Purging and Impending Doom. We woke up and headed to the main stage for an awesome time of worship with David Crowder. They are so good live, great humor, great set, and just overall a really moving time. David Crowder busted out the usual key-tar, and then a Guitar Hero guitar that had been modified by drummer Bwhack. good times.

After that we headed back to the metal stage for what was probably the best band of the weekend; August Burns Red! man, i have just been getting into these guys so i only knew a few of the songs, but it didn't matter. people were climbing the walls just to get a view, easily the biggest crowd we saw. we fought our way to the pits and hardcore danced for what seemed like an hour. They played an encore even though they weren't headlining, man they were good.

After that was the headliners, Norma Jean, a band that always brings the energy (and apparently fans like David Crowder, he was in the pit with the rest of us kids). They rocked out about 3 songs before something on the drums broke, which happens at every Norma Jean show. After that was fixed, lead singer Cory Brandan instructed the crowd to pick up anything plastic off the ground and when the song kicks in, to throw the trash in the air, and keep throwing it. the crowd followed instruction and we were all doused with water and whatever else was in the trash for the next 60 seconds. After that they played the hits, ending with a quasi-encore. pretty good set.

Both of us had to leave the next morning, so we missed out on War of Ages, As I Lay Dying, Austrian Death Machine, and Living Sacrifice. it was a bummer, but we'll have more chances!

good times!

Show Recep: Scream the Prayer Tour @ Cervantes

It was a pretty good night, the Christian B-Team rolled through Denver and put on a pretty good show. Apparently Denver was held in high-regard according to a few of the bands, who had nothing but bad things to say about the previous tour stop, Salt Lake City, Utah. I don't know if it was the presence of the Mormon youth that ruined the night, or if SLC's scene-kids are bigger in number, and more annoying than most stops (because most stops have annoying scene-kids). i do know that SLC is to blame for stealing one of Oh Sleeper's guitars, therefore forcing the band to change their set list on the fly and sticking to old songs, so thats lame on the part of SLC.

but it was good for Denver.

This show was at Cervantes in downtown Denver, and the doors opened at 3p. I'd done my research and found out that the show usually didn't start for about an hour, and since Tahoe and I are old-dudes, we didn't want to stand around for 6 hours so we decided to go a little late. Unfortunately i wanted to see Corpus Christi who was the opener, but i had no desire to see the following handful of bands; Agraceful, A Plea For Purging, and For Today. So we left for the show around 430p, and just to get the timing perfect we drove all the way to the venue only to realize that Tahoe had forgotten his ticket, so we drove back to Lakewood, then back to the venue again! i think this was maybe divine intervention because as we strolled into the venue, the show was in-between bands, probably just after For Today and getting ready for Gwen Stacy. It's rare to get to a show and have the first band you see actually be a legit band, usually you have to sit through some crap first, but Gwen Stacy might have had the most energetic crowd of the whole night.

Gwen Stacy was really good. I think they only played 5 songs but that's alright. The crowd was very supportive and two separate circle-pits broke out. there was a surprisingly high number of "hardcore kids" doing ridiculous hardcore/scene dances that i thought were reserved for more angry/violent bands but i was wrong, and so was the Staff dude standing next to me. As kids were flailing around karate kicking the air i had to step in and actually protect the 6' security dude, i guess he had no idea what he was getting into. anyway, Gwen Stacy, solid, they played a short set that included The Fear In Your Eyes, If We Live Right We Can't Die Wrong, Gone Fishing, Path To Certainty, and the closer was Gun Held To the Head. great set!

I was thinking that the show had a pretty high standard to reach now, set by Gwen Stacy, and some of the bands delivered. Next up was Oh Sleeper which was probably the band i was most excited to see. They have a new album coming out in August called Son Of The Morning and i had been listening to the one released song, Son Of The Morning, which they had been playing on the tour. As they started their set you could tell instantly that the crowd wasn't as excited and lacked some energy. Despite that i got up front and sang along with the tunes, I Will Welcome the Reaping and Charlatan's Host. I had read that the band was playing 3 songs off the new record so i found it odd that they played I Will Welcome the Reaping, Charlatan's Host, and Building the Nations right off the bat, knowing that they would close with Vices Like Vipers. Micah, the singer, started talking about how good it was to be in Denver, and that they didn't have a good time in Salt Lake. Apparently they had a guitar stolen and for some reason, that meant that they couldn't play any new songs! what a bummer! Now i really don't like SLC! but they made up for by playing The Siren's Song which is my favorite Oh Sleeper song. These guys are pretty tight and the new drummer appeared to be pretty comfy switching up the set on a days notice, thankfully! Then they closed with Vices Like Vipers which everyone at the show knew the words to so it went off well.

Next up was Project86, the O.G.'s of metalcore/hardcore. I'd never seen these guys live, or heard one of their songs. They got really popular back when POD and No Innocent Victim were cool and i just never checked them out. Well they put on a pretty good show for being old dudes, and the crowd was really into them. I don't know their songs but i heard him say that they played Two Glass Eyes, some song about Ichabod, and the closer was Spy Hunter. good energy and crowd participation!

The Sleeping Giant was up. probably the most controversial band on the tour, and a holdover from last years tour. Sleeping Giant is sort of like Madball/First Blood/War of Ages feel, militant Christian hardcore. i say they were controversial because their music is lacking any real creativity and their message/lyrics are blatant and in your face. I know this rubs some people the wrong way, i didn't mind the message, but i did mind the boring sound, it all sounded like one long song. As they chugged through No One Leaves This Room Sick ("if your church isn't showing you the healing of the sick, they're not showing you the full Christ") and Blame It On The Holy Rollers it seemed that the crowd was really getting into the set. the played about 4 songs, and one message about Christ and then the most powerful moment of the night came. The lead singer basically gave his 5 minute testimony. Now i'm not the biggest fan of testimonies, nor do i like lead singers that preach from the stage, but as the singer got through the first minute of his testimony the whole place was dead-silent. i'm not joking, i just kept thinking that "wow, no one is talking to anyone else!". it was awesome. the testimony was powerful, and if there were non-believers there (doubtful but possible) then they couldn't deny the message that was spoken. That lead into Whoremonger, which is the song that accompanies the testimony

It's easy to stand there and be critical of Sleeping Giant, i felt like a Pharisee in the back of the room laughing as they shouted "Don't You Judge Me!!" and stomped their feet. But the band knows their identity, and they're not afraid to proclaim Christ as the Saviour. After Whoremonger they closed with a song of worship, Oh Praise Him. This lasted about 10 minutes and was pretty cool, the whole place was singing along while one-by-one band members set down their instruments and walked off the stage. i was impressed, it was pretty cool.

Up next was a big contrast; The Chariot. These guys could probably take credit for all of the scene dancing / craziness that happens at these shows. i was expecting chaos and i pretty much got it. You could say that The Chariot is more about experience than about the actual music, they used all kinds of lights on the stage that were pointed at the crowd, they all had their own drum to beat on, at one point christian hardcore legend Josh Scogin was swinging a garage light around like a lasso! Anyway, i'm not the biggest fan of the band, but their stage presence was awesome. i couldn't even tell you what songs they performed, i didn't recognize any of them except Daggers and Dead Policeman which they closed with. pretty good!

Last up was the headliner, Haste the Day, one of my favorite bands! I've seen them a few times and they're always good. unfortunately every time i've seen them the sound quality has been poor or too quiet, but last night they were plenty loud. Before the show i had read a rumor that Brennan, one of the last of 2 original members left in the band, had quit. Haste the Day has changed singers, writers, guitar players, and last Christmas their longtime drummer moved on. All that was left was an original guitar player and bass player, so the news that Brennan, the guitarist, had quit was disheartening. Haste picked up the guitarist from A Plea For Purging to fill in for the rest of the tour. Either way HTD played well, but their set list left some holes for sure. First off, Stephen the lead singer, picked up a guitar about halfway through the set and lead the band in Porcelain and An Adult Tree. the songs are good but Tahoe and I both concluded that they didn't add much to the show, especially at the sacrifice of such great songs like American Love and Resolve. They played the rest of the classics though; Walk On, Blue 42, Pressure the Hinges, Mad Man, 68, White Collar, and then closed with When Everything Falls. I had read that they were doing encores but apparently Denver wasn't loud enough so we didn't get one.

On a side note, for all of you stage-diver / crowd-walker / crowd-surfers; you can't jump off the stage when the crowd is only like 5-6 people deep. many people landed hard on the floor because the crowd wasn't compact enough, and it was full of girls and 14yr old boys that are about as strong as the girls. near the end of HTD's set anger was starting to set in with some of the crowd and a few fights broke out. i really don't get this, especially at a "Christian" show where the lyrics/songs have no anger or violence at all! some people should get a clue, especially that dude that i punched in the junk when he jumped on me.

good times. Shirts that i saw kids wearing:

"Mount and Do Me" (in the Mountain Dew logo)
"Oprah didn't die for your sins"
"Double-Pedal Jesus Metal"
"Drug Free For Christ"
"Stay Brutal"
"The View From Here" seriously, i saw a TVFH shirt...i was wearing it!

Haste the Day Pictures:

Sleeping Giant performing Oh Praise Him:

The Chariot performing with lead singer from A Plea For Purging: