Show Review: High on the Alps
We tried to keep an open mind for last Thursday’s show at Neumo’s (featuring The Cops, Amusement Parks on Fire, Silversun Pickups, and Nine Black Alps). Sometimes, however, you know things well in advance, like that perhaps you’re too well-versed in rock to hear what all the kids are hearing in these new shit-flavors of the month bands because you’ve already found those hundred or so bands, that to you, started it all. And because it’s being presented by 107.7 The End, a station you haven’t listened to since high school.
Imagine our surprise that the show was not all-ages. Teens were littered on the sidewalk in front of Neumo’s, and if those weren’t teens, I’m a monkey’s uncle.
If only to assimilate to the scene, or maybe in spite of it, we share a smoke with some friends. By the dumpsters. Well, sometimes discretion calls for it.
Feeling OK with everything and vying for a Mirror Pond, we made our way upstairs, only to be assaulted with the sounds of The Cops. We were never a fan of their previous incarnation, Hello From Waveland (but what a truly charming name), so maybe we're biased. We can’t help but feel that they sound a bit like a clunky rehashing of early 90s Northwest bands. On the other hand, our friend agreed that had we been eight to ten years younger, we’d be creaming our panties over them, and writing their band name on our notebooks. That was, until, one of the guitarists fell over and stayed lying there as though he meant to do that.
Were we pissing the other audience members off picking everything apart & laughing? Actually, no…they were all self-consciously tapping their fingers to their thighs, wondering if even that was OK. People of Seattle! Let yourselves go!
But hey, that was just the first act. We wish we could tell you just as much (or little) about Amusement Parks on Fire, but they were utterly forgettable. The same distorted stuff you would expect to walk into before the headlining act of an all-ages show. This was during the time we were sitting at the counter above the downstairs bar, watching the bar staff below, wondering what the hell to do with our lives, before we realized people could look up our skirt.
Music on the sound system indicated the second band was shoving off, and we thought, maybe, just maybe those first two have nothing on Nine Black Alps…? Incorrect. From the moment they got on stage, they induced us into one of our worst giggle fits in ages. The lead singer’s hair (which he seems to take quite seriously) was a heavily styled, big bleach blond mess. (We could visualize the Cure posters in their practice space, which is endearing…in a way.) Granted, hair should not be important, but in this case, it was very telling of the band’s immaturity and tendency to be overwrought when attempting to be serious. Does anyone have a sense of humor anymore? If they exuded less of an aura of “I fucking mean this!” and more “We’re young and silly and this is fun!” we would be giving them at least some props.
In a nutshell, y’all, the Nine Black Alps are The Lashes UK, only with more releases than the Seattle band.
We still couldn’t tell if the audience was into them or not. Truly, we have seen more enthusiasm at a youth group.
About halfway through their set, we had had enough, and our friend would not be quiet about getting frites and little sauces. We had thought the show was over, but due to my not looking into the show beforehand, and uhm, not being in the right frame of mind to understand why people kept asking us if we liked the Silversun Pickups, we totally missed that they were the headlining band. We actually like them! It would have been a treat, a much needed one at that.
So here’s a lesson to the teens and some of the rest of us. Do your research, and don’t get high. Word!
