Saturday night I went to Subterranean to check out Darker My Love. I've been a fan of the band since their first EP and think their sunny California take on psychedelic rock is criminally underrated. Also, I hadn't been to Subt in ages and always admired how the bar pulls off the whole two-tiered small venue thing so well. So it was a two birds with one stone kind of night for me. Luckily, it turned out to be a night of pleasant surprises all around. No crappy photos this time though, as I forgot my camera at home and was already halfway there by the time I realized I had left it. It's not that I live that far away from Subt, it's that it's too fucking cold in Chicago to turn back and make a journey outdoors any longer than it needs to be.
Anyway, I walked in just after opening band All the Saints had started their set. I actually hadn't heard anything of these dudes beforehand, but good thing I arrived early enough to catch them, as they were a pleasant surprise and probably my favorite band of the night. Their album bio mentions Loop and Gun Club (download links refreshed) as influences, and a dude next to me yelled out after one of their slower songs, "Dude, Sabbath lives!" I assume said dude was referencing early Sabbath, and I don't think he was all that far off, but I kept thinking of Blue Cheer with waaay more reverb. Anyway, turns out their signed to Touch N' Go and released an album late last year. Gotta get on that.
Next up was Darker My Love, and I wasn't disappointed. Sure, they got off to a rocky start with a combination of a hot mic and starting off with one of their more awkward songs (odd time changes and whatnot), but quickly settled into their groove. By the end of the set, I feel as though they had won over a crowd that largely didn't know who the fuck they were when they started playing. The set was about equally split between their two LPs, Darker My Love and 2, and made me realize that the lukewarm reception 2 received was just another example of how this band gets unjustly shit upon. I mean...I get it, it's not freak-psych-electro-blog-folk pop, but it's a good album. Surely, there's still room in the independent rock world for melodies, effect pedals, reverb, and straightforward guitars?? Hope so...
Download - "Helium Heels" from Darker My Love
Download - "Blue Day" from 2
Finally, These Arms are Snakes headlined...which set off all the "One of these things are not like the others" alarms in my head. Granted, I'm not nearly as into the whole prog-hardcore (I'm struggling to describe this...) sound as I used to be, but I don't really have a lot of hate for these dudes. The frontman was a nut (swinging mics, stage dives, etc...), the kids loved it (17+ show), and considering the last show I remember headlining at Subt was Cobra Starship, I'm going to chalk this up as a win.
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