If you didn’t have a band like War Stories in your life you would be forced to make one up. I know that sounds like high praise for a band you’ve probably never heard of, but trust me, it is completely validated.
Music fans are usually force- fed. There are always buzz bands that we are told to love, we are told they are the next big thing. Some of them hit it big, others were relegated to long, enthusiastic reviews on the Pitchfork website. Other popular bands we hear about because they are attached to a genre of music that has become popular. Staind became big because Limp Bizkit was big. Limp Bizkit became big because Korn became big. Korn became big because etc., etc. Other artists become big because radio shoves it down your throat. Katy Perry sings a song about kissing another girl. Sounds kinky enough. You hear it on the radio, you learn the lyrics, you learn her name, it’s a hit.
Every once in a while, though, you’ll find a band on your own. Not hear them on the radio, not read about them in Rolling Stone, but I mean truly find a band on your own. Say you get to a club early and you’re forced to wait around for a few hours sipping a drink, waiting for your friend to arrive or for the headliner to come on. Suddenly, a band comes on stage and immediately they take you. You lose track of time and after 30 minutes your speechless. You’ve just seen a band that has take the wind out of you and, in a sense, blown your mind. You begin to wonder where they have been and you kick yourself for not knowing about the bands previous local shows. All you can think about is how you need to hear their music again and you have to see them live again. This is the kind of band War Stories is.
The scary thing is that the band keeps getting better each time they hit the stage. War Stories always put on a well paced, intensely passionate show and Saturday’s performance at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach was no exception. Even during the two bare acoustic guitar/ keyboard laced opening songs the band seemed to be in fine form. “Heart of Gold” sees bands main duo of lead singer Evan Robinson and guitarist Reid Curby get deeper into the soul of the song as it progresses, and “Bad People” features Evan’s voice grow deep and booming as the song takes you places that are both beautiful and a little bit scary.
The rest of the band (former drummer Svend filling in on drums and Eric Mace on bass) joined in for the first electric song of the evening “TV”. Reid is a masterful guitar player, and when he gets into the zone he can transform a song from a booming ballad to a heavy rock song. This is evident on “Lion” which sees Reid’s guitar riff slowly build and finally takes over towards the end of the chorus as Svend pounds the cymbals and Evan’s voice fills the room.
Following the seductive “New Lover’s Voice”, the band launched into their best live song “Rage”. A song about the worst of “the non-musical part of the record industry”, this is truly War Stories at their most powerful. While good on compact disc, the song is fully realized live as the bands passion bleeds out of their instruments. At it’s simplest “Rage” is a song about allowing yourself to trust those who control your future, and then realizing, at a critical point, that all the bonds you’ve had with them meant nothing. Without getting to clique, you can truly feel the band’s “rage” on this song. This was not only the best musical moment of the night, but also one of the best concert moments this writer has experienced, ever. The band tapped a passion on this song that lied somewhere deep within.
The band continued with “What Does God See”, which is the epitomy of the bands command of the “slow build”. Much like “Neighborhood #1″ from the Arcade Fire, “What Does God See” builds at such a slow pace from its initial roots as a guitar ballad that when the song really kicks in in the middle you haven’t even noticed the slow progression to a full rock song. This is also the first time where the audience found their voice and sung along, causing an almost maniacal smile from the lead singer as he listened to the crowd sing the first part of the chorus. Why this band isn’t performing this song in front of a field full of people in a festival setting is beyond me.
War Stories continued with the rarely played (but personally beloved) “Because I Love You”, followed by the heavy guitar riffs of the desolate “Cold Rain”. The band next pulled out the ballad “Insanity (probably the weakest song on the record), which translated well to the small venue, especially because the bass fills out the sound nicely.
Fifty minutes after they began, the band plunged into their final song “Take My Everything”. Always a powerhouse ender, this time it seemed to feed off the audience and it become almost awe-inspiring. It was as if the band put everything into this song- every piece of anger, resentment and second guessing that has been with them these last few years- and put it out through their voice and instruments. Not only was it a great closer but it was something more. It was like they meant every single word, every single cord, ever single smash of the drum and the cymbal. They left everything on stage, and, more importantly, you can tell everything that you had scene was sincere and from the heart.
At the end of the night I can only imagine that there was someone at Saint Rocke who had the same experience with War Stories that I had two years ago when I got to the Glasshouse way too early and decided to sit through the opening bands to see The Smoking Popes. I can assure you that there was someone in the crowd at Saint Rocke who got to the show a little early, or was just there to drink, or was dragged by friends. There were people in the audience who saw War Stories and kicked themselves for not learning about this band earlier. After witnessing their amazing set they knew that this was something they had to see again. I’m sure of it.
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Jen // Aug 13, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I learned about War Stories through a friend and as soon as I heard their music I was hooked.
I’ve been sharing their MySpace with everyone telling everyone how amazing they are!!
2 OneShotBeyond // Aug 13, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“Music fans are usually force- fed”
I couldn’t agree more with this statement. The first time I heard War Stories (and this was in the car…NOT LIVE) I was hooked. Each song covered a large span of emotional truths I could easily identify with. It was and still is a refreshing break from the “popular hits” we have pumped into our memory simply from hearing the sheer repetition of their beats.
“Reid is a masterful guitar player, and when he gets into the zone he can transform a song from a booming ballad to a heavy rock song.” Perfectly stated.
Their new bass player Eric is doing a fine job of melting right into the group as if he’s always been there. And…Evan’s voice, I can’t describe in words how commanding of attention it is. It was awesome seeing both Adam (at the Viper Room last month) and then Svend at Saint Rocke last weekend. They both have a style all their own…yet the music was somehow unaltered by them switching places on either evening.
The two songs I find myself playing the most are “Insanity” & “Take My Everything”. The first few lines of “Insanity” give me chills every time I hear them. I love an album where I find every song worth listening to and War Stories has achieved this.
Their Saint Rocke performance was a powerful one to say the least.
It was great reading this review Brian. You detailed the happenings of the night so well. I like your “slow build” description of “What Does God See”! It is indeed a “slow build” to something much more than just a repetitive beat. This band has already made it!!!
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