After listening to a great CD by a new artist, one’s initial reaction is a desire to see them live and hear the songs he/she has come to love. For music enthusiast, few things are more exciting than seeing a “new favorite band” play live for the first time. There is the anticipation before the show, “what will they play?” “I wonder what the drummer looks like?” “Who’s opening for them/Who are they opening for?” “Will they sound as good as they do on CD?” And the questions go on and on, so much so that when the band finally hits the stage all the buildup and expectation is either quickly met with satisfaction or, in the worst of cases, utter disappointment.
LA.CityZine recently reviewed Verona Grove’s debut CD, “The story Thought Over” (read the review) giving it praise for being different from the other power pop bands out there. Power pop groups like Homegrown, Plain White T’s, Vampire Weekend, Secondhand Serenade, Mayday Parade, and on and on and on and on and on all sound like “that band:” the vocals are ridiculously identical in each group, the tempo doesn’t change much and the subject is California, girls and superficially broken hearts (maybe she broke up with you because you’re as unoriginal as your music?).
Comprised of Tony Anders (vocals, guitar), Charlie Wilhelm (bass), Josh Helm (drums), Verona Grove seemed different on CD: there were tempo changes and even though the voice was the same as all the others there was something more honest and raw about what he was singing and how he was singing. Seeing them live, however, made all thoughts of “uniqueness” fall to the wayside. They sounded just like all the other bands. While they were playing the dark and unfortunate venue that is Crane’s Hollywood Tavern it seemed, unfortunately, obvious that this band wasn’t trying to be musicians that push the envelope and add something new to the music scene. Instead, they seemed content to follow the same boring path that was set a few years back by Fall Out Boy (who, even when it was new, sounded regurgitated).
Needless to say, the feeling I had when finally getting to hear Verona Grove, a band I had come to really enjoy after listening to their CD a few times, was that of the “utter disappointment” variety. There was certainly the potential for a great set. That potential was not met, however, because the music was nowhere near the same quality as it was on CD, the tempo never changed during the whole sets like it did on the CD and the sincerity in the lead singer’s voice found on the CD was completely absent.
I still stand by the CD and hope, if power pop bands must continue to be mass produced, that more of them go in the direction that Verona Grove was going in the studio. Maybe they were having a bad night, maybe someone had said something rude to them before they went on or maybe they were as disappointed with the venue as I was, maybe, maybe, maybe. I can only hope that the next time I happen (because it will be accidental) upon a Verona Grove show their music is more up to par with their recordings.
Photo by: Audrey_Sel
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