Live Review: The Ocean, Cephalic Carnage, Job For A Cowboy and Between The Buried And Me
Posted in Live Reviews on May 2nd, 2011 by TyphonThe Hawthorne Theater – Portland, Oregon – 5/1/2011
Oh, I have been looking forward to seeing The Ocean since Precambrian hit store shelves! So yeah, I was pretty damned jazzed to see this show. I was a little bummed to find out that it would be at The Hawthorne Theater since the thought of a one-hundred and ten degree sweat box with hardcore kids crammed shoulder to shoulder like a bunch of nerdy sardines just didn’t leave a favorable taste in my mouth… BUT! This was the first show since before my daughter was born that my wife and I get to see together!
Let’s just see how well the night went…
The Ocean - At first, I thought that the stage was going to be flooded with musicians since The Ocean is often known as “The Ocean Collective”. But I guess they dropped that in favor of a core line-up. Now that that is out of the way… I said it once, I’ll say it again: FUCK YES! THE OCEAN RULES!!! These European genre melding maniacs tore up what little space they had in such a short time (about twenty minutes of stage time)! I was mostly surprised at the crowd’s reaction to The Ocean’s energy! I mean, most of these kids were here to see Between The Buried And Me and Job For a Cowboy and they were eating out of The Ocean’s tentacles!
Vocalist Loic Rossetti was moving and screaming like a front man possessed! He jumped into the crowd several times and never lost a beat. He also sounded AMAZING considering his harsh to visceral vocal style! Color me impressed! Guitarist Robin Staps was crackling with energy (and covered with oceanic tats) and lead the charge, churing out riffs and on one occasion, diving across the stage to fix his unplugged and possible discombobulated guitar.
Mid way through the second to last song, bassist Louis Jucker just disappeared (according to Staps, it was to wretch his brains out in the back alley)! His presence was missed! This thick as fuck bass chugs filled in a large portion of The Ocean’s collective sound. His return about ten minutes later for the final song of the set was met with deafening approval. And even though they played the shortest set, The Ocean made the biggest impression. The line at the mech table afterward made that perfectly clear…
Cephalic Carnage - Greeting the crowd with a camcorder, vocalist Leo Leal reminded us how great it was to be back in Portland for them. “Very.” Great way to get the crowd going apparently. I was hyped already for their painted brand of Hyrogrind that apparently not many of my ilk (RE: critics) care for much. Well, fuck them! Cephalic Carnage loaded my skull full of the stickiest of icky metal and then set it ablaze with brutal fucking beats and killer vocals! Their sound transfers incredibly well to a live show, which surprised the hell out of me since I thought that they’d be too high to play straight.
Nope.
They grinded as tight as you can get and had the audience letting them know if they’d rather kill for “WEED” or “BEER” or “PUSSY” (I asked why we couldn’t just go halvesies on a drunk hooker holding a bong?)! These guys were undoubtedly tons of fun and yet another band that I can’t wait to have drop back through Portland again!
Brokeback Mountain: The Band - Oops. I meant Blow Job For A Gay Cowboy… argh! You know who I mean! Anyway, I know it’s cool to hate on Job For A Cowboy but please understand that I’m hating on them for a legitimate reason… namely because they fucking blow live. The people I was standing around were confused about if wheatear or not they played one song or three from the beginning of their set! And during their first pause, Jonny Davy asked the crowd what they wanted to hear next. “MATTER OF SPLATTER!” One over enthusiastic fan shouted over the rest. Jonny sought him out just to say “Um… you’re a fucking moron. We JUST played that song.” To which I hear someone else reply, “Maybe that’s because all of your songs sound the same, douchbag!”
…ok, that last guy was me. I couldn’t help it! Act like a douch, yer gonna get heckled. And I mean, c’mon! If one of your obvious FANS couldn’t tell that his requested song was just played, then you fail as a musician!
Anyhow, they continued with their “meh-heh” performance until another pause to stop and do whatever it was that they were doing in the back corner there, when there was another message for the band from the floor, ’GET OFF THE FUCKING STAGE ALREADY!” Jonny was visibly pissed while a good chunk of the proximity of the crowd was all smiles.
…fine! That was me too! My God, they just wouldn’t stop eating away at my soul with their lazy stage presence and trendy muscle shirts and skinny jeans (minus bassist Brent Riggs. His dizzying bass abuse was just plain cool.) Let’s just say that I was more than happy to see these guys exit.
Between The Buried And Me - Sadly, I was called home just as these guys took the stage. Next time Between The Buried And Me. Next time.
The Ocean On Facebook
Cephalic Carnage On Facebook
Job For A Cowboy On Facebook
Between The Buried And Me On Facebook
