There are no more bands.

I don’t do concert reviews. Not ever. If I did? They’d be some typical metaphor-laden 25-word burst encapsulating music genres of the past half-century, e.g., “They infuse a post-modern neo goth/country/punk alt sensibility with taught Grant Lee Buffalo-like lyrics that draw you into a world where a shirtless David Lynch has coffee with Tom Waits.”

Won’t do that to you.

I just check out stuff, react to it and write. (In this case, shoot some pics too.) Hopefully, all the thoughts are wrapped around a theme, or, worst-case scenario: I go off in different directions and pray it eventually meets.

O’Death is a band now out of Brooklyn that I first came across earlier this year. I knew then in a few notes that I loved this band. Which is how I generally am: I either love something or hate it right away. If I’m still unsure after hearing the music, then the lead singer’s voice makes or breaks it for me.

So here’s where I detour and talk about how the internet has almost eliminated the need for clubs when it comes to discovering new bands. I can stream new stuff from a host of sites like Last.fm or Blip.fm, or maybe I do random searches for bands on MySpace. Maybe a friend tells me about a band on YouTube.

Then I follow all that up and say that without seeing them live, you miss out on just how much this is a band, and how rabid their following is.

Forget how music used* to get discovered. Now, fans control how and when they find bands. In this case, a random search for something completely unrelated brought me to them. I checked out a few of their songs, then some videos. Streamed and added them to playlists on the places I hang out. From there, I was able to see them play in NYC a few weeks ago.

In this case, radio and TV played zero part in me finding out about them.

Live music and radio have always been there, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that their roles have changed. This is what I mean when I talked about the Long Tail benefiting bands in ways other than financially. O’Death built a loyal following of 14,600+ followers on MySpace without help from a major label—A decade ago, they would’ve needed that label support.

This can also be a potential problem for bands though because there are a lot of them out there competing for valuable teen-angst attention. In this case, it helps that the band has such a unique sound compared to a LOT of what’s on MySpace. Will it be something that limits how far they go? Hard to say. Could be the thing that makes them take off too.

Which is why clubs come back into the picture.

Seeing them live elevates the dynamic. I was standing next to them downstairs before the show, and it was like, they were the most unassuming, easiest-going dudes you’d see. They sure weren’t the tortured souls I heard in their music. So after setting up their gear, (another band perk before you break big), they hit the stage.

How to describe it...

Okay, well, Bob Pycior (fiddle), Gabe Darling (banjo), Greg Jamie (vocals, guitar), David Rogers-Berry (drums), and Jesse Newman (bass) all become this intricate country punk Blue Man Group dance number with Jamie anchoring it all. His signature move features guitar held high vertically, which contrasts with the extreme movements of the others.

This, is a band.

What reminds you of that is not just how they interact but the abused Fender amp with mic in front it, or the literally beat to shit cymbal, or othar the tooth collector, (as he’s known), bobbing in and out of view with his bass, and living off the vibe of the crowd who knew every damn word. At some point, the shirts of half the band get lost as the Devil takes over.

Hard to shoot, but cool to watch.

There’s this rawness to them that hopefully won’t get lost once they blow up. It can be the stuff that usually goes by the wayside when a band heads into the studio, where rarely does the way they sound live or the vibe get captured accurately. Of course, some bands just don’t sound great live—but that’s other bands. (This video clip of them rehearsing shows some of that tightness. That doesn’t do the stage show justice though, if only due to the confined practice space they’re in.)

It definitely doesn’t do the crowd surfing move they pulled at the end any justice either, in keeping with the punk in their description. Felt genuine though because the crowd was into it. (Compare this with the second band that night who obviously had listened to some Clash recor... CDs, but couldn’t compete with the punk vibe I was now watching.)

After, I talked briefly with othar and then watched them hang outside for a victory smoke. They talked with fans and chilled some more before heading off to an after-hours party where they would no doubt work the crowd up even more. Couldn’t help but think though that they sure wouldn’t mind a spot on Late Night to give them that increase in download sales.

You also wonder if the producers would make them keep their shirts on.


O’Death on MySpace.

*Back then, the only way you were discovering anything is if you first heard it on the radio or Dick Clark, then went out and bought the single. As for bands, they had to play out to get discovered. Promoters only pushed certain acts, who in turn played the largest venues which then caused a bump in sales for the region. FM radio played the same stuff over and over, pretty much as it does now. Fringe acts had zero chance. Which meant if you wanted to make it as a band, you played a lot of covers in addition to any of your crappy originals. Play Blue Oyster Cult. Play Beatles. Anything but... your crappy originals.

Tags: O’Death