Written & Photographed by : Killian O’Neil

It’s a very rare occasion when I am in North Philadelphia and actually feel safe; this last Saturday was one of those times. As my Uber pulled up to The Met Theatre, I was greeted by a hand full of security guards, accompanied by a wall of walk-through metal detectors. The entrance of The Met was sectioned off with chain link fences that had fake grass woven throughout the openings. It turned out to be a pop-up beer garden, and a DJ was spinning Emo/EDM remixes. Everyone either had a drink in hand or was chatting amongst themselves, bopping around. Despite the heatwave that was ripping through the city, the excitement of the night seemed to trump the thermostat reading 100 degrees.

Once I entered the venue, it was wall-to-wall with people every which way. I had about 10 minutes to kill before the night began, so I did what anyone would do, and I went to stand in line for merchandise. The line was wrapped around the staircase, overflowing onto the second floor of the venue. I overheard the couple behind me getting frantic because they were worried they’d miss Something Corporate because the line was “so long.” It really shouldn’t come as a shock, seeing as it’s been nearly 14 years since they went on tour. What makes it even wilder is that this was the first time in 20 years that all five of the original members were on the road together. We were definitely in store for a very special night. I myself have been waiting for this moment patiently since I was 14. A little longer wasn’t going to make a difference.

Something Corporate came on right after nine p.m., following their opener, Days Away, who had one hell of a set. Keeping the theme of indie rock for the evening, they got the crowd roaring to go and singing along to every song they played. It was my first time seeing them, but it was quite clear they have been doing this for a very long time. I was only able to catch the end of their set, but what I did catch was profound. Right before they played their last song, the lead singer said, “It’s kind of beautiful that you can write a piece of something and give it to the world,” and immediately after, everyone went crazy.

Once Days Away ended, it was finally time for something corporate. The music cut and the lights dimmed, and next thing you know, Andrew McMahon is skipping out onto the stage. He was dressed in a white button-down, black suspenders, and black dress pants, which completely suited the evening that was in store. The band immediately went into the song “Straw Dog” without anybody in the audience missing a beat with the lyrics.

Continuing the high energy of the night, they bang out “I Want to Save You” and “She Paints Me Blue,” with a mix of nostalgia and memories penetrating the air. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t singing along with their eyes closed, getting transported to their formative years. There were 21 songs played that night, and the band left little time for pauses and transitions.

They played every hit, including “Punk Rock Princess.” During this song, Andrew went and grabbed his daughter, bringing her out on stage. They both sang it together and danced around the stage, e

ating up every moment. Ending that song on a strong note, Andrew jumped into the crowd and ran around singing to finish it off. Following it was “I Woke Up in A Car,” and that is when I believe I lost my voice. The last time I sang along this much, it was at Taylor Swift! The lights cut and all filed off.

A few moments later, after echos of “one more song” chants and screaming from the crowd, Andrew walks out on stage, walks to his piano, and takes a seat. At this point, everyone was losing it because there was still one song in particular that had yet to be played. The first key was hit, and the crowd started to sing in unison, “Konstantine.” It’s a seven-minute beautiful song, mainly on the piano, and seeing it live was out of this world. The emotions were swirling for everyone that was in the crowd that night. I swear I saw a girl crying in front of me. The second-to-last song that evening was a throwback of all throwbacks to close out the night, for real this time. It was none other than “If You See Jordan.”.

The synergy I saw that night on the stage between the bands is something that you don’t see often. It is quite clear that their brotherhood has weathered the seasons of life together. Which has transferred beautifully to the stage. Every single one of the members of Something Corporate was having the time of their life, and you could tell that. Everyone was feeling something on some level that night. In the middle of the evening, Andrew said to the crowd, “You can’t manufacture magic; you just have to try to put yourself on the path, and if goddamn, tonight wasn’t magic.” That’s exactly what this night was to not only them but to everyone in attendance.

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Written and Photographed by Eric Sperrazza

It seemed that the kickoff to the culture shift of the 90s in entertainment, and the boundaries pushed therein, were almost exclusively a product of the west coast. While bands like Jane’s Addiction, Dramarama, and Alice in Chains were making music that broke the paradigm of rock, David Lynch was setting the stage for the future television age of X-Files and The Sopranos by giving prime time audiences a darkly surreal look into the northwest town of Twin Peaks. The world didn’t know it in 1990, but what was budding around us was about to set the tone for a resurgence of noir indy movies, alternative rock stations & festivals, and television that mirrored cinema more than the homogenized entertainment of the 80s. Even Tim Burton was cutting his teeth as a director with a severe gamble in a cinema, a superhero movie!

What if I told you, however, that there would have been no grunge music explosion in 1991 if it wasn’t for a band from Boston? Because Kurt Cobain and Nirvana dropkicked the door of mainstream radio and ushered in a revolution to the music industry norm with Smells Like Teen Spirit.

But there would have been no Smells Like Teen Spirit without The Pixies.

In 1993 Kurt Cobain told Rolling Stone Magazine that, regarding his breakout song, “I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band — or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.”

The dynamics of The Pixies just being the tip of the iceberg of what an innovative and influential band The Pixies were and are to this day.

Known for their distinctive blend of post-punk, rhythm & blues, rockabilly, and abstract rock, The Pixies quickly gained attention with their sound. Each song was like listening to a garage session of an intensely artistic and emotional experience. They were slow & sultry and, without warning, hard, fast, and violent. A snapshot of its time, you could almost imagine Sherilynn Fenn sashaying away from the jukebox at the fictional Double R Diner in her saddle shoes as the cacophony of genres merged into something never heard before—all the while with the music feeling murky and messy in its delivery.

The band released their debut album, Surfer Rosa, in 1988, which received critical acclaim and established the band as a unique force in the music scene. Songs like “Bone Machine,” “Gigantic,” and “Where Is My Mind?” showcased their dynamic range and unconventional song structures.

The Pixies continued to release influential albums throughout the late 80s and early 90s. Their sophomore effort, Doolittle (1989), expanded their fan base with tracks like “Monkey Gone to Heaven” and “Debaser.” The band’s distinct combination of Black Francis’s raw vocals, Joey Santiago’s innovative guitar work, Kim Deal’s melodic bass lines, and David Lovering’s solid drumming created a signature sound that continues to inspire bands today.

Despite their critical acclaim and growing fan base, The Pixies disbanded in 1993, significantly impacting the alternative rock landscape. At that exact moment, the entirety of the music world woke up to the excellence and inspiration that was The Pixies; knee-deep in the MTV-fueled grunge rock era, they were gone. The rest of the band delved into solo passion projects. The most notable was Kim Deal, who went on to form The Breeders with her sister to much success. 

After an extended hiatus, The Pixies reunited in 2004, much to the excitement of their dedicated fan base, along with a documentary chronicling the behind-the-scenes goings on of their reformation, “Loud Quiet Loud.” 

Since then, The Pixies have gone through a minor lineup change as Kim Deal left The Pixies again to enjoy a sober lifestyle and make new music with The Breeders. Paz Lenchantin, of A Perfect Circle fame, picked up the mantle from Deal, and they continue to tour, record new music and inspire young musicians worldwide.

On June 9th, the current incarnation of The Pixies made a stop at The Met in Philadelphia along with Franz Ferdinand, an outside-the-box Scottish band that found success during the post-punk revival of the 2000s, along with such bands like The White Stripes and The Strokes. Together, they radiated the venue’s regalness and melted it to the ground, all at once.

Going into the show, I could not think of why Franz Ferdinand would be the opener to get the crowd right and ready for The Pixies; a different generation of artists, a different era of music, and maybe even a younger group of fans than could appreciate The Pixies. But during their performance, it was glaringly clear. Much in the vein of the headliner of the evening, Franz Ferdinand performed a dizzying journey through smoky buildups, explosive breakdowns, and living art with music mastery. At times, their stoic look onto the crowd felt like a forceful and deliberate delivery of their music out into the balconies, as the audio rollercoaster took the audience through songs like “Walk Away” and “The Dark of the Matinee.” And yet, with a drop of a hat, the proverbial lever is seemingly pulled, and upbeat singalongs like “Do You Want To” and “Take Me Out” remind everyone that they are having just as good of a time performing for you as you are receiving it. Franz Ferdinand wrapped up their set with a scorching live rendition of “This Fire” and a full-band participation drum solo finale.  

The Pixies wasted zero time diving in full force into the evening, opening with “Gouge Away” and onto “Bone Machine.” One of The Pixies’ favorite songs to perform, the murky abstract reincarnation song, “Caribou,” did not disappoint either, with its sultry groove curling down off the stage and into the general populous of ticketholders. The Pixies’ hit, “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” evolved with the crowd into an unlikely singalong of fans. In fact, instead of the traditional jumping, crowd surfing, or opening a pit in the general admission space, those in attendance leaned in and hung onto every note throughout a 90-minute set as if no one wanted to miss one singular inflection in the voice of Black Francis or Paz Lenchantin. 

New music from The Pixies’ recently released album, Doggerel, was peppered into the evening, showcasing songs like “Dregs of Wine” and “Haunted House.” The biggest standout of which for me was “Who’s More Sorry Now?”. But all with the same lyrical foundation you would expect from Francis, with a strong lean-in to the chops of Lenchantin’s epic bass work and her superb vocal abilities.

Francis eviscerated his acoustic guitar on one of my favorite Pixies tracks, “Vamos.” Still, the fans were led back to favorites like “Here Comes Your Man” and “Where is My Mind” (Which this humble narrator still cannot hear without seeing in my head Ed Norton and Helena Bonham Carter holding hands while staring at the financial collapse of downtown Wilmington, DE.).

The Pixies wrapped up their grandiloquent thirty-song set the same way they do many a night, with the hit, “Winterlong.” They took to the edge of the stage, hand-in-hand, and gave a gracious bow to the audience. With that, the house lights came on, and like a fever dream in Doc Martens, the night came to an ear-ringing and satisfying end. 

Driving home, I waxed on about some strong takeaways. Having never seen Kim Deal in concert, I was hesitant at first to accept Lenchantin into my heart, but as pointed out by former guitarist of 90’s local band, Bystander, Allan Viviano, “Lenchantin not only brings that driving bass of A Perfect Circle to The Pixies, and you can’t touch Deal as a songwriter, but Lenchantin seemingly has a better voice, on top of it.” I would have to concur.

Would I have liked to have heard “Debaser?” Sure. However, simultaneously, not one more song was necessary for that performance. It was a perfectly blended celebration of The Pixies. And I now know the cold hard truth – You cannot call yourself a fan of this band without seeing them give you every second of every song on all eight cylinders, at least once. It is the biggest piece of the puzzle in “getting them.”

Now, I can begin to understand The Pixies. 

 The Pixies will be at The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, NJ, on August 20th and The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York, NY, on August 21st & 22nd. 

Franz Ferdinand

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The Pixies

Website丨Facebook 丨Instagram 丨YouTube 丨Spotify丨Apple Music

]]> https://thatmusicmag.com/muses-of-the-grunge-movement-the-pixies-still-reign-supreme-at-the-met/feed/ 0 https://thatmusicmag.com/courtney-barnett-reveals-new-video-for-single-if-i-dont-hear-from-you-tonight/ https://thatmusicmag.com/courtney-barnett-reveals-new-video-for-single-if-i-dont-hear-from-you-tonight/#respond Tue, 09 Nov 2021 19:47:50 +0000 http://thatmusicmag.com/?p=64654 Written by Lauren Rosier

The Aussie indie-rocker unveils her new music video for her song, “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight,” out now via Mom+Pop.

Barnett‘s third album, Things Take Time, Take Time, has already been heralded as one of the best albums of the year. This is an exciting time for her, as it signifies her place as an influential singer/songwriter. What’s so special about her is her ability to create an incredible melody and lyricism unlike any other.

This song is unabashedly a love song, as she sings, “If loving you’s a crime, then gimme those front-page headlines,” Barnett sings.

Barnett reveals, “I think my stance in the past was like, ‘There’s so many love songs and they don’t mean anything,’ but there’s something really special about zooming in on a moment and capturing it. ‘If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight’ comes from the state of where my head was at — trying to communicate honestly instead of keeping [my feelings] guarded.”

‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ Album Artwork

THINGS TAKE TIME, TAKE TIME TRACKLISTING

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

 Connect with Courtney Barnett

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