by Autumn en Austin
On October 16th you could find me drinking ciders, inhaling second-hand smoke in a sweaty Austin, Texas crowd, listening to music. Three bands graced the somewhat famous outdoor stage of Stubb’s BBQ: Within Reason, Saint Asonia & Seether. And, the below ramblings are what I fucking thought about each of them.
Within Reason – The first thing I noticed was their electronically deranged intro music. I remember thinking that I wasn’t drunk enough yet for a remake of Orgy (a band that recently reinvented itself), so I buggered off to get a drink. The band itself was not spectacular. In fact, the main thing I remember is that from where I stood stage-left their bassist David Koonce looked a little like Eugene from The Walking Dead. The lead singer wore an American Flag muscle shirt, which I hated. There wasn’t a lot of energy, but perhaps their small stage space wasn’t the place for such things. And lastly they completely ruined Ayo Technology by 50 Cent & J.T.
For some reason, a lot of rock bands are covering versions of popular pop songs. Is that a fucking thing?
Saint Asonia – This band consists of the former members of Three Days Grace, Staind, Eye Empire and Finger Eleven. I tell you this because it set the stage for almost their entire set. The melted band opened with their radio-played song Better Place, which was one of only a few Saint Asonia songs they played all night. Then quickly moved into popular songs from their former bands: Animal I Have Become, Mudshovel, I Hate Everything about You, and For You. I was too busy staring at the lead singer’s electronic arm microphone stand and drinking my 3rd cider to notice when they played original Saint Asonia songs. The band however was energetic, hard-hitting, rhythmic and really fucking distorted. And as their set ended the band’s lead singer proclaimed during a brief field trip into the crowd, “We’re going to be here for a long fucking time.” Thanks for the forewarning!
Seether – Red lights adorned the stage among voodoo doll and antlered microphone stands. I remember thinking how the visuals actually worked. They started the night with Gasoline before progressing through an onslaught of other well-known Seether songs such as Fine Again, Country Song, and a badass version of Nirvana’s Lithium. As the crowd pushed closer to the stage, I could see that there was no shortage of flannel. While venturing away briefly for more libations, I bumped into a kid and presumably his mother, who told me that this was his first concert. I gave the kid a high-five and told him he was “fucking awesome!” Yeah, I cussed in front of a kid, so what! The band then did an acoustic version of Broken, which made the Hispanic girl next to me cry; clearly the song hit a nerve for her. And, they ended the night on a heavier note with Words as a Weapon, Fake It (which I admit I sang along to) and Remedy. I left the venue deaf and it was glorious!
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