FIVE GOOD REASONS, HENCE FORTH, @ The Alley
five good reasons, hence forth, divine interventions, carry on polaroid, seenless & fairhope lane @ the alley
Posted Apr 4, 2007, by Josh Snider.
www.thealleyclub.com
My brother has enjoyed the music of Five Good Reasons for a little more than a year now since their crazy move from Washington to Southern California, and since then I have come to meet the band personaly, as well has listen to their CD in the car with my brother. Well I came to this show to see how they sound live.
I got to the alley when Carry On Polaroid had three songs left, they were really great, the whole band was into it, the drummer was solid, all of the elements where there, even tho I have never heard of them before... I was rocking out to those last three songs, of epic guitar riffs, good beats, and nice vocals. I would come back to see them play.
Than Seenless came on and they were more of a Bro Punk band, that dosn't really relate to punk music whatsoever, so please do not get confused. Their music was like Good Charlet, some extra oh oh oh oh's and a whole lot of bad style. Maybe it's just me, but I would not come to a show just to see them, if they are playing first, I'll show up late.
Divine Interventions played next and they were Hardcore I guess. With 3 guys rocking out, the guitarist on backup vocals and growling and than a female vocalist singing her heart out. Overall it is an interesting combo to mix the two together, and the did a good job of mixing it in and making it sound natural. I would come back to see them, but I would wait atleast 6 months to see what they come up with.
Than came Fairhope Lane, and thats who most of the kids were there for. They rocked out with fair talented highschool musicans, and a girl vocalist. When you close your eyes and listen, tap you foot, and rock your head, the tunes were good. When they come out with a CD I would listen to it on long drives. Vocals sounded slightly like Tegan & Sara and The Blow, without the techno beats, and imagine them in younger years of highschool. When I open my eyes and look around me, I notice that their are atleast 15 rather older people out of the crowd of teenagers with cameras and as I watched I noticed that a man who looked to be the singers father kept coaching her from the crowd. Telling her to sing lowder and all that, but it seemed to make her really nervious. I closed my eyes again and the music was still kicking, but when I look at the stage I saw a them very stiff and nervious, and that deffenetly projected to the crowd and made their stage performance very weak. When the band tryed to get the crowd to clap or anything like that... those adults would be all into it, clapping with their hands in the air. When that seemed to make the teenagers feel kinda lame, so the only crowd perticipation they got was from their parents. And it wasn't the bands fault, it was the parents fault for making the rest of the crowd feel really odd. I would come back to see them play in about a year.
Five good reasons came up next and I was eager to hear what they got. I'm not majorly into hardcore, even tho I can apriceate a good breakdown and some fancy skills, it's not my spacific cup of tea. From what I heard they were more of a melodic hardcore band, an oldschool punk style band but with more with lots of charictor and great talent. Five Good Reasons just recorded a new album with hopes of catching industry attention, they changed a few thing, stearing a little further from Hardcore into I would call a Hardcore-Rock sound. Well with me never have hearing the older music I was ready to listen and finally see them live! So they get on stage, and right away they are tearing up the stage. Jason on bass is a tall man, and he towers over you when hes on the stage, like some sort of bass master flailing his bass up and down and with the faster beats him headbanging with his long hair gave the crowd enough energy to feed off of for the set. But than Matt on vocals is just as entergetic, letting die hard fans sing anthums and chouruses with him. He would go from side to side of the stage as he gave the crowd his screams, growls, and heartfeelt vocals. Chris Lane is one of the most solid drummers I have seen live. He plays left handed and beats his skins into submittion, I didn't hear a beat missed, and their fast pased tempo didn't seem like a challenge for him at all. Marco and Chris Garcia shreaded the guitars with rifs and tunes that made me want to raise my fist and wiggle my fingers at them. Earlier on in the band they only had one guitarist, now that they have two, it makes for a remarkable duo of lead and backup between the intros, riffs, and solos, they kept it ripping gnarley throught their entire set. I'll give you Five Good Reasons to come to the next show right now, 1. I'll be there 2. Their music will blow your mind 3. You'll want to sing along to the songs you listened to on their myspace page 4. Because after the show when you tell them you like their music, they will get all gitty and be very excited that they gained another fan (not that it's not expected, but that they are really stoked that you like thier music) 5. Because these guys are ginueine, very much so on the stage as well as off the stage. They are worth seeing even if you don't stay for any other bands, and they will leave a tune in your head you won't want to forget. I can't wait to buy their new CD when it comes out!
Next to come on was Henceforth, and most of the younger teenagers that were at the show for Fairhope Lane had left. The crowd still had a good group of people and I was anxious to hear them play because I have read their interview in Big Smile that Mary Dean did with them last year, and they seemd like an interesting band. They had a female keyboardist that played with their "Hence-core" quite well. The guitarist looked like he came right out of a Hairy Potter book, and wasn't sure what to expect from him until he plugged in and let the music rip that sent chills down my spine. The band overall exceeded my expectations, and sounded great. The performance included Joe taking some clothes off for the ladies, and they ended the night with some very good music. I'd come to their next local show.
