The Front Bottoms and The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die at Babylon
The Front Bottoms had me singing along, dancing, laughing and thinking during their great set Tuesday night at Babylon Nightclub.
The New Jersey duo of Brian Stella on acoustic guitar and vocals and Matt Uychich on drums are joined by Tom Warren on bass and Ciaran O’Donnell on keys/trumpet/guitar while touring. The extra musicians add so much depth to an already amazing band. The Front Bottoms played for over an hour and played almost every song of their new album Talon of the Hawk, a bunch of songs off their self-titled album and even ”You Wouldn’t be Laughing” off their very early release I Hate My Friends (to appease the fan in front who never stopped yelling for it). I was blown away by the set’s duration, intensity, fun, and how could I not mention the wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tubemen that would pop up during certain songs. I love the band’s lyrics and the energy as a whole, but especially in songs like “Skeleton,” “Mountain,” “The Beer,” “Tattooed Tears” and well I could list almost all of them but you get the point.
Brian was super jovial, playing requests and polling the crowd for song suggestions, probably didn’t hurt that a fan brought shots on stage for the whole band. Brian was also very talkative. ”We have never been here before. You have a beautiful city, but there is a lot of crazies walking around out there.” He was clearly having a good time in Ottawa and later added, ”I feel like we are all good friends now.” This statement was taken to a whole new level when at least one, if not two girls in the front of the stage handed him their bras while being all googly-eyed. I can’t really blame them there is something about a clever lyricist.
Do yourself a favour, scroll down and listen to the Talon of the Hawk in its entirety below. If that is not enough to convince you to check them out next time they are in town or to buy their album as you fall in love with the super smart and catchy lyrics, at least you got to hear good music.
The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die might very well have one of the most emo names in music…anyone got a better one to throw my way? Don’t let the name of this dynamite seven-piece band from Connecticut scare you away though, they create a beautiful sound and man is their lead singer full of passion on stage. I really like that their three guitarists complement each other and build off each others’ sound, as oppose to trying to do too much or just being a medley of solos. The other advantage of having three guitarists, one can put down his axe and pick up some brass. On “Wait…What?” their is some wicked trumpet that really adds to the song. My two favourite songs from the set were the “Heartbeat in the Brain” and “The Layers of Skin We Drag Around.”
Unfortunately I missed all but half a song of the local opener, Old Rules. What I heard sounded good, and I will hopefully catch them next time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6iSDNxDHeE&w=560&h=315]