Two Concerts, One Weekend

It’s forgivable that I didn’t know of Friend & Lover before I was 19. They were mostly gone from the musical landscape before I was born. It’s not forgivable how little I knew of Heronymous [sic, kids, that’s how they spell it], because they were popular just as I moved to central Floriduh. I suck.

Well, Heronymous returned last night for one last concert, nine years after initially folding, and a couple days before their singer – Tim Williams - looks for opportunity in more arid pastures (Las Vegas.) I saw them because I’ve admired Tim as an actor, got to know him a bit better at Fringe this year, and I knew tons of people I know would be there with me.

To give you an idea of why they were so deeply popular with the UCF crowd here, in my humble opinion - Heronymous is an elaborate jam band throwing in equal parts of The Doors, The Cure, and Roxy Music-like bass and sax lines. The lyrics are nihilistic in a fun-but-self-destructive neo-Gothic way. Story lines are mixes of Greek mythology, John Donne, Edgar Cayce, and Leonard Cohen. Key changes, time signature shifts, and long guitar and sax solos are frequent, all implemented in broad strokes by Tim Williams’ acting skills. I mean all this with the deepest and sincerest flattery.

For three hours last night, they again peddled their particular brand of witch circle on stage. It was incredibly impressive in a way that made me ache for better knowledge of them back in the day.

I suck.

In between - today at 2 (I think) I was supposed to see Marcie Richards and Nimrod Weisbrod sing some arias over at Dr. Phillips. But I told Marcie at Fringe last week I would try, but that I felt this one would fall by the way-side. Given my busy schedule, it did.

Tonight, I saw Shiny Toy Guns for the second time.

Last time, they played songs that sounded like Trent Reznor producing a Depeche Mode album with Dale Bozio of Missing Persons. (In other words, techno-heavy dance with an edgy female singer thrown in.) Last time, they played to about 100 people at Back Booth. Last time, they wore Eurythmics-inspired face-paint and Speed Racer-inspired clothing. Last time, they were pushing version 2 of their self-produced debut. Last time, their sound was succinct, and the entire night for that small crowd (including Sarah French) was some sort of mystical post-modern planetary alignment.

This time, Universal is their record company, and the songs that were more synth-heavy are completely missing from the “real” debut. The face-paint is gone, and except for the female, so are the great costumes. I don’t know if it was the sound system at House of Blues (which fucking sucks), but the distinctness of the band’s sound was lost to a wash of reverb that entirely obliterated the guitar melodies and all the synthesizers. Sure, the lights were amazing, and the crowd enthusiastic; this time there were over a thousand people, and I still feel like something kinda died in translation.

It was still a good quality concert, but it wasn’t the techno New-Wave-inspired alt.com magic the first concert was. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe good use of keyboards without constant sampling is long dead. However, a little part of me feels the band decided not to stick to their Shiny Toy Guns.