I had nothing better to do on Wednesday night other than, you know, getting the right amount of sleep on a worknight and feeling healthy (who needs that, right?), so I made the short drive into the heart of the Wormtown Cultural District -- at least that's what the sign on the highway says -- to check out Lemuria, which was easily the better thing to do anyway. The Firehouse has quickly become one of my favorite spots to see a show, especially now that I've given up being lazy long enough to walk around the block and find where the combination Tedeschi/Dunkin' Donuts is (if you're not from central Mass, then Tedeschi is like Sam's. What's Sam's? Fuck, I don't know). I think the tendency is to think that Lemuria has been sanding off all the rough edges as they go along, but I just listened to their newest one ("The Distance Is So Big") back-to-back with 2008's "Get Better" this morning, and they're not all that different-sounding. Maybe the recording has gotten better, or maybe my ears are made of wood. In person, Sheena still makes all those neat squawking noises with her guitar, and Alex is still one of my favorite drummers to watch. I didn't grab the set list, but they mixed in some older stuff like "Lipstick", and the place went nuts for "Pants", the lead-off track to "Get Better". They played a Muffs cover, too ("From Your Girl"). I saw the Muffs twice in the '90s and didn't think they were all that great, but it looks like history's against me on that one. Judging by every 20-year-old kid's Tumblr, at least. Some guy was wearing a vintage Worcester Ice Cats shirt, I saw another guy with Batallion of Saints, Poison Idea, and Society System Decontrol patches on the back of his jacket, and absolutely no one showed up in a sweatshirt with a big "Y" on the front. I could explain that joke, but it would take all the fun out of it.
"Dream Eater"
2 comments:
Hey there. Thanks for your write up. I didn't bother to write down the Muffs cover as I was sure I would remember it, until it came time to type in the set list.
I do think the rough edges have been sounded down some. Live they were there, but the new album has all sorts of nuance to it that the band doesn't even think about live. Previously was that the case?
Anyway my thoughts are here:
http://toomuchrock.com/shows/lemuria.html
And I posted the set list here:
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/lemuria/2013/the-firehouse-worcester-ma-33d9a08d.html
though it is doing a poor job of figuring out which song goes to which album.
Oh and I did link up your review to my show account as well.
Cheers,
SiD
Thanks, some nice pictures there....
The pop-punk vs. indie rock discussion has followed Lemuria around since the beginning (based upon message board arguments, which I'll admit is a lame point of reference, but at least it shows that there was a question at some point). I think their songwriting, and their sound as a live band, definitely falls within the 'indie/pop' range now, yet as far as how their albums have progressed, I don't think the difference is as much as some people want to believe, maybe. I'm saying that you can mix-and-match tracks from "Pebble" and "Distance" and "Get Better" and it won't be as obvious as to which record they're from.
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