I want to start off this article by stating that I pretty much hate genre labels. I think they are ridiculous and they give people an easy way to classify a band or a group of bands without really doing their homework. They also give these people that don’t do their homework an excuse to either completely dismiss or over celebrate bands without really getting to know their music. With that being said using genre labels also help us describe and write about music. It’s a huge contradiction and it sucks, but whatever. So here we go…
In the past couple years, the whole “shoegaze” thing has really made a strong comeback and no one could be happier about this than me. I’ve always loved the early bands that were classified in this genre (Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Swervedriver, etc.) and to see them getting more recognition with newer bands citing them as huge influences is great. However, there is one band in the so called shoegaze revival thing (also known as nu-gaze, shout out to Anhedonic Headphones for introducing me to this new ridiculous genre name) that I think straight up destroys all newer shoegaze revival bands and that band is… Come on, you can guess… Look up at the title of the article… Yep, It’s Nothing! I have been a big fan of Nothing ever since I discovered their Downward Years to Come EP, while searching out bands that sounded similar to Whirr (another band that also rules!). The reason that I dig Nothing so much is they take the dreamy distorted wall of fuzzed out haze and put some serious power and energy into it.
Earlier this year Nothing released their excellent LP Guilty of Everything, which has pretty much been celebrated as one of the best albums of the year (you should already know this unless you live under a rock in an area where listening to music under rocks is forbidden). Even though the majority of the world has already labeled Guilty of Everything as one of the top releases of 2014, let me tell you really quick why I think it is such a great album. Basically, Nothing took all of the heavy dreaminess of The Smashing Pumpkins’ all time great album Siamese Dream, added some-smooth somber Thurston Moore type vocals, and then gave everything a nice hardcore kick in the pants to produce nine tracks of pure awesome.
Now to the point, I have been spinning Guilty of Everything ever since its release back in March and patiently waiting for Nothing to make their stop in Salt Lake City. Then almost five months later they announced a show at my favorite all age venue The Shred Shed and I was also pleasantly surprised to see that one of my favorite SLC local bands Dustbloom would be opening up. It’s great when a show that you have been waiting awhile for comes together so perfectly.
Isaac and I arrived right as Dustbloom began their set and the band immediately jumped into their technica,l progressive dream-shredding. Unfortunately we were too late to catch the first opener Sights, which I wasn’t aware existed until this show and have since checked out. They are really good and sound like a more angry version of Slint, pretty awesome. Back to Dustbloom, this is my second time seeing the band live and they are quite exceptional! The band have some pretty intense and involved song structures and they execute them flawlessly and with great energy in concert. I highly recommend getting to know them and their new album Keeping the Black Dog at Bay as soon as possible.
Next up was Nothing and let me just say that the band does not disappoint live. In fact, they blew my expectations away. You would think that with their type of music there would be a lot of mellow standing around, but that’s not the case at all. The band plays with power and serious enthusiasm. Both Dominic Palermo and Brandon Setta played their guitars like they were trying to break them in half while also singing like they didn’t really care at all, an approach that fits their style of vocals perfectly. Bass player Nick Bassett (Whirr founding member) jumped around the stage and probably had the most exciting stage presence out of the group, but the highlight for me was watching Kyle Kimball demolish his drum kit. This dude played super hard and with some serious intensity! He really gave Nothing’s live show that extra bite that you hope to see live. I love heavy hitting drummers and Kimball is definitely up their with some of the heaviest of hitters as far as I am concerened, total beast!
Overall, the concert was a really great time. Both Nothing and Dustbloom slayed and it was awesome to see the show in the chill intimate environment of the The Shred Shed. If you are like me and have been listening to Nothing’s Guilty of Everything non-stop since its release while patiently waiting for the band to come to your town, don’t hesitate to show up to their concert. I promise you that seeing them live will make you love thier recorded jams even more.
