Crime In Stereo @ Mexicali Live 5.25.10 (review)

By James McGrath

Tuesday night was my first experience at the music venue Mexicali Live and I do think I will be returning.  The tour, headlined by Crime in Stereo and supported by The Swellers and This Time Next Year, stopped by its second to last venue of the 8 date tour; it was the last night with my reason for going, This Time Next Year. 

It seemed to be a peculiar place for bands to play, with sit down restaurant type service mere feet away from a collection of guys smashing their flesh against instruments singing songs inspired by broken hearts.  

I entered the less than sold out, dimly lit bar halfway through the first of two local openers, and they sounded a lot like a group that many bands in the hardcore/pop punk scene seem to enjoy, Title Fight.  That is truly all the accolades they need, as the lead singer of The Swellers was wearing a t-shirt sporting that same band’s logo later in the night. 

A broken amplifier head for the lead singer / guitarist preceded the first full set; When Thieves Are About.  My first impression of this band came from the very mature “I Love Boobs” that was created on the face of the amp with masking tape.  Beyond that, there were some very solid three part singing and screamed vocals through the six song performance.  The brief set could have been in part to the excessive talking of the lead singer, although everyone seemed to be having fun with it.  The band did win over some of the Crime in Stereo fans with their cover of Lifetime’s “Rodeo Clown” mid-set. 

As the night went on, more and more people sauntered into the venue, some probably came for a few drinks and stayed for the entertainment, which was kicked up a notch when This Time Next Year took to the riser.  This quintet hails all the way from Walnut Creek, California but performed as if they have been calling Teaneck home their whole lives.  The incredible live energy of lead singer Pete Dowdalls and his vocal chemistry with guitarist Brad Wiseman lifted the spirits of the dark venue right away.  The majority of the band’s latest release Road Maps and Heart Attacks.  Although The Swellers squeezed two more songs into the same 35 minute set time, I felt like this band had a more entertaining and poppier sound about them. 

Once The Swellers took to the stage, the pride that they have for Detroit was instantaneously obvious, with lyrics like “There’s so many songs of sitting in cold in the waiting cars outside, but someone had to build them right.”  The energy and confidence exudes from lead singer Nick Diener through each song, and it showed that he and his band were having a very good time just playing their music. 

“We like to just play,” Diener told the audience, as the band worked their way through 10 songs, mostly consisting of 2009’s Ups and Downsizing. 

It was good to see bands like The Swellers and This Time Next Year have over 100 people watch them play on a Tuesday night, although the crowd began to thin out a bit before the headliners took the stage. 

Crime in Stereo, hailing from Long Island, completed the strange combination of bands who make home over 1,000 miles apart from each other yet embarked on a two week tour together of venues comparable to this one.  While the Mexicali crowd had been reduced due to it becoming a late night, the crowd specifically there for the show had grown and grown with a rabid intensity.  A majority of the set consisted of tracks from their critically acclaimed full length, Crime In Stereo Is Deadand most recent album I Was Trying to Describe You To Someone.  As lead singer Kristian Hallbert shoved the mic into the crowd and complemented with his own gravelly vocals, the band tore through the set as if they were playing to a sold out arena.  No venue is too small for these punk stalwarts to spread their brand of melodic hardcore, and that showed through on Tuesday night.

Comments

[Alex]

Great review. Bummed this was on a Tuesday.

[sam]

the new CIS record is legit.