I just got back from seeing motW @ ProgWest festival in Claremont, California. They rocked. I wish they were playing again tomorrow. Anyone else see the show?
Much love to Toby and Seip
Much love to Toby and Seip
progwest
- Thread starter shirgale
- Start date
I was a little worried that with Nick being injured and the band not having played with Sam in months that they'd have a hard time pulling a good show together so I'm really happy to see this post stating the opposite. Three cheers for motW.
xfer
I JERK OFF TO ARCTOPUS
awesome! the nick injury worried me too, as did josh's nagging illness, so im glad it worked out well. i can't wait to hear the live tracks...
I must say, the show was EXCELLENT. It was worth my 40 bucks and my enduring the tedious Avant Garden. Despite the injuries and such, they pulled together a good show. I was under the impression that Byron did death vocals, but Toby did both vocals, although the death vocals were heavily effected. Nick had the whole injured wrist thing, but he actually played well by tapping. Sam's drumming was excellent. It was a great set.
The prog fans seemed a little put off by the death vocals, to say the least. It seemed that three-quarters of the people there were balding, middle-aged men with excessive bellies. The organizer looked as if he were attempting to hide grapefruits in his shirt.
Everybody performed well. Interestingly enough, a lot of songs had parts of the vocals left off. On Girl With Watering Can, Toby sang Maria's part at the beginning and the rest was instrumental. Garden Song only had the growled parts. The growls, as mentioned, had excessively heavy reverb. I don't know if this was because the sound techs didn't know how to deal with growls or just because Toby was growling. Anyways, it was amazing.
The band was standing around afterwards, but they were talking with some girls I assume are from Boston (seeing they were cheering loudly for Toby continuously through the set), so I didn't go talk to them. Plus I was leaving. It was long drive.
For those who were there, I was the kid in the Arcturus t-shirt.
The set-list:
Catharsis Of Sea Sleep And Dreaming Shrines
Heaven And Weak
A Conception Pathetic
Undine And Underwater Flowers
????? (it was instrumental, and it was metallish, so I'm not entirely sure...maybe one of the band members can clarify when they get back)
Girl With Watering Can
Birth Pains Of Astral Projection
The Antique (new MotW from the next album...\m/)
Garden Song
The prog fans seemed a little put off by the death vocals, to say the least. It seemed that three-quarters of the people there were balding, middle-aged men with excessive bellies. The organizer looked as if he were attempting to hide grapefruits in his shirt.
Everybody performed well. Interestingly enough, a lot of songs had parts of the vocals left off. On Girl With Watering Can, Toby sang Maria's part at the beginning and the rest was instrumental. Garden Song only had the growled parts. The growls, as mentioned, had excessively heavy reverb. I don't know if this was because the sound techs didn't know how to deal with growls or just because Toby was growling. Anyways, it was amazing.
The band was standing around afterwards, but they were talking with some girls I assume are from Boston (seeing they were cheering loudly for Toby continuously through the set), so I didn't go talk to them. Plus I was leaving. It was long drive.
For those who were there, I was the kid in the Arcturus t-shirt.
The set-list:
Catharsis Of Sea Sleep And Dreaming Shrines
Heaven And Weak
A Conception Pathetic
Undine And Underwater Flowers
????? (it was instrumental, and it was metallish, so I'm not entirely sure...maybe one of the band members can clarify when they get back)
Girl With Watering Can
Birth Pains Of Astral Projection
The Antique (new MotW from the next album...\m/)
Garden Song
deadair
Overly-Cryptic Jake
who recored the show?
and both alexs'... i feel that same way as you. i'm glad to hear they pulled it off.
and now it looks as though we have a few new people posting on the board.
(a warning... we never talk about, music or the band... look at the other threads, you'll see)
((well wait, if they are started by ecto... they could be about ANYHTHING))
and both alexs'... i feel that same way as you. i'm glad to hear they pulled it off.
and now it looks as though we have a few new people posting on the board.
(a warning... we never talk about, music or the band... look at the other threads, you'll see)
((well wait, if they are started by ecto... they could be about ANYHTHING))
XzanderX
shut it
avi
W3RK3R
xfer
I JERK OFF TO ARCTOPUS
perhaps the ???? was the secret song?
I'm sooo jealous you got to hear the Antique. The fragment of it I heard was really doomy and heavy. How is it with the full band?
I'm sooo jealous you got to hear the Antique. The fragment of it I heard was really doomy and heavy. How is it with the full band?
FalseTodd
Skirt Wizard
Yes the mystery song was the Secret Song. I'd like to apologize for the *long* pauses between each song. We had a guitar tech, but he couldn't quite get a handle on the weird tunings, so Toby et al pretty much had to tune between every song.
There was a sound board recording made. I'm trying to get a copy of all the tracks...and then I'll mix it and maybe post just a little sampling....
There was a sound board recording made. I'm trying to get a copy of all the tracks...and then I'll mix it and maybe post just a little sampling....
deadair
Overly-Cryptic Jake
I would, like, kill for a copy of those recordings. Especially Undine And Underwater Flowers and the whole last 4 songs.
As for the long waits...eh. You'd think the prog fans would have a long enough attention span to not get restless during them.
The Antique was quite heavy...one of MotW's heaviest songs. It wasn't quite as heavy as They Aren't All Beautifull, but it was quite intense. I really couldn't completely formulate an opinion just hearing it once, but it was really good as far as I could tell.
As for the long waits...eh. You'd think the prog fans would have a long enough attention span to not get restless during them.
The Antique was quite heavy...one of MotW's heaviest songs. It wasn't quite as heavy as They Aren't All Beautifull, but it was quite intense. I really couldn't completely formulate an opinion just hearing it once, but it was really good as far as I could tell.
FalseTodd
Skirt Wizard
I'd love to post everything, but I I'm going to restrain myself in deference to ProgWest, who did pay for the engineer, etc. If they say it's cool, then that's cool...but I know they do sell comp CDs of their fests, and the last thing I want to do is trod on the feet of a group of people who have been spectacularly great to motW. Three cheers to ProgWest for having their shit together and putting on a festival the way it should be. (i.e. the antithesis of Milwaukee Metal Fest)
Eh, whatever ProgWest let's you share, share. They traffic in so many bootlegs there, you wouldn't think they'd be that angry if they got bootlegged themselves.
Also, out of curiousity, are you in any bands in San Diego yet?
Also, out of curiousity, are you in any bands in San Diego yet?
FalseTodd
Skirt Wizard
It's not really an issue of what they let me share - I'm just trying to be polite to them...
No, no bands in SD...
No, no bands in SD...
we put lots of delay on the vocals because the long decay, in my opinion, sounds a lot cooler (spacier & atmospheric).
FuSoYa
Lunarian
Hello. I just found the UltimateMetal forum, so pardon my tardiness.
I had only previously heard the CD, _Leaving Your Body Map_, which I recall as an amalgamation of approaches & influences, incorporating an uncommonly diverse collection of musical elements that I, quite frankly, think I've yet to hear another band do.
I like death metal vocals in the right context (e.g. I like Testament), but I don't like overreliance on them, which was unexpected at the performance. I liked the fact that the vocals on the album were balanced by "clean" vocals. I also liked the female vocals (sorry to see Maria - is that her name? - go).
The posts in this thread so far are heavily biased. Heavily. I will give you an OBJECTIVE review of the performance at ProgWest, and for the record, I'm not middle-aged, fat & balding.
The performance, as gauged by what this band may be capable of, was, simply put, subpar. With the exception of a couple of numbers, everything was beginning to sound the same halfway through, and the lapse between tracks for instrument-tuning is something that should be worked out in the future. Nick Kyte is to be commended for being a supertrooper for performing, despite a severe injury.
Still...what need was there for a bassist, or furthermore, a keyboardist/wind-synth controller player? Any parts he & Nick performed, along with the guest tenor saxophonist, were completely drowned out by guitar amplification, except when those instruments were silent. Were three guitars really necessary? I'm not sure about these uncommon tunings Maudlin Of The Well utilize, since everything sounded much too similar with all that volume and distortion. Chord progressions did not seem all that important in this context. Also, parts performed by the keyboardist were simple to the point of banality. He needs more room in the overall scheme, unless his role is simply to provide mundane textures which sound out of place.
The drumming was competent, Tobias's "clean" vocals were fine, and the lead guitarist played some nice, well, leads. Sadly, these plusses are drowned in a veritable vat of minusses. Ultimately, I speculate whoever invited Maudlin Of The Well to ProgWest probably kicked himself after the performance; there are many more bands, local and regional, that ticketbuyers would have rather seen; granted, this isn't the band's fault. The problem is, if MotW classifies itself as a progressive, eclectic, melodic death metal band, all we got to see were the "melodic" and "death" parts of the formula; "prog" was certainly left back home in Boston.
Also, one poster described Avant Garden as "tedious," an adjective which most festgoers applied to Maudlin Of The Well. Avant Garden played compositions consistent in tempo & key,
and didn't quite vary their set enough for me. Still, it was very enjoyable, and the level of musicianship they displayed was exemplary. The guitarist's command of his instrument was especially noteworthy.
I had only previously heard the CD, _Leaving Your Body Map_, which I recall as an amalgamation of approaches & influences, incorporating an uncommonly diverse collection of musical elements that I, quite frankly, think I've yet to hear another band do.
I like death metal vocals in the right context (e.g. I like Testament), but I don't like overreliance on them, which was unexpected at the performance. I liked the fact that the vocals on the album were balanced by "clean" vocals. I also liked the female vocals (sorry to see Maria - is that her name? - go).
The posts in this thread so far are heavily biased. Heavily. I will give you an OBJECTIVE review of the performance at ProgWest, and for the record, I'm not middle-aged, fat & balding.
The performance, as gauged by what this band may be capable of, was, simply put, subpar. With the exception of a couple of numbers, everything was beginning to sound the same halfway through, and the lapse between tracks for instrument-tuning is something that should be worked out in the future. Nick Kyte is to be commended for being a supertrooper for performing, despite a severe injury.
Still...what need was there for a bassist, or furthermore, a keyboardist/wind-synth controller player? Any parts he & Nick performed, along with the guest tenor saxophonist, were completely drowned out by guitar amplification, except when those instruments were silent. Were three guitars really necessary? I'm not sure about these uncommon tunings Maudlin Of The Well utilize, since everything sounded much too similar with all that volume and distortion. Chord progressions did not seem all that important in this context. Also, parts performed by the keyboardist were simple to the point of banality. He needs more room in the overall scheme, unless his role is simply to provide mundane textures which sound out of place.
The drumming was competent, Tobias's "clean" vocals were fine, and the lead guitarist played some nice, well, leads. Sadly, these plusses are drowned in a veritable vat of minusses. Ultimately, I speculate whoever invited Maudlin Of The Well to ProgWest probably kicked himself after the performance; there are many more bands, local and regional, that ticketbuyers would have rather seen; granted, this isn't the band's fault. The problem is, if MotW classifies itself as a progressive, eclectic, melodic death metal band, all we got to see were the "melodic" and "death" parts of the formula; "prog" was certainly left back home in Boston.
Also, one poster described Avant Garden as "tedious," an adjective which most festgoers applied to Maudlin Of The Well. Avant Garden played compositions consistent in tempo & key,
and didn't quite vary their set enough for me. Still, it was very enjoyable, and the level of musicianship they displayed was exemplary. The guitarist's command of his instrument was especially noteworthy.
avi
W3RK3R
Baliset
guitar deity
Well. How to respond to this. Frankly everyone is entitled to their own opinion on our performance but i choose to single this one line from your review to let you know that each of the festival organizers praised our performance after we had finished and when I had asked if it was worth it to have us come out here I was answered with a resounding "yes."
We had a few problems for sure on stage. I mean I am sorry if we weren't a well-oiled machine like the whole Nick D'Virgilio ensemble made up of guys who tour constantly, have their own competent crew, and play gigs like 200 times a year or something. I think considering the fact that it was only our 12th gig EVER in 2 years of playing shows, having no rehearsal time with our drummer who we hadn't played with in 6 months, and giving props to Josh and Nick who battled through injury and sickness to make sure we played this gig we fucking destroyed that stage.
So I am sorry to you if we didn't live up to your expectations. However, I am prone to believe that the bunch of people who came up to us after the gig and bought a cd or asked us for an autograph(and there were many autographs given thank you very much) or picture and told us how great we were signifies that you really don't speak for the whole crowd in attendance at the festival. I was also told by one of the other people in attendance that alot of the prog people in attendance needed a kick in the ass and that we provided them with said kick.
Thank you again for posting a review because really I have been looking for reviews since we got back. Even a self-confessed "biased" review is worthwhile to see what people thought of us. We gave our all on stage that night and if you did not like it for whatever reason then you are fully entitled to never come see us again or buy one of our cds ever again.
Baliset
guitar deity
also i apologize that i misread your post and you did not say it was biased. sorry, i read that section too fast.
