The Eagles Of Death Metal
23/08/06, The Electric Ballroom, Camden, London
By James Willcock
First of all, let’s get one thing clear. I know they are not death metal. Anyone that knows anything about EoDM or the work of various members in other projects, particularly Dave Catching and Josh Homme, knows they are not death metal. I expect that the next question to come to the mind of many people will be, “So why are they being reviewed on our metal forum?” The answer? In return for writing this review, I got into a gig that I wanted to go for free, and you get to learn about the band. Therefore, if you are interested in finding out what an EoDM gig is like, please continue reading. If not, please feel free to do anything you like except post replies opining as to the misleading name of the band in relation to their genre.
So, on to the gig then. There was only one support band up tonight, going by the very dynamic name Haze, presumably reflecting their highly dynamic style. Or not, as it turned out. I could probably continue for some time on the subject of this band’s performance and general style, but I fear that this would get repetitive. I will however, take the time to impress on you all how thoroughly mediocre and unimpressive the band were. Not to say they were bad, at least in the sense that they couldn’t play in time or were out of tune, but that’s about the most positive thing I can say about them.
The songs were all roughly the same tempo (the energetic end of medium), with no tempo changes, no key changes and simple verse chorus verse structure. But possibly worst of all was the lack of a dynamic front man. Had they had an entertaining, energetic vocalist, he/she might just have been able to make up for the utter beige-ness of the rest of band. But alas, instead we got a man who hardly talked to the crowd, moved slowly around the stage and whose actual vocal talent lead me to suspect that maybe his mic needed to be turned up a couple of notches as I couldn’t believe he could sound so quiet. Yet I suspect that if they were to be picked up as a favourite of a Radio 1 DJ or some-such, they might actually go somewhere, ironically due to their blandness and subsequent mass marketability. C’est la vie.
Feeling somewhat despondent, and worried that the support band’s poor sound was at least in part due to the stage set up, which might therefore affect the Eagles Of Death Metal’s set, I consoled myself by having another beer (or two). Pleasantly quickly for such a large/popular gig, the Eagles Of Death Metal took to the stage, as I moved closer to the stage with my friends to get a better view. Immediately, my fears for the sound were allayed, as the music was pitch perfect from the get go.
One minor disappointment from the start was the unexplained absence of Josh Homme on drums, replaced by who I believe to have been fellow Desert Sessions/ QOTSA co-conspirator Gene Trautmann behind the kit. To be fair, he did a perfectly good job filling in for Josh, whom I can only assume is missing from the whole tour in order to spend time with his wife Brody Dalle and their new baby.
That aside, the band immediately launched into a highly energised set, with Jesse Hughes also showing all the people in fake moustaches in the crowd the power of the true handlebar. The band powered through a set that lasted around an hour, including an even balance of material from both the first and the brand new second album. Songs played to keep the crowd smiling and bouncing along the whole time (even though the venue was hot as hell) included ’Already Died’, ’Stuck In The Metal’ (a faithful cover of ’Stuck In The Middle’, a song which pretty much summarises the EoDM’s style), ‘I Got A Feeling (Just Nineteen)’ and the new single ’I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News’. Jesse in particular impressed me as the consummate rock star, complete with aviator sunglasses, slicked back hair and his trade mark falsetto vocals, even if he did stray towards the OTT “This is the best crowd ever” statements a few too many times.
As a side note, I did find out why bassist Brian O’ Connor goes by the nickname “Big Hands”. The man looks like Lurch from the Addams Family for god’s sake (see above). I suspect that, when he was younger, he picked up a guitar and tried to play but, after mashing all six strings with one finger, decided that maybe bass was more his thing.
Anyway, the Eagles Of Death Metal rocked, with a decent, well played set, the crowd, clearly reveling in the campness, were energetic (indeed, more than I’d expected) and reasonably well behaved (apart from a few rude people who didn’t seem to appreciate that, if they were going to stand in between the entrance to the dance floor and the middle of the crowd, people were going to want to get past), the gig only let down by the aforementioned crap support.
7/10
P.S. Thanks for the photos Taz, hope you and the others enjoy reading this.
23/08/06, The Electric Ballroom, Camden, London
By James Willcock
First of all, let’s get one thing clear. I know they are not death metal. Anyone that knows anything about EoDM or the work of various members in other projects, particularly Dave Catching and Josh Homme, knows they are not death metal. I expect that the next question to come to the mind of many people will be, “So why are they being reviewed on our metal forum?” The answer? In return for writing this review, I got into a gig that I wanted to go for free, and you get to learn about the band. Therefore, if you are interested in finding out what an EoDM gig is like, please continue reading. If not, please feel free to do anything you like except post replies opining as to the misleading name of the band in relation to their genre.
So, on to the gig then. There was only one support band up tonight, going by the very dynamic name Haze, presumably reflecting their highly dynamic style. Or not, as it turned out. I could probably continue for some time on the subject of this band’s performance and general style, but I fear that this would get repetitive. I will however, take the time to impress on you all how thoroughly mediocre and unimpressive the band were. Not to say they were bad, at least in the sense that they couldn’t play in time or were out of tune, but that’s about the most positive thing I can say about them.
The songs were all roughly the same tempo (the energetic end of medium), with no tempo changes, no key changes and simple verse chorus verse structure. But possibly worst of all was the lack of a dynamic front man. Had they had an entertaining, energetic vocalist, he/she might just have been able to make up for the utter beige-ness of the rest of band. But alas, instead we got a man who hardly talked to the crowd, moved slowly around the stage and whose actual vocal talent lead me to suspect that maybe his mic needed to be turned up a couple of notches as I couldn’t believe he could sound so quiet. Yet I suspect that if they were to be picked up as a favourite of a Radio 1 DJ or some-such, they might actually go somewhere, ironically due to their blandness and subsequent mass marketability. C’est la vie.
Feeling somewhat despondent, and worried that the support band’s poor sound was at least in part due to the stage set up, which might therefore affect the Eagles Of Death Metal’s set, I consoled myself by having another beer (or two). Pleasantly quickly for such a large/popular gig, the Eagles Of Death Metal took to the stage, as I moved closer to the stage with my friends to get a better view. Immediately, my fears for the sound were allayed, as the music was pitch perfect from the get go.
One minor disappointment from the start was the unexplained absence of Josh Homme on drums, replaced by who I believe to have been fellow Desert Sessions/ QOTSA co-conspirator Gene Trautmann behind the kit. To be fair, he did a perfectly good job filling in for Josh, whom I can only assume is missing from the whole tour in order to spend time with his wife Brody Dalle and their new baby.
That aside, the band immediately launched into a highly energised set, with Jesse Hughes also showing all the people in fake moustaches in the crowd the power of the true handlebar. The band powered through a set that lasted around an hour, including an even balance of material from both the first and the brand new second album. Songs played to keep the crowd smiling and bouncing along the whole time (even though the venue was hot as hell) included ’Already Died’, ’Stuck In The Metal’ (a faithful cover of ’Stuck In The Middle’, a song which pretty much summarises the EoDM’s style), ‘I Got A Feeling (Just Nineteen)’ and the new single ’I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News’. Jesse in particular impressed me as the consummate rock star, complete with aviator sunglasses, slicked back hair and his trade mark falsetto vocals, even if he did stray towards the OTT “This is the best crowd ever” statements a few too many times.
As a side note, I did find out why bassist Brian O’ Connor goes by the nickname “Big Hands”. The man looks like Lurch from the Addams Family for god’s sake (see above). I suspect that, when he was younger, he picked up a guitar and tried to play but, after mashing all six strings with one finger, decided that maybe bass was more his thing.
Anyway, the Eagles Of Death Metal rocked, with a decent, well played set, the crowd, clearly reveling in the campness, were energetic (indeed, more than I’d expected) and reasonably well behaved (apart from a few rude people who didn’t seem to appreciate that, if they were going to stand in between the entrance to the dance floor and the middle of the crowd, people were going to want to get past), the gig only let down by the aforementioned crap support.
7/10
P.S. Thanks for the photos Taz, hope you and the others enjoy reading this.