BAND THAT STARTED IT ALL SHOWS MATURITY

Temecula, CA – Some people know the back story of my start as the local ‘scene’ historian. Though there were several streams leading up to it, they all joined at a river called Finch, commencing at The Stampede ‘Day After Chill’ show on November 24^th, 2002, which headlined the band. On that day I saw the raw power of the future in youth alternative rock. Saturday night I revisited my roots.

While the rest of the country was recovering from last week’s huge storm, either digging out or bundling up, So Cali was getting wet in our non-typical way, with rain water. The Friday night Tom’s Shoes benefit show had a moderate crowd and Saturday night’s show suffered no relief from the inclement weather pattern. Stand-out artists on Friday were Scarlett Grey and T Mill$ according to a well placed mole. The former Mr. Pete’s eating area tent was placed alongside the side outdoor main entrance as protection and chill zone in the newly added outside covered patio area. Strung blinking lights gave the tent a holiday feel and chased away any blues for a rainy day. And since it was a scene show, it had its quirks.

Paper Mache (see archives) opened the Saturday night. They had been added in the previous 48 hours due to Yesterday’s Rising having risen, aka, the band broke up. PM did a great opening set featuring all new material from their upcoming CD release next year which demonstrates a departure from their previous emo/alternative rock format. The new songs showed musical expansion including Eddie (bass/guitar tech) doing the keyboard hooks on one number. Their swing toward more commercially sounding fresh light ballads was the perfect start to an evening that saw more familiar faces in one place than the last ten Vault shows together, plus a brand new one from just the other night, the lovely Sabrina, a raven-haired winter Witch.

On Being Human swayed the night into a somewhat airy rock romantic flow. The nearly packed out house enjoyed the caliber of the band as evidenced by the many ‘wow’ comments heard after their set was over by new crossover fans. All the bands, even Paper Mache, had fans present so many there heard more than one ‘new’ band, especially the majority core of Finch fans. OBH, with the use of laptop loops and visuals, tend to be a concept band. The band never fails to delight intelligent audiences that come to rock. The band is now in the studio putting finishing touches to material written during their time spent in Germany at the beginning of this year.

Divide the Day craved away any dreamy melancholia with their uptown blue collar straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll that Sarah Palin would clap a snowshoe to. DTD has been getting radio play mileage from a couple of singles they’ve written, but the big news lately about the band is that WWE purchased one of the newest singles for their show’s theme song. Although the band isn’t ‘local’ local, they have played here in the valley a number of times and have a loyal following. Recently signed just a while ago, DTD added the solid rock foundation to a really strong music show. It rocked inside the Vault while Mother Nature raged outside.

Inverse is more than poised for a ‘breakout’. Over the past two years, especially after Paul’s successful fight against cancer (see archives, Paul Bahou), Inverse has been growing exponentially as an act. From band photos to promo aids for videos shot up in Hollywood; from stage presence, Paul sang on the expanded vocal harmonies, to management; the band has been moving up the sophistication scale. In short, Inverse rocked the room after they opened the set with a video compilation of the band set to a Christmas song soundtrack made by Trever (frontman) that drew a round of crowd applause. The band’s hard core fans, mostly women, as the band has that ‘Hollywood look’ in style and manliness, ‘rocked it’ down front and center, ‘representing.’ Two new songs were dropped, and that’s where the band is experiencing its strength. Songs brought to the sets over the last couple of years have all been unique and catchy in an alternative way that keeps them fresh but not too commercially poppy. Smooth and raw, if you can picture the oxymoron song wise. It is this ‘inside view’ of band growth that I thank the Lord as a journalist I am privy to. When Inverse hits, they are going to feel it in Chicago.

But the headliner was Finch, who brought almost half the fans there. In fact, that’s who Sabrina was there to see. When I first saw Finch back in 2002, it was towards the end of their storied rise from garage to world stage, a ride that would dizzy any band. But seeing them that night years ago wasn’t about gauging any ‘professionalism’, it was about experiencing the phenomena that was Finch, unbridled and undisciplined. Saturday the Finch I saw was unbridled, at least for the first half of the set, but disciplined the entire time through. Opening the show by acknowledging that ‘it all started here, in Temecula’, Finch showed genuine hometown fan appreciation by eliciting crowd frenzy the first half of the set then reaching back for some long time crowd faves, even closing with some pre-screamo done before the group founded the sub-genre showing a rare intimate side of the band. Rather than feel like you had seen ‘a show’, the Finch set, which was twice as long as anyone else’s, had more the ‘concert feel’ to it, except you were right there, up close and personal in the Vault’s intimately lighted atmosphere. Morning Star handled the sound. At the end of the night, you felt sated, and ready for the after party. WooHoo! The accessibility to all the bands by the front door load-in & out allows genuine ‘meet ‘n’ greets’ for the fans and bands. I saw most of my familiar faces in this ‘wings’ section. After Finch’s set and load-out, Randy (guitar, vox, samples) went back and personally sold me a band (fanged girl) t-shirt after getting a congratulatory kiss from his girlfriend. Now that’s down home TCB professionalism and maturity. Finch just completed a fall tour prior to playing the rescheduled Vault show. They played and showed they were glad to be back home. So were we all!