Here’s the gimmick: Each week, we’ll pick two local bands — an opening act and a headliner — link to a site where you can listen to their songs for free, then ask you to spend a few moments of your precious time to tell us what you think about them. Some may be great, others may be mediocre or awful — that’s for you to decide — all we ask is that you listen with an open mind.
Opening act: Written In Blood
Like smart, thrashy metal? Written In Blood might be your favorite local band.
It may take some suspension of disbelief, but imagine what Metallica would sound like it James Hetfield actually knew how to sing. Further, imagine that their lyrics actually got better after the so-called “black” album, rather than, you know, significantly worse. It’s not entirely a fair description, but that’s kind of what Spartanburg’s Written In Blood sounds like.
Thanks to the efforts and support of venues like Ground Zero, the Spartanburg music scene has developed a significant reputation for producing noteworthy metal acts. Written In Blood, while perhaps not the best known of these bands, has gained something of a following on the regional circuit, and it’s not undeserved.
Their music has a kind of epic, power-metal feel to it, although it nearly veers into old-school metal balladry on some songs. The most appealing part of their music, however, is the writing — something most metal bands are absolutely horrible at. Not so with Written In Blood.
It’s not that their lyrics are particularly deep. The subject matter is standard for metal — blood, violence, anger, frustration, fire — but their understanding of structure and the flow of language occasionally borders on poetic. Take the chorus section of “Rage of Achilles,” for instance:
I am Achilles, like a lion I have roared
Fighting with the swiftness of a sword
I am Achilles, known for my rage
A monster in his cage
I am Achilles, you will remember my name
Sure, it’s not Whitman, but it’s surprisingly complex for a song trying to fit into the thrash-metal genre. Instead of relying on a couplet or two to carry the weight of the chorus, Written In Blood has opted to rely on the repetition of a simple phrase — “I am Achilles” — which is quite effective. (The song is, of all things, a more-or-less straightforward interpretation of the Illiad from Achilles’ point of view, which gives them a few points of extra credit right from the start.)
The group benefits greatly from Jon Eubanks’s vocie, which, in addition to having a passing resembalance to Metallica’s Hetfield, also has a true sense of urgency. Of perhaps equal importance is the group’s lead guitarist, Decha, who brings considerable thrash-guitar skills to their sound. There’s no weakness in the rest of the band, but the burden of the songs tends to fall on these two impressively skilled performers.
Of course, if thrash metal isn’t your thing, you might have a hard time enjoying this music on its own terms. By its very nature, thrash isn’t pleasant. It’s music of raw anger and frustration, focused by a great aching passion and a kind of single-minded obsession with technique. To inexperienced ears, it can sound almost unbearably harsh. But, if you can listen through all that and hear what Written In Blood is trying to accomplish within the subgenre, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Headliner: the Consumers
The Consumers have no right to be as obscure as they are.
Having been a music journalist and reviewer for the better part of a decade, I’ve come to expect certain things out of most of the music I encounter. I expect to wade through songwriting cliches, lackluster production values, musical elements obviously lifted from more famous songs by more interesting bands and any number of half-completed instrumental ideas that never seem to bear fruit. In other words, in order to find something of merit, I expect that I’ll need to be forgiving.
Which perhaps explains why the Consumers caught me off-guard. It took me all of six seconds to be impressed.
I was listening to “Schoolhouse,” the first song on their MySpace playlist, which starts out sounding almost like a novelty Vaudeville-rock song. Quickly, however, it morphed into a fuzzy alt-rock song with a kind of lighthearted pop mentality, except where it comes across as dark variation on lounge rock, perhaps with bit of indie-rock experimentalism thrown in for good measure. At various moments of the song — and all before the one-minute mark had passed — I was reminded of regional bands like The Hellblinki Sextet, SiriusB and The Goodies, not so much because the music was similar, but because they were the only bands I could think of that shared the same gleeful mixing of genres.
It’s almost like the Consumers are more interested in cross-pollinating the long-fallow field of alternative rock, their sonic crop some yet-unidentified hybrid, both entirely new but equally familiar. Their music plays on the established expectations of the genre, with the listener expecting the song to follow the conventions of the form. They zig when you’d expect them to zag, and just when you’ve gotten used to the zagging, they decide to stop cold and spin in place for a while before shooting off in a completely new direction. Somehow, this all ends up bringing us back to the direction we started in, bookending the song in it’s own stylistic form.
I know what you’re thinking — this sounds like a chaotic mess — but that’s largely because the description doesn’t do it justice. You see, through all these changes the songs’ basic structure holds true. The Consumers have a very clear idea of what their songs are about, and what fragments of structure they need to accomplish the musical narrative. All that twisting and turning, briefly veering down stylistic sidestreets, exists to tell a complete and often complex story in a genre not typically suited for either.
Take a song like “Picket Fences,” which is — at first listen at least — a basic, lament-filled ballad. It opens with the melody being introduced by piano, a standard hook for melancholy pop music. The guitar and drum come in immediately after the melody is established, and soon we’re hearing lyrics …
It was an April night
with the shades pulled tight
TV with the baseball on
blindsided by verbal attack
from a woman on a cell phonehe sat back and held his tongue
another sip to dim the noise
he took it for the ones he loves
two little girls and a baby boy
Those lyrics do everything good writing is supposed to do to spark the imagination. Immediately, we’re given a setting — a home in mid-spring, perhaps in a living room — with just enough detail to let us picture the scene. Then, we’re given compelling action and conflict in the form of an angry and unexplained phone call. And just as soon as that’s developed, we’re given character — an upset woman and a man who is putting up with her anger out of love, even if it obviously pains him enough to make him feel the need to drink.
That is great songwriting, and we haven’t even reached the first chorus yet.
Meanwhile, the song goes from melancholy to heavy, then to upbeat for a few bars, then back to melancholy. Then, it goes to positively rocking. All the while, the music is actually following the intention of the lyrics. The song craft is outstanding to say the least.
Another striking example is the song “Bastard,” which goes from lament-filled piano rock to near-funk rap-rock, to distinctly Weezer-like chorus, back to piano rock, then kind of into Coldplay-like mope-rock, back to lament, then skirting the outer edges of Queen’s rock-opera, then doing it all over again until ending much as it started. The entire time, however, the song has that almost inexplicable quality of sounding “right.”
If there’s a consistent thread to their music, or at least the sample of it available on the group’s MySpace page, it’s a regular visit to to dimly lit well of melancholy alt-rock. Even the relatively rocking song “The Chase,” which sounds a bit like Space Hog mixed with early career Metallica in places (seriously), the basic framework of the song is a kind of dark and downcast feel.
For a band that seems to be relatively unknown, the Consumers are well worth giving a few moments of your time. They are the first local band to utterly surprise me with the depth of their talent, an experience that’s rare for me even on the national level, and while not everyone will share that opinion, I’d be surprised of most listeners weren’t at least moderately impressed with what they hear.
Now, it’s your turn. I’ve put my views out here on the digital page, but you can correct, amend, disagree, refute and rebut any and all of it by commenting in the field below. Notice something about the bands that I missed? Write a comment. I’ve had my say, now it’s all about you.
Steve Shanafelt
Written in Blood: Cool guys. Terrible music. Terribly mediocre lyrics and bad fashion sense ha. I’ve seen better breakdowns on the side of the interstate.
The Consumers: I don’t know them personally and haven’t heard much of their music but given the lyrics posted on here, they’re probably crap. Hence the reason the Spartanburg music scene is deteriorating rapidly. However I do like the instrumentation and would be very interested in having my opinion changed.
As for the catchy factor of these two bands, they’ve got it on lock down respectively in their genres. I’ve definitely been in worse bands. They’re both tight groups who appear to know their instruments to some degree and I would definitely call them both talented, still not my bag of chips but that’s irrelevant I suppose.
Oh, I almost forgot…
The drummer for Written in Blood, I think his name is Mike, is an amazing and extremely skilled drummer. I would have to say he’s the main reason I listened to all of their songs. Kudos Mike.
Thanks for getting into the spirit of the Listening Party, Daniel. Like the bands or hate them, the goal here is to get people talking about local music in all its forms. As far as I know, there’s no better way to do that than having strong opinions for people to react to, praise and rail against.
Please, don’t be a stranger.
Sorry i can’t agree on mediocre but thanks for the criticism its taken lightly since spartanburg is our place of interest! Mike isn;t on those recordings by the way! Have a good day! Everyone has an opinion even if it makes no sense have a good one! WIB
I guess the illiad makes no sense at all then because basically the lyrics are basically a direct quote! Have a good one!
i think the consumers are a bunch of wieners.
Joe: But WHY do you think they are a bunch of wieners? Let’s hear the specifics.
Wow. Things are heating up around here!
I’m not even bothering to listen to Written in Blood because I’ve realized that if I don’t like the genre there’s nothing useful for me to say.
As far as the Consumers go…THEY COMPLETELY ROCK MY SOCKS OFF!!!!!! I was utterly astounded when I heard them live (only once sadly) and I was like ‘wow these guys deserve to be BIG.’ Most (maybe all) of their live show is covers, but they do something to each one that makes it rock as hard as the original yet feel like a completely new song. Then I checked out their MySpace and I was enthralled once again. One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of bands is that they sound better either live or in the studio…not the case with these guys. I really can’t wait to go see them again…
PS. Daniel…did you actually listen to all of the songs on the Consumers’ MySpace or are you just mouthing off based on this article? I think if you gave them a real chance your opinion would be changed. What kind of music DO you like anyway?
I’ve never seen the Consumers live. What are some of the songs they cover?
The Consumers are the most refreshing pop sound to come out of Spartanburg in awhile. Arrangements and production choices alone are as creative and solid as any local band could ever want. Plus singer Joe Powers voice,lyrics and melodies pull all the arrangements together. Which is what pulled me in after my first listen. The band has found some magic working together. Great work considering first time writing and the patience to put this thing together without a big name producer behind them. Lots of potential here if the right set of ears soaks it in.
The Consumers are great. I’ve seen them a handful of times and enjoy everytime I go. I like their covers a lot better than the original covers and the songs they’ve written are just as great! I’m a big fan!
“It was an April night
with the shades pulled tight
TV with the baseball on
blindsided by verbal attack
from a woman on a cell phone
he sat back and held his tongue
another sip to dim the noise
he took it for the ones he loves
two little girls and a baby boy”
I listen to good music.
~ Well hell, I’m a little late to chime in, but Written in Blood is some serious power-house rock, and I can’t find anything critical to say about them other then my personal taste in music, but that doesn’t change their rock factor, which seems to go all the way to eleven. I’ve never seen them live though, but would shell out some bucks to from what I’ve heard on their site. Definitely a mosh pit at that show.
~ The Consumers is a band I’m pretty familiar with, and they really rock live. Covers are helpful to build a following for bands because, obviously, people are already familiar with most covers (depending on the selection I guess) but their originals are phenomenal as well in my opinion. They’re hard working and act very professional. (on a humorous side note) I remember seeing the Spartanburg entry on wikipedia and seeing their band listed as, “the best cover band in the world” which was obviously a funny stunt they or someone pulled, but genius nonetheless. (Where are those dang wiki mods?) I don’t know if it’s still there but hell, I say rock on and rock out with the wiki hijinks.
I enjoyed the consumer’s shows’. But I’ve heard the wind blow a few times before too. Their originals didn’t strike much depth with me but boy can they play a cover like no bodies business. I think the guitarist needs to get his own style and learn a little more theory. From a 1 – 10 I would rank them around a 2 nationwide and probably a 9 locally. There’s a band in every town that walks that same walk but are they gonna step up and get a hit song, regardless of the genre. School house is hardly a hit. If they can get there one hit up the sky will be the limit. I think they’ll achieve that once they have a solid direction and congruency among them which takes practice and a strong leader. Don’t get me wrong I love these guys and they really bring it but I aint shelling out money to see em yet.
~ No offense man, but running a band is like running a business, it takes years to build a following, it takes a ton of money to create, produce and distribute cd’s, and it takes unfathomable marketing skills to move up to having a “one hit wonder” type hit released. It’s not something that can be expected to be considered successful.
~ The fact is, it’s really hard work for a group of guys to get along to begin with, and have even decent songs, then make time to gig as much as they can with the necessity of jobs, wives, kids, and what have you. Then you have the whole thing of working so hard and not really getting paid as much as you truly deserve for all your efforts, and man, it isn’t all booze and good times, parties and women. That’s a big myth. 90% of getting out there is lugging around heavy gear, sleeping in your van at truck stops, breaking down on deserted roads and going into debt paying for a tow truck all while just trying to make it to the next gig to have a decent show, all for just enough money for gas (hopefully) and maybe covering your bar tab and a trip to the waffle house.
~ I’m just saying I can appreciate any band who has gone on the road, or even stayed together for over a year or two. It’s not something you do for money or for girls or for booze, you have to really have die hard determination to even have mediocre success. I give credit where credit is due, and anyone actually doing it, even if they mostly play locally, is doing a lot.
Apparently the reviewer doesn’t have to listen to this crap in his living room every damn Sunday for the past God knows how many years. My blood pressure went up from reading that so called review. I could feel my heart beating behind my eyes. There is no such thing as a good local band, and yes for you die hard Camero driving Marshall Tucker Band fans out there I’ve tared them with the same brush as well. Spartanburg is void of creativity and makes the rest of us whom aren’t native to this area wish for death everyday. The only BS I could think of that is any more long winded than this review is the Bible. There is no way you could know these guys personally. Next you are going to tell me that Albert Hill was good? Where’s the Spad 13 review at too while we are bring up painful memories of what local music has to offer.
I will not refer to The Consumers as “The Consumers” but from here out as Joe’s band.
Joe’s band is die hard proof to me that there is no God. Not only has this over rated cover band that some how got off the bong long enough to crap out a few songs, ruined great bands like Pink Floyd and Radiohead for me. But they also create a huge mess and actually suck so bad they raise the tempreture of my house upwards to 15 degrees. Joe sings just like he talks, like a loud high school girl that just realized she isn’t getting enough attention but just happens to be in a crowd. I don’t understand how a band could be so great when they drain out your Brita picture without refilling it. Yeah it’s a great idea to put an empty one back in the fridge. Way to use the old noodle there. They kicked out the only member of the band that made me laugh which probably wasn’t that bad of an idea but still, like they are going to find another piano player in Spartanburg that wants to deal with the BS they deal with for the peanuts they get paid. If Joe could learn how to flush the toilet maybe I could respect his creativity. Wes is proof that only assholes drive Nissans and Casey looks like Where’s Waldo. I bet Wes has hair gel marks on the head liner of his car. Mark is the most white bread person I’ve ever met. Mark is about as exciting as wood paneling. Spartanburg just needs to relize that Joe’s band is the worst thing that’s happened since 9/11. They’ve ruined all the good songs that I grew up listening to. The stuff they write sounds like the generic crap you hear from made up bands on TV in movies or sitcoms. Kind of like that band from Air Heads. The next time you are at one of their shows just ask them to play Black People…
Fuck this band and the people in it!
Hell at least you can laugh at Tucker on stage.
I’ve always liked how music — local music in particular — provokes such powerful emotions in people.
Orsty makes a great, hyperbole-laden claim that “Spartanburg is void of creativity and makes the rest of us whom aren’t native to this area wish for death everyday,” but yet obviously cares enough about the local music scene to have spent some time thinking about it. And, as much as Orsty seems to dislike “Joe’s band,” there’s also an obvious familiarity with their work.
That’s kind of cool, isn’t it?
Steve you have a lot to say. There are a lot of words about stuff. I enjoy hearing and reading words which make me think about stuff. If stuff was to happen there would be a word to tell us about it.
Joe is skinny. The Consumers do OK and if they would play at my brother’s high school I wouldn’t get upset at those issues that have been placed in front of me.
~ I’ve done some quick super-slueth internet detective work and concluded with 90% certainty that “Orsty” is in fact Joe, the lead singer of the Consumers. Nice one Joe, ya crazy wiki vandal.
Orsty is obviously a wanker…
The Consumers’ music is by far some of the best I’ve ever heard come out of the state – it has one thing that others lack – original concept….most of the crap (which is exactly what it is) that has come from around here is comprised of either pop rock 3-chord songs (after august)–(sucks) or some folky-hootie-wanna be….it’s refreshing to hear something as good as their cd and to know that these guys came from the small town of spartanburg.
As far as “written in blood” i know nothing of them – hard rock/metal isn’t my thing (that is, if that’s what they are).
As for other bands in the upstate, keep up the hard work – it’s not easy – even having a local giging band.
I think you need to do some more research there chAng.
“Steve you have a lot to say.”
A curse since childhood, I’m afraid.
You know Trey, maybe your a right. Maybe I’ve crossed the line. I mean when you someone who is mentally challenged trying to eat, and has food all over their face. You don’t walk over to them and start yelling, telling them to go clean up. It’s like a monkey that’s thrown crap at you. You can’t expect that person to understand what they are doing or have control over their actions.
So maybe the local bands around here should just keep doing what they are doing while the rest of us who understand sit back and just show tolerance.
Thanks for showing me the error of my ways, man who was named after something you place food on or medical instruments.
~ Ok then Wes, umm, I mean Orsty, you crazy Sagittarius with dark hair that plays guitar and online games at bbsmates, has multiple online dating profiles with no pic, commenting on Australian/Canadian peoples blogs (which threw me off cause Joe is Australian, and a Capricorn come to find out), and you’re a journalist and a photographer in Greenville? (that’s neat stuff)
~ You and Joe are both the same age, both guitarists for the Consumers, so yeah, my bad, mistakes happen. You guys both have your personal myspace pages set to private so it made it kinda tough, but Google rocks and is making anonymity a thing of the past, kinda scary huh?
chAng, the next time you are at one of Joe’s band’s shows. Ask him or any of them who Orsty is.
~ Well ok, Sherlock Holmes I’m not, but it was worth a shot. I thought I solved the mystery of the Orsty identity. It just seemed like the guys in the bands typical hijinks to give themselves such a humorously bad review. Crazier things have happened.
uhh….this is Wes from the consumers…not sure who any of you are – but I’m not orsty, nor am I a saggitarius or whatever, nor do I have online dating profile’s (HA)..and if I did – does that mean you’re looking for a guy in your life? No offense but no thanks….
Also, I’m not a journalist or a photographer and Jo and I are not the same age….better luck with your next search on Google…
I am talking with them about sitting in on piano, the consumers that is. But Im curious as why people have to be snobs about some things. America’s better than Europe, The north is better than the south, the lowcountry is better than the upstate, greenville is better than spartanburg, the east side is better than the westside, my neighborhood is better than yours, my side of the street is better than the other side, my car is better than my neighbors. The I know it all and I am better attitude. Everyone’s positions seem to stem from that very ideologe. I made up the fake name “dave” above becuase I wanted to say what I think but didnt want to get anyone on my case. oh well
Wow. This is the most entertaining thread I’ve read in quite a while.
What puzzles me most is Joe and the band’s determination to heap abuse upon themselves.
(the suspense of the Orsty mystery is killing me)
JP: Maybe write your thoughts out a bit more and submit it as a Reader Soapbox? I think it’d be a good discussion topic.
Here’s the URL to the Reader Soapbox form: http://www.spartanburgspark.com/spark-reader-soapbox/