Interpol
with Twin Tigers
At the Fillmore Miami Beach
Saturday, August 21, 2010
versus
Official Interpol Afterparty
With the Holy Terrors, Angry Pudding, Gold Dust Lounge, and Tongues of the Heartworm
at Churchill's Pub, Miami
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Click here to view photos from Interpol at the Fillmore Miami Beach.
The Review:
It's a bit unorthodox to compare two different genres of music in two completely different venues. But who comes to County Grind for orthodoxy? The night featured Interpol headlining the Fillmore Miami and a smaller but highly entertaining afterparty up at Churchill's featuring drummer Sam Fogarino's old punk band, the Holy Terrors, celebrating 20 years since they started burning up Broward.
The lights at the Interpol show were almost blinding when the band took
to the stage. Several showgoers around me mentioned they wished they'd
brought sunglasses, but that didn't stop the intense crowd cheers for
the band's first Miami performance since a 2007 show at BankUnited Center in Miami.
A Miami inspiration was mentioned for the song
"Rest My Chemistry," and the band dedicated "Try It On" to photographer Christy
Bush, drummer Sam Fogarino's wife,
mentioning she's a "lovely lady." Aww. The audience was all about the
personal touches, but frontman Paul Banks kept it somewhat professional,
hardly pausing to talk to the audience and focusing on the task at
hand: keeping the energy up and the crowd pumped. The crowd was so
pumped, in fact, that throughout the set, we spotted random fist pumpers
going all at it, "beating the beat" like nobody's business. But at an
Interpol show?
The
band members strummed their guitars so forcefully that it almost felt like they were playing for one another, almost
competition-like, and each song introduced some sort of instrument solo
not heard on any of the albums. We came to look forward to them, and the
guitars were so crisp they were practically entrancing. The music was
especially loud for this show, and we noticed we could barely hear
post-show, a first for all the shows we'd attended there in the past.
We
arrived at Churchill's Pub in Little Haiti a little after 11:30, half-exhausted from Interpol's two-hour set, and half-amped to see the first
full reunion of the Holy Terrors in 17 years. They came equipped with
current Interpol drummer, the aforementioned Fogarino, but that
surprisingly wasn't this crowd's main draw.
The audience was a lot more casual than its Fillmore counterparts,
with only part Interpol spillover and the rest die-hard fans of the
Holy Terrors and people who would rather pay only $5 for a glimpse at
one of the boys behind the band. We spotted middle-aged men with Holy
Terrors T-shirts mixed with drunken regulars and the random hipster.
There couldn't have been more than 40 people in the crowd -- the perfect
size for the quaint dive bar turned venue.
We immediately
got the traditional punk-show vibe when as Angry Pudding -- an all-woman
band from West Palm Beach -- took to the stage, screams blazing and
power ballads in tow. Heavy guitars charged through the amps, and the
sound at Churchill's -- true to form -- was so loud that we had to stand at
the back to hear the crispness, which was akin to the Runaways.
In between
sets, we were treated to Gold Dust Lounge, a four-man band with psychedelic
guitars and swayingly jam-band-worthy, highly instrumental tracks. At
times, we felt like we were on the beach in the '60s, other times at
Woodstock, due in part to the midriff-sporting woman who was dancing so
intensely as an honorary band member that we couldn't tell if she was
doing yoga, cleaning the floor with her body, or was actually
teleported from an era where it was more than OK to "feel" the music
through intense, sporadic body movements. Either way, she definitely
added to the band's stage presence.
Tongues of the Heartworm was the next up, and they showed us what fast-paced, down-and-dirty punk was all about. They teased us, jokingly saying, "We have 14 more songs... they're all five seconds each," while they petted their onstage mascot, a cute little stuffed dog. Here's hoping he wasn't the one with the heartworm.
The Holy Terrors finally took to the stage, but Fogarino was nowhere in sight. Lead vocalist Rob Elba tried to comfort the crowd, saying, "Don't worry, we're warming up the drums for Mr. Fogarino." They went on to play two songs, each with very mild Sonic Youth undertones thrown in with the traditional punk this audience was longing for.
Fogarino finally took to the stage, switching his somber, dark Interpol garb for a bright-red T-shirt, and it felt like he was a lot happier and more energized than at the Fillmore. Granted, this time we could actually see his face, and we weren't really that close to the stage at the larger venue. Elba continuously teased his bandmates and the crowd, saying things like, "How many of Sam and Dave's ex-girlfriends are in the crowd?" and "You are now witnessing a piece of Miami history." The band had full-on energy, and we ate it up -- each and every morsel. It was delicious.
The bassist took a break, as he'd just driven down from Orlando for the show, but that didn't stop Elba from working the crowd. He continued, "Sam's been hearing crowds cheering all night, but these cheers are worth more because they're sweaty cheers."
There was a dude on tambourines to the far right, but honestly, we didn't really see the point. The rest of the band was so loud, he was more of an afterthought and a backup dancer than an actual auditory contribution. "This is a dream come true," Elba went on. "Not for us but for you."
The drum solos were incredible, and in one of the song pauses, Fogarino was drinking from a bottle of water when a fan threw an empty, squashed beer can at him. Fogarino reciprocated -- in true punk form -- by getting close, spitting water at him, then laughing. So this is what punk feels like.
Elba wanted to power through, but we could see the exhaustion in Fogarino's face. Elba mentioned, "We're going to do a few more songs," and Fogarino shook his head no, covered in sweat and beet-faced. "OK, well, one more song, then." And we worried it would be a slow jam, as he sang in what felt like slow motion. Fogarino chimed in and sped things up in an instant, though. Thank goodness.
Though Elba mentioned several times that the band didn't get the chance to rehearse, we honestly couldn't tell. Their sound was louder than all hell breaking loose, and we're pretty sure we won't be hearing anything for at least a week.
Check out a video we took of one of their songs, below.
Critic's Notebook
Personal bias: You can read a more in-depth review of the Interpol show specifically on our sister blog, Crossfade, written by Arielle Castillo.
The crowd:
At the Interpol show: 20- and 30-somethings, hipsters, underagers, and the seldom punk.
At
the Holy Terrors Show: 20-, 30- and 40-somethings, hipsters, punks,
die-hard Holy Terrors fans, and the traditional Churchill's crowd.
Overheard in the crowd: A
drunk guy who was about six-foot-seven standing right in front of the pit at the
Interpol show turned, smiled, and said, "Sorry about my tall."
Random notebook dump: We spotted two of Fogarino's Interpol bandmates at the show suited up, but frontman Paul Banks wasn't present. Either way, they still stood among the attendees, chatting us up, tossing back a few, taking pictures, and just hanging out.
Random notebook dump 2: Had
a bit of a car mishap, and the folks over at Churchill's stayed with me
until the authorities arrived, though they'd already closed. It was 4
a.m. in Little Haiti, so I was a bit more than grateful.
Interpol's Set List:
"Success"
"Say Hello to the Angels"
"C'mere"
"Summer Well"
"Rest My Chemistry"
"Evil"
"Lights"
"Narc"
"Take You on a Cruise"
"Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down"
"Try It On"
"PDA"
"Not Even Jail"
Encore:
"NYC"
"Slow Hands"
"Obstacle 1"
