Emotion is My Middle Name

My friend Scott and I ventured out of the safety of the suburbs last night to follow the bright lights of the big city. My homie Garrett “G-Rock” Anderson’s band, Never Tried Stopping, was playing at Kilby Court—a shack in downtown SLC. These days I don’t get out to a lot of shows (and next-to-no local shows) so I was happy to be able to support Garrett and check out the “scene.”

Oh, how things have changed. Gone are the days of local kids playing in punk bands, it's emo or nothing. The first band we saw was Anesty. They were pretty tight, had good skills, but there was just something a little uncomfortable about the extreme level of emoting going on. It’s one thing to listen to a Death Cab CD, but to see 18-year-old’s being so sensitive in a little shack on a Wednesday night, I just don’t know. Maybe that’s a musical generation gap. (I have since learned that Anesty represent much better in their recordings--check out their site, listed above)

The next band, Tear, earned the distinction of creepiest band of the evening. A little bit of visual: Guitar player—at least 7 feet tall, maybe180 pounds, tight tee-shirt, big JNCO-type jeans. A bit uncomfortable for him, logistically speaking, since he had to hunch over as to not hit his head on the Kilby Court ceiling. The singer was nearly the same height. He had long, black hair, some eye liner and was rocking a long-sleeve, black, mesh shirt. He went from whispering, the screaming, to writhing on the floor--all in a very lovely falsetto. Highlight dialogue (in a very high, soft, voice): “Yeah, uh, that song just came to us like two weeks ago. It’s pretty rough around the edges. Just wait, though. When we get it done it’s going to be pretty bad ass.”

Thankfully, Never Tried Stopping was a bit less dramatic. The four-piece took a more punk approach, quickly pounding through their numbers. NTS also led the crowd in the first sing-along of the night, their shoutable anthem “Never the End.” The band was pretty tight, despite losing some momentum with their slower songs. All in all, a good performance. Their debut LP will be available sooner or later, but until then a few of their tracks can be found here.