I recently interviewed Constantines for Razorcake (I think the issue is out next month) and the stipulation for getting said interview published was that we obtain pictures that are not publicity photos and not lame. That said, I roped Megan, who took some pretty intense Babyland photos at one of our Discourse parties earlier this year, into photographing the band live. Hence, we headed out to the Knitting Factory last night, where each of us spent roughly a half-hour a piece finding parking spots as KF's parking garage was closed for some reason and, well, you try finding parking anywhere around Hollywood & Highland in the evening.
On our way inside, we ran into Comrade Kyle, who told us that he was there to see headlining act the Hold Steady. I told him we were there for Constantines.
"They're good," he replied. "The Hold Steady is better."
Maybe twenty minutes after that, as Megan wandered off to get the action shots, I ran into KXLU's Bret.
"The band after this is terrible," he told me.
"Kyle told me they were awesome."
"Well...I ended up at a show of theirs in San Francisco and they dissed Los Angeles."
Hey, what's up with that?
With Kyle and Bret's capsule reviews of The Hold Steady canceling out each other, I was left with a blank slate upon which to review the band. However, we didn't stay that long on account of having to finish work and all. Eh, maybe Kyle will post something.
Constantines, on the other hand, were much better than even I had expected, putting together a headliner set despite the fact that they were the opening band. Beginning with "Draw Us Lines," the first song off of the new cd Tournament of Hearts, Constantines took the components of an impressive body of work and transformed it into nearly one-hour of sublime madness: head-pounding drums; raspy vocals; guitars that ranged from 90s-crunch to 70s-funk. It seemed like the songs might never end and that was just fine.
As an aside, I noticed that the band's acid-wash clad bassist, Dallas Wehrle looks a hell of a lot like a certain member of Crom. Who would have thought that the Crom guys have dopplegangers up in Canada? Not I.