And This Army

So I show up to Smith's Tavern in Park Slope at about 11:15 or so on Saturday night.

As I turn the corner onto 5th (where the bar is) I hear what, from a distance, sounds like a Yes cover. No joke.

I make my way to the entrance and get the obligatory "Hey, look at that...a Californian!" from the dude working the door and checking IDs (still haven't got a NY ID yet), and finally make my way inside. What I find funny is that everyone stops because it's a CA license....not because the photo is 11 years old and I look...oh...about 13 in the picture.

Now that I'm in the bar, it sounds less like Yes, and more like Don Caballero doing a Black Sabbath cover. Needless to say...not really my thing. They should be called Math Sabbath.

I vaguely recall a flier with the name "The Music Makers" (from here on to be referred to as Math Sabbath) on it and just hope to fucking god that I didn't already miss And This Army.

In an effort to pass the time a little more peacefully, I order a beer. I hand the dude a $5 bill and get back $3.50 in change. Sweet. Gotta love $1.50 Budweisers (but I'm sure the bartender hates 50 cent tips he's probably been getting all night). I glance up at the TVs on the wall, all muted, and all playing Sports Center.

Yeah...that kind of place. They obviously don't do live music here much. Or at least...they shouldn't.

Finally they end and I wedge my way down the bar a little closer to where the bands set up. It's literally a nook in the wall; a booth-like area where they moved a few tables aside to make enough room for a drumkit.

The night before some dude probably roofied a chick in that spot. Tonight, a noise-rock-drone-space-metal band is setting up to perform in the same amount of space. (I may have to trademark "Roofie Metal")

As I watch them set up, I kept thinking about how I dearly hoped my ears would bleed. I wanted carnage. I wanted controlled (but only slightly) chaos. I wanted searing noise delivered with precision.

I got all of that.

ATA's sound could have been one that didn't translate live. If it pulled it's punch...glossed over the vocals...punched down the bass...dialed back the drums...any of those things would have sent it down in flames. But instead, everything was just that much MORE intense.

Brendan's guitar and vocals were perfectly utilized, both intense and reserved in perfect proportion. As the pendulum of the band, swinging from squealing feedback to precise picking, and mirroring it with his voice...Brendan is the perfect frontman.

The dynamism of Andrew's bass playing really comes out when you see them live. With a sound that can wander and explore at times, the role of bass player (and how fucking solid he has to be) becomes even more apparent live.

And at the heart of it all? The stammering arms of drummer Jason Bennet. Dude KILLS it behind the kit. To go from the stuttering rhythm of "Blackbeard" to the train-like drive of "Stranglehold" and then to the skittering propulsion that guides "Johnny's Pizza" and inject it all with even more energy than it has on record? Fucking awesome.

These dudes fucking kill. Plain and simple. I hear there may be a show on October 28th in the Brooklyn area. If you live out here people...don't blow it. See this band. I know it doesn't have the dancey hi-hat everyone loves or any bullshit cowbell irony...but grow a pair and take the dive. It'll make your ears bleed and it might kill your brain. Do it.

- noonehereisasking

"... really good schmeary sonics -- very imaginative, and real songwriting to boot! All too rare. I look forward to more." - Quote

"There's just this powerfully unexpected, almost surprising sort of underlying pulse to the material that
adds an intriguing sense of contrast. Honestly this is a pretty god damn impressive set of tunes.
I'm really floored by the finest moments herein, to the point where certain aspects really hit me in a rare fuckin' manner." - Aversionline

"Brawny post-rock guitars--beefed up with the sincerity and power of metal--clear the way for this Brooklyn
band's sweeping sound. But these wide chords entrance less than the spacious vocals that rise in their wake:
uniquely, they're keen to match the axes in sheer acreage." - Download.com (C|NET)

"Party music this is not. Ballsy and adventurous, this is.
Nothing about it plays into current trends in metal or indie rock. Instead, the three boys from Brooklyn
have come up with something that demands your full attention and several listens to sink in." - global domination

"This one will make my Best Of 2006 list for sure...
Plenty of bands can be loud, heavy, dissonant, melodic, droney, etc etc etc. But when you hit stop...
you realize that was all they had: noise. It's the songwriting of ATA that truly seperates them. These songs stay with you.
Like the lurching, murky slowdown in "Stranglehold" which gives way to an AMAZING melodic turn, all of it hinging on Brendan McDermott's perfectly utilized vocals." - noonehereisasking

"Dissonance, dissonance, and a little more dissonance. That is the name of the game with And This Army. The guitars are laid on thick and hazy, layered in stacks upon stacks. The vocals ride in the midst of this jumble of noise, juxtaposing the confusion with just the slightest touch of pop sensibility." - mish mash music reviews