KillRadio

http://www.cordmag.com/003june2004/livelostprophets.html

KillRadio at Richards on Richards - May 2004

I hadn’t known that there was a third band on this bill until I’d been at the venue that afternoon and seen them listed on the posters. If I’d been a bit more aware of KillRadio swinging through town, I most likely would have looked them up, discovered their unbelievable worth ahead of time, and we’d have a full-on set of articles and photos to share with everyone here. As it stands, we must make do with this review. Quietly, a group of four guys, each looking like they should belong to a different band, walked onto the stage and began plugging in guitars and setting their stuff up. They were efficient, and started playing pretty quick.

Honestly, this is a group of dudes who do not look like they should be as loud as they are.

I was shocked, what can I say? About six inches from my face were the American-flag-clad knees of an otherwise-naked bassist, whose torso was covered in tattoos, his hair long, black and dripping-wet with… I suppose water, but who knows, maybe it was beer or vodka. A singer-guitarist was wandering about the middle of the stage in a delightfully-70’s-looking plaid tweed jacket and too-short brown pants. His bare ankles ended in skate shoes, and on the whole, he looked fairly meek. That notion would soon be put to rest for good. A guitarist on the far side of the stage from me was simply outfitted in a button-down shirt and jeans, and the band’s drummer donned a short-sleeved white shirt and tie below his black-and-red locks. How did this motley crew find their way to one another?! Somehow I was expecting to hear a type of low-key emo-pop. Whether or not they’d prove to be shoe-gazers was yet to be determined.

But oh, how wrong my perceptions were. They began. Oh goodness. I was stunned. I was unable to properly react and realize what an alarmingly cohesive band they were for a few moments, because I was just so taken aback by all the screaming and leaping that issued forth from them. I went from wide-eyed, stilled amazement, to a brief period of incredulous laughter and head-shaking, to a well-settled-in, solid enjoyment of what was before me, all within their first song. That first song began with singer Brandon Jordan leaning near to the point of toppling over the front of the stage, and calling the crowd in closer. He did this mostly a cappella, and lyrically, but without any indication initially of what he was about to fling us all into. I was unable to get his first few lines down ver batim, and searching lyric sheets have been to no avail either, so I’m assuming that this little intro was made up either on-the-spot, or constructed purely for the beginning of sets, or else possibly this is part of a new song that just isn’t listed yet. It was something generally including listening to what they have to say, so come to the edge of the stage etc. And a lot of people obliged this request. Shortly thereafter, a lot more came up front of their own accord, grinning and jumping and whooping.

While initially, it was solely the music that grasped me and shook me about, it became apparent fairly swiftly that the anger and power and energy emanating from them is directly linked from discontent and fear about the state of the world, and America in particular. Government issues, war, über-corporations and the like are all cleverly dissected and expressed through analogous lyrics and huge heaping shovelfuls of onstage emotion. Today’s political climate fuels a lot of artistic fires in the young world - people have a voice and they’re going to use it, for better or for worse. They even told us right off that we are lucky to be living in Canada, as opposed to Hollywood, where they hail from. There was a song with a recurring line of freedom is all that I demand (this was a great song), which was dedicated to an 800,000-person pro-choice demonstration in Washington, DC the week before this show. The second song they performed was called "A.M.E.R.I.K.A.", which included such bare lines as the informed citizen became un-American / for reading a book instead of watching the television / supporting peace instead of supporting the president / die on the cross than for this fucking republican. They wanted to make a statement, and a statement they did indeed make. How much the crowd caught on to the message in the music, versus how much they were just enjoying the show, is undetermined, but they definitely succeeded in making a heap of new fans.

Jordan was a spectacular frontman, full of emotion and intensity. He quite literally made love to his microphone on a number of occasions, both from singing with his wide-open and howling mouth around the contraption, or just jerking the thing off as he clasped it between his legs. The mic stopped working a few times during the set, whether that was in protest to the abuse it endured or just Jordan’s flying saliva shorting it out, who knows. He leveraged himself on the monitors numerous times, with a feverish stare into the audience, veins springing out of his neck, and sprinkling his fingers about as if casting a spell on the room or trying to tickle someone or something. The band’s bassist, who goes by the moniker Dirty, was pretty off the hook as well. He leapt about, fell to his knees, climbed the speakers, and jumped about, with that semi-damaged US-flag kilt of his in danger of flying loose at any moment. At some point, all his boisterousness caused a bottle of water to fall off a gear case beside him and land on its side behind him. The cap was evidently a bit loose, because soon there was an enormous and growing puddle of water sneaking its way towards piles of electronic gizmos. After one song finished, Jordan spun about, saw the bottle, and rescued it, simultaneously commenting, “Oh bloody hell, someone wet themselves.”

After this, Jordan decided to get the room to slow it down just a little bit, and catch its collective breath. “If you’ve been making eyes with someone across the room, this is the time to go up to that person and say, ‘I wanna dance,’ and get real close, but leave room for the Holy Spirit.” He proceeded to beatbox his way into "Pull Out", which is by absolutely no means a slow song. Well, after the set finished, it certainly came to light that they went over extremely well. People clambered to the front of the stage as the band began to clear their gear off to give them high-fives or comment on the songs, and the congratulatory comments continued afterwards beside the stage as the guys loaded their gear outside. Awesome first impression for these guys, who were on the first date of their first major tour. I’ll say we should be seeing more of this band - Cord Magazine