I WIll Never Be The Same

Viper Room residencies in my experience are one of two things: they’re downright scary or a pleasant surprise. I have to call this one the latter. I went in expecting to support my friends’ band and came out a hardcore, repeat it until I have every song committed to memory, I will be there for sure next Tuesday fan. Their name speaks better for me than I could: I Will Never Be The Same.

I arrived about 10 minutes before the band went on and noticed the room was full and most appeared to be eagerly anticipating the upcoming band. This is not unusual for the Viper Room since a lot of times bands are expected to be able to draw enough of a crowd to be considered for a residency. However, the difference was the mood in the room. These people were STOKED for this band, not just there to be warm bodies to keep the promoter happy and clap when their friends finished playing.

I Will Never Be The Same took the stage and seemed to break into full stride out of the gate with a fresh, yet completely confident professionalism. Bands with this much poise are usually seasoned veterans and while the individual members have some clout in their corner (Francis Ten is a member of West Indian Girl and Josh Atchley has producing, composing and scoring films listed under the work experience column of his resume) the band as a whole has only been together a short time. In fact, their first show was less than 2 months ago.

“Set Your World On Fire” which was played early on in the set prompted my companion, and fellow IWNBTS virgin, to tweet her first impression during the song: Watching @nynex set my world on fire with @angeleenie at viper room. Other fan and tastemaker favorites showing as much promise live as they do on the recording: “I Am Not The One,” “Starfields,” and their cover of The Lost Boys Theme “Cry Little Sister” drove the set around twists and turns keeping my oft easily-shifted attention focused on them. In a mesh of synth, ticking drums, bass and an expertly wielded wah-wah pedal, the night’s supreme highlight for me was “Eyes Turning Black,” which has also sparked the interest of Dave Navarro (we have similar taste it seems) who spun the song on his show Dark Matter recently. Not bad for having only played just under 10 shows; hell, that’s not bad for having played just under 10 months!

It’s no secret around these parts that I’m a major NIN fan and it’s clear the principle songwriter of this band is as well. There were times when I felt like a subtle detail was carefully extracted from the Reznor school of music and implemented in a unique way amidst the clever and not-overly-industrial compositions. A heavy bass line or synthy sequence often provided that low end I needed to pull me back down to the floor, but only after the melodic dreaminess and piano and keyboard call-and-response made me feel like I was floating away. “Last Goodbye” does this so nicely. “Superfuck” is also a real gem with a guitar sound I cannot stop loving.

There’s one show left in their residency, this coming Tuesday, Sept 8th at the Viper Room. If you aren’t too busy recovering from Labor Day weekend, do try to make it out to the show. If you’re not in L.A. follow the band’s progress on their blog: IWNBTS or their myspace page: MySpace and keep your ears open to a radio station near you, chances are someone will be spinning this record. They also appear to be fans of the music is free model of offering countless ways to preview the songs, but if you like them for goodness sakes, support the band and buy a copy of their album Standby is available on iTunes now.
- Angela Poe - The Owl Mag