To be honest, I hadn’t listened to Ashes of Ares much before. I’d seen the music video a couple of times and checked out a couple of other tracks from the debut album, but had never given it the amount of attention I actually wanted to. However, I’ve always been a Matt Barlow fan, so when I found out they were coming to my city for a special one-off show, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see him live and shake his hand.
I arrived too early for this show because I didn’t want to miss any of their set, and I actually wasn’t sure if there would be any opening bands because they hadn’t been advertised (that I had seen). I even left work early to get there on time. Then I had to sit through THREE opening bands, only one of which I actually enjoyed. (I’ll talk more about that later.)
The only thing that adds to that experience is knowing all the words and being able to sing along, which I unfortunately was not able to do for this show. That definitely did not stop me from having an amazing time while this band was performing, though. Barlow absolutely did not let me down, and everyone on stage was not only talented, but personable, funny, and just plain awesome.
As the band only has one album so far, their set was far too short. They simply played the debut album in its entirety. This is another reason I wish I had been more familiar with their music beforehand. I think it's awesome when bands play entire albums live, from start to finish; but when you don't know the album, it isn't the same. I didn't even know this was what they were doing until Barlow mentioned it. I did buy the CD from the merch table after the show, for the record. I also came home with a setlist as a souvenir, because everyone knows I love my concert souvenirs.
On a similar topic, it's almost ironic that Matt Barlow is now the only person in this five-piece band with short hair. As you may remember, his curly red locks used to be the stuff of legends. In fact, I'm not ashamed to admit that I like a page called "Matt Barlow's Hair" on Facebook. But these days, as he is also a police officer by day, he's rocking a very short hairstyle, and is no less badass because of it. Thankfully, chopping off the hair did not make him lose his powers.
In short, I had a really good time at this concert. At least during the second half of it. Which brings me to the opening acts.
The first two bands who played just weren't really my style. I won't mention either of their names, as I don't want to disrespect the musicians, whom I'm sure are great people and love what they do. But if you know me, you know I'm not a huge fan of "Cookie Monster" vocals or indecipherable screaming. I enjoy growling and screaming only in small doses to accentuate the lyrics; listening to it throughout an entire song, or EVERY song, gets old very fast. And these two bands, I felt, were very much like a lot of American metal bands: too stereotypical. All the songs sounded basically the same, and a lot of times just sounded like noise. The lyrics, as I said, were indecipherable and the music itself just didn't seem to have much creativity to it. I can't even tell you what any of the songs were called because I couldn't understand the vocalists when they growled the song titles. Even their cover songs were stereotypical. Metallica, Lamb of God. There's nothing wrong with those bands, but can't we do something a little less... overdone? This is one thing that bothers me greatly about most American metal.
However! There was one shining star among the opening acts, and it goes by the name Triple Play. A local band based in Show Low, AZ. This band was not at all what I was expecting. After the first two acts, I was expecting the third one to be more or less along the same lines. Then they began to play. And I realized I could actually make out chords and words and it didn't just sound like noise. It sounded like actual songs, individual songs instead of the same one over and over. Although they were the least "heavy" band of the night, sounding more along the lines of classic rock than heavy metal, they were the band who rocked the house the most out of the three openers, inspired the most enthusiasm among the crowd, and greatly improved my mood halfway through the night.
In fact, when they first began their set, I was near the back of the venue, sitting down and trying to rest because I had an awful headache and the first two bands hadn't helped it. But before the first song was over, I knew I had to be up front where the action was. I was enjoying their performance too much to be sitting down. The band was unique, enthusiastic, and a lot of fun to watch. Musicians and audience members alike were having a great time.
Only a song or two into Triple Play’s set, I had forgotten all about my headache and was focusing on having a great time instead. And I have to say these guys' instruments are just as unique as they are; they look like they were all bought at yard sales and held together with duct tape -- or stolen from their neighbors' trash cans. But they sure know to play them, and that’s all that matters. Plus, the drum set has spiders on it.
When all was said and done, and I was about to walk out the door and go home, I spotted these guys at a table in the back of the bar area. So I turned around, marched back in, and bought a CD from them.
(All photos in this blog post were taken by me!)