Local record company rocks life into the undead

On
the evening of October 30, continuing just slightly into Hallows’ Morn,
Quote Your Pulse Records held a Halloween costume show at Turlock’s
Grizzly Rock Café. As well as local favorites, the event featured a
couple touring acts.
The
opening band, Alchemy Hour, presented some of the night’s more
interesting and memorable songwriting. The three-man group filled a
larger soundscape than bands like On My Honor, whose five members
congested the small stage. Nathan Vega and Lee Shaeffer both worked
triple duty; Vega provided guitar, vocals and additional percussion
while Shaeffer provided keys, bass and trumpet.
Alchemy
Hour’s ambition felt held back by Vega’s limited vocal range, however,
and the band  did not always play to their strengths. The group reached a
highpoint when providing musical augmentation for Charlie Chaplin’s
famous speech in “The Great Dictator.”
Word
of Man followed with a less experimental but—for what they were trying
to achieve—more successful sound. In songs like “Wideaway” and
“Juggernaut,” the group displayed their blend of reserved post-hardcore
and atmospheric builds.
The
band also debuted a new song “Anchors Away Pt. 2.” It operates on the
blatant verse-chorus structure of a single, but it maintains the band’s
competency, with Michael Hardwick on drums especially bringing quality.
The
next two acts, Above the Underground and On My Honor, are currently
touring the U.S. together, and hail from Chester, Cheshire in England
and Knoxville, Tennessee respectively. With a similar style, the two
bled well into each other (both self-identify as pop-punk) and with
enough distinction to mostly ward off fatigue.
Despite
the “pop” in its label, Above the Underground brought the heaviest
sound—juxtaposed with the silliest costumes. Maybe playing with the
American audience a bit, vocalist/guitarist Will Kirkman dressed in
Hogwarts robes (Gryffindor colors, for those who are curious), and
bassist/back-up vocalist Nick Barlow costumed as a hot dog.
On
My Honor gave a tight performance, operating smoothly while negotiating
around one another in a limited space. The group elicited the most
enthusiastic reactions from the crowd up to this point in the show and
reciprocated the audience’s energy.
Second
to Last had the unfortunate task of upholding the night’s low-point
position, both following better acts and being the fifth band in a row
to feature punk/hardcore influences. Due to fill-in bassist Evan Santa
Elena (of Indian Taker) not being familiar with the entire set, Tyson
Evans filled the band’s remaining time with a couple of acoustic covers:
Green Day’s “She” and Rancid’s “Olympia WA.” Evans does not bring much
new to the bleeding-heart-twenty-something-with-an-acoustic-guitar
stereotype, but he at least picked unexpected songs from these groups to
cover.
Table
for Five benefitted by being far away from the realm of post-hardcore
and pop-punk. The band’s sound relies heavily on what groups like The
Strokes and The Arctic Monkeys have built, but their brand of
derivativeness felt original by virtue of coming from a different
source.
This
act was the only one to get called for an encore: a cover of The Arctic
Monkeys coincidentally. Table for Five vocalist and Editor-in-Chief
here at The Signal Jaydeep Bhatia told this writer it was crucial to
mention that his affected British accent when singing “Fake Tales of San
Francisco” was more authentic than anyone’s in Above the Underground.
Every
Atlas closed out the night. Dustin Andrews and Alexander Periera
brought the realest emotion of any of the singers and managed to soberly
recite the lyrics of Macy Gray’s “I Try” without garnering laughs.
The
group maintained a steady, serene melancholia even in when the two
vocalists were yelling in unison. These moments were broken up with
Periera and drummer Manuel Lopes taking the stage by themselves—with
Andrews watching on and providing incidental support on the drums.
The
show also included a costume contest—won by both the entire collective
of Table for Five and a couple inspired by the cover of Blink 182’s
Enema of the State. Overall, it was great event, even when the long
lineup started to drag a little, thanks to the Grizzly Rock Café’s
friendly atmosphere and wonderful Guinness.