It had been two long years since I last set foot into my favorite Seattle venue, The Showbox at the Market. Seeing its immense marquee and hearing car after car zip around the corner onto Pike Street brought back memories skipping junior prom to catch a show by local Seattle bands, much like tonight.
The evening’s bill was composed of five Seattle-based bands: The Lookout, A Hope Not Forgotten, headliners Girl on Fire and Keeping Secrets and finally Seeking Skylight.
The Lookout, hailing from Great Falls, Montana (“Man-tana”) opened the show with an energy to which even the most indie/alt-rock superstars would aspire. Fingers moving with intricacy and precision, Burke Hendrickson’s keyboard breakdown in the middle of "Less Talk (more rock)" had me enthralled. His body swayed to the ethereal arpeggios. “I love you Burke!!” was shouted with joy and honesty from die hard fans and friends.
Inspired by the drive to tear out of their comfort zones and escape their home state of Montana, Nick Emacio’s head-voice sent chills down my spine as he belted out the lyrics “we are so low” in the final vamp to "Less Talk (more rock)".
“Our whole new EP is essentially about getting out of Montana,” said singer and bassist, Emacio, about their songs’ meanings. Emacio is given credit by the band for writing the song lyrics. “He came up with most of the ideas of where the songs go, definitely the vocals and lyrics,” said drummer, Evin Mitchell.
The Lookout made a risky, yet much needed, move from Great Falls, Montana to Seattle last year in order to make a name for themselves. “Great Falls is a lifer town. If you’re from there, you live there,” said Emacio about getting out of Montana. They lost a guitarist in the process, but have certainly managed to better themselves as individual musicians and most importantly, as a band. “It’s motivated us a lot more than I’ve ever seen,” said Mitchell. “I think we’re all better as musicians. In Montana, we got really comfortable because all of our shows were really well attended all the time,” said Emacio. “Coming to a place where you’re competing with bands that have been doing this their whole lives and this kind of thing, they’re on their game. We had to step it up a notch.”
The Lookout will be throwing a party with The Forecast at Studio Seven on May 27 for the release of their new untitled EP. It was recorded at Two Sticks Audio, owned by Death Cab for Cutie drummer, Jason McGerr.
“We come from a small place where we don’t have this kind of equipment…it was just kind of a learning experience,” said Emacio. They were ecstatic about having the opportunity to record their EP in that studio.
When asked how they felt about performing at one of the legendary venues in Seattle (and being interviewed in the same room as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains) Emacio humbly replied, “I’ve been coming to shows at The Showbox since I was thirteen. I never thought I would be on the other end of it.”
Thanking the crowd for their support, The Lookout performed their final song and soon slipped into the crowd to greet fans and sign t-shirts. It was apparent that connecting with the audience on stage and off is a priority for The Lookout - no wonder they have such a strong fan base.
Cabinet-like structures with the letters “AHNF” lit the stage as the five-piece christian-screamo group A Hope Not Forgotten huddled around the drum kit to say a quick prayer. A “hallelujah” or two later, they threw their audience into the line of fire with dynamic wide-range vocaling, melodic guitar riffs and syncopated double-bass drums to match. Growls greatly contrasted harmonious and delicate falsettos. They sing about their faith in God, but it could easily be a verbal shopping list. Every so often, clarity would shine threw the screams: “I don’t need to see to believe” was repeated after a long winded thanks to the Almighty, during which time a good chunk of the audience left to have a cigarette. They gave thanks to God (and we thanked God) as they ended their performance.
The number of t-shirts that read “Keeping Mutha Huggin’ Secrets” enthusiastically dominated the fashion of the crowd during Keeping Secrets’ performance. Eagerness to hear the final headliner for the evening rose to its peak when the Harry Nilsson song “Best Friend” began to play while the band finally made their appearance. A green light shone upon the Irish-red cross, the band’s new symbol on their latest release, on banner behind the drum kit, creating a magnificent glow.
My eyes were torn away from the hypnotic image of The Rescue, the band's newest release and were transfixed on the bass drum. When hit, an inner strobe would light, creating a horrific and concentrated central focus point on the stage for the audience. It resembled a lighting strike every time the band entered a breakdown.
Keeping Secrets’ heavy breakdowns and intense screaming were only made better by the remarkable enthusiasm put forth by all five members. I could feel the band feeding off the crowd’s energy as everyone was captivated by the music. A sea of slowly-waving arms was seen soon after the drummer signaled the audience to follow his lead while the music made a smooth transition into a calm keyboard melody.
A pitch black stage sat in front of the crowd when four figures of Girl on Fire took their places. Singer, Robbie Faulin, joined them shortly after the crowd members cheered with excitement. Hearing Faulin’s voice and the band’s music instantly caused my heart to race while goosebumps covered my arms. Girl on Fire’s unique intensity seems to have that effect on me; I was just glad I got to see them play at all.
Three black boxes lined the stage, each one labeled with a single white word, “Girl…On…Fire.” Faulin swung his microphone with a crazed look in his eyes and caught it with little effort, time after time. Guitarists Nick McMahan and Brent McGaughey, along with bassist Josh Mouser, wasted no time in using the entire stage during their performance. Their songs created movement in the audience as many sang along with Faulin.
“Broken hearts will mend,” was chanted by all members of the band, creating a “gang vocals” effect in the song “Land of the Dead.” They use this technique throughout most of their songs and it works both on recording and in a live capacity, engaging their audience to sing with them. Their use of gang vocals hooked me to their music when I first heard them a few years ago.
The band released a four song EP, which they named GOF Yourself Volume 2, on April 20 of this year. They have another EP, GOF Yourself Volume 1, which was created about a year before Volume 2. “It’s a saga,” said drummer Harry MacDonald, about the two creations. William Francis, lead singer of Aiden, produced the band’s EP.
Girl on Fire will be playing at El Corazon on June 15 before heading down to Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California on the 18th with William Control.
