threevue

Last night I witnessed an onslaught of 1990′s indie/emo rock and it was pretty sweet. The seminal Seattle band Sunny Day Real Estate recently reformed with all four original members (together for the first time since 1995) and is currently embarking on a short US tour, and taking on-again-off-again LA band The Jealous Sound with them.

I’ve been a fan of The Jealous Sound for about 10 years; when I had heard that the guitarist from Sunday’s Best and the singer of Knapsack were starting a band in 2000, I knew it was going to be a) emo as fuck and b) slightly creepy but good. Turns out they’re just that, and their live set was mostly old stuff (YESSSS) and a few newer songs. I really can’t fault the new songs because really, they sound just like their old songs. Most of the time I hope for some sort of growth from a band, but there’s something to be said about the fact that there is little change in singer Blair Shehan’s approach at writing songs for over 15 years now. Either way, it was fun to shout out lyrics alongside the five other heavy-duty Jealous Sound fans that were at the show.

There were a lot of unexpected moments during SDRE’s set. First off, half the band had goatees, the indie rock equivalent of a furry slap in the face. Who the hell do these guys think they are, Nickelback? Also, I naively expected the band to play lots of songs from their third (and my favorite) album, How It Feels To Be Something On, but alas, they only played “Guitar and Video Games”. Instead, we were given Diary and LP2 almost in their entireties (new word, you like it?), including a not-so-great b-side from that era as well. And the final shocker came in the form of a new song they wrote before starting the tour. It had a bit of grit to it, no progginess (hallelujah), and some old-school screaming, too. It sounded more like a more predictable, eclectic version of a song from their first two albums. Word on the street is that they’re recording a new album, too, which would be pretty sweet.

Overall, it was one of those concerts that you’ll tell your kids about someday and they’ll look back at you with blank stares until you say that Nate Mendal was in the Foo Fighters, and then they’ll say, “oh, alright Dad”.