Live: No Age @ Emos 7.1
Consisting of drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall, No Age creates experimental noise pop/punk filtered through layers of effects and fuzz. At times, it is hard to imagine how two people can generate the amount of noise that No Age does on it’s records and then be able reproduce it live, but with the help of numerous pedals and samples, and with the energy of the duo themselves, that noise becomes a reality live.
The 50 minute set, including an encore, covered most of the tracks from the band’s recent album Nouns, and also some tracks from Weirdo Rippers, the band’s first release. The show started off almost subdued, as Spunt sang the first two songs at the front of stage instead of behind his typical drum kit, but once he found himself at the drums, the show’s intensity escalated. His raw vocals were masked by his abuse of the kit and equally matched by the force of Randall and his guitar. The audience moshed early and often, and at one point, during the band’s recent single “Eraser,” Randall jumped in the audience to partake in the fun with the crowd.
Towards the middle of the set, the songs started to blend into one big aural noise. They were only recognizable with the brief pause that came at the end of one and the start of another. Despite that however, the audience remained engaged for the most part. The duo closed the night out with a cover of the Urinal’s “Male Masturbation” and the crowd-pleaser “Everybody’s Down.”
With Nouns continuing to garner enormous critical praise and with their latest music video now in heavy rotation on MTV, one must fear that seeing No Age at a venue like Emo’s Jr. is a thing of the past. Hopefully that fear will remain unwarranted, and as of now it seems to be, as the band’s DIY mentality has them playing random yet unique places like the Getty Museum, a vegan grocery, and even on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge during SXSW. While Tuesday night’s set was nothing extraordinary, it was an intense set by a duo who knows what it takes to make an audience leave with smiles on their faces.
-Emily J
photos : valerie@fremin.net
