Live:TheDeathSet @ Mohawk 6.27
photo : valerie@fremin.net
I was pumped to see this show last Friday at The Mohawk. Having been introduced to TheDeathSet by a good friend best known as the man behind Covert Curiosity (if you haven’t read his blog get out from under your rock) over SXSW at a day party, I was looking forward to seeing the boys again at a full blown show. I was surprised that I took to TheDeathSet because, what I will refer to as electronic punk, has never been my thing so to speak. I knew when I walked through The Mohawk’s doors that this would be a show I would be watching with a bird’s eye view; the stage was set up for Matt & Kim (headliners for the night) and baracaded off at the front with masses of speakers. The two drum sets and various other equipment were set up in front of this, with the crowd not more than an arm’s reach away from any given band member. Likely due to the fact that I am no longer 18, (barely I swear!), I know that when a crowd spanning throughout the entire floor on the outside stage at the Mohawk swarms together in a giant huddle around a band, it is only a warning that once the boys break into song, the crowd is going to break into something explosive. And with the introductory guitar riffs signaling the first of many hard, fast two minute songs the crowd indeed, exploded. Although it is hard to not get sucked into the infectious energy exuded by Johnny Sierra and co., musically the first few songs of the set left me feeling a bit like the first show I saw them at may have been a fluke. The band is a crowd pleaser, that there is no mistaking. 80′s music such as Depeche Mode interlaced the breaks between songs, the drummers occasionally decided to play the guitar using their drumsticks, Sierra bounced from dancing in the crowd to writhing on the speakers, and the crowd was given full discretion to take the mic at any time and make each song their own. Somewhere during all of this, maybe a quarter into the brief twenty minute set, I found my tune changed, my affection for punk reinstilled, and my desire to join the crowd of excited youth peaked. While I of course chose to not take the plunge into the crowd, I left the show (directly after TheDeathSet) wishing for more than the brief timeslot allotted for the boys. Unfortunately if you missed out Friday night, and also the smattering of other Austin dates recently, there is currently no telling when your next shot will arise. These Sydney/Brooklyn/Baltimorians are wrapping up a North American tour at the end of July and from there embarking internationally through September.
-Kristin O
photo : valerie@fremin.net
