DC ROCK CLUB
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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Playing Catch Up...Travis Morrison at Iota

Oh, hello there. What? I was supposed to write a review of Travis Morrison and the Hellfighters? Really? Okay, hold on. Let me put on some pants...

This was my second time seeing Travis Morrison, sans the Plan. The first time was at Galaxy Hut right before his first album, Travistan, was released. Had Rock Club been alive to see it, it would have battled Richard Swift and Bang Bang Bang for Worst.....Show.....Ever (comic guy voice). We walked out. His Janet Jackson cover was the last straw. It was safe to say I didn't have lofty expectations for this show.

The Iota show was to promote his new album, All Y'all. The album has some odd and punchy songs that really work, although not on the first listen. "Catch Up", with its goofy white boy rap and bizarre transitions is a bit of a head scratcher. However, I enjoy it more with each listen. The song is awesome like Richard Dawson. Conversely, songs that I initially enjoyed have become grating. "I Do" is the best example. The sappy lyrics get old quickly ("I need you badly, I need you bad. You're the best thing I've ever had"). When he played this live Potsy commented "I wrote the same song back in 7th grade". He then gave the thumbs down, Spinal Tap-style, while continuing to reminisce about his middle school hoochie.

The current Hellfighters lineup is much better than Morrison's original crew. Three keyboardist and a couple drummers was an odd makeup for a band. Ditching some of the keyboardists and adding guitar full time was an obvious move. I'm a fan of the dual drummers (in this case, one drummer and a percussionist) so I'm glad they still have that going. If he added some dancing midgets the lineup would be perfect.

The set stuck mostly to the new album, although they did play "Song for the Orca" off Travistan. The stand out songs were " Catch Up", "Hawkins Rock", and "As We Proceed". The rest of the songs were okay, but not very inspired. I honestly wasn't paying enough attention to know if the band was still working out the kinks or if the songs simply didn't work well on stage. I'm guessing a little of both.

While Morrison and the Hellfighters aren't the tightest band in the world, they ain't too shabby either. One quote I read on DCist sums up Morrison and his band pretty well:

"Yeah, his new band is starting to find their stride. The Dplan wasn't quite ready for prime time the first few years in existence either...it wasn't until about 4 years into their existence that they really hit their stride with the Terrified album. Travis is a great performer, but the band wasn't quite there for a while. The original line up of the hellfighters looked like he grabbed a couple of folks from accounting and marketing and asked them to be in his funk band. They were nice people and good musicians, but they were a little uneasy on stage."

Thus far, the main trait of Morrison's solo music is the disparity of his songs. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground - they're either very good or really bad. I attribute that to his willingness to take chances. He lives every week likes it's Shark Week and is always trying new things. His musical formula is to have no discernible pattern, which I admire. However, my gut feeling is his solo work will never reach a level of ingenuity and consistency we saw w/ the last three Dismemberment Plan albums.

This may come as a surprise to those who think Morrison gives me the hot pants, but I only give this show a 5.2. I wasn't disappointented, but I wasn't overly impressed either.

One final note: Gist, who opened for Morrison, were a very pleasant surprise. The Indian dude on lead vocals and guitar was pure rock intensity. The band has a great post-punk power pop sound. I've been listening to their album Diesel City and while it's not as as good as their live show, it's still a fun listen. These guys bring the rock and deserve our support. I propose we put a future Gist show on our official To Do list. All in favor?

3 comments:

Potsy said...

Nice photo of Kingsley and Sheen. I need to be in touch with whomever did the photo-shopping. New Year's is just around the corner...

Also, a very strong effort from our overworked non-techie Jumboslice. Nice review. I'll get that video clip to you before you move to Austin...

Anonymous said...

DEFINITELY a vote in favor of adding Gist to the list (hey, that rhymes!)

One of my favorite bands in DC ...

Anonymous said...

Gist seems to get better each time I see them!!