So there I was, making my daily commute, going through the radio stations and hoping to find something decent to listen to. I must have arrived at a station that had something I was looking for and then that song ended and something new began. “Great, another chick band…” went through my head followed by “Is this new Florence in the Machine? I hate Florence, I hope not..Is it Paramore?..no, this sounds different..it’s toe-tappin.. I don’t hate this.” I should make a note here that I can be a bit of a music snob – it’s not that I only like the obscure stuff, anything not popular..it’s just that I don’t like gimmick bands, I don’t like bad music. I have my tastes, as we all do, and I generally like my tunes to be rockin..guitar driven..lyrics I can understand…really, it’s not that snobby.
I continue listening to this song through the first verse – there are guitars, aggression, I can understand the lyrics for the most part: “is she saying ‘I’m the Weatherman? like the Nic Cage movie? well ok then!” Then the chorus hits and this girl belts out this rage “Go for the kill, go for the KILLL…go for the kill go for the kill!!!!” What in the hell did she just do with her voice? The first half of the chorus has the rage but then in the second ‘go for the kill’ features this pitch in her voice that makes you say “WOW!”
I did my research and googled “I’m the weatherman” and “go for the kill” and found a band – “Dead Sara” with few references, some youtube clips and not much else as they were apparently pretty new. The tracks I checked out had the feel of songs I only wished I could have written. I must have listened to “Weatherman” about 20 times that day (give it a try yourself..go on and move to it), I was hooked! I went home that night and played the song for my girlfriend, her response was the same: “Wow!”
They announced a show in early February and I quickly purchased the tickets. A few days before the gig, they had to cancel but promised another show in the near future and ticket holders would be placed on the guest list for said show. Sure enough, another show was announced at The Viper Room towards the end of February and they stayed true to their word and put us on the list! On to the show!
After a couple of interesting opening bands – the first was an agro-industrial-rock trio that had some decent moments..one being during the breakdown of one of their songs in which the guitarist played a riff from one of the Dead Sara songs (“Test On My Patience” I think), not sure if anyone else caught that, but it was cool. The second band, simply called “Indians”, were pretty ok – solid musically and their lead singer had the stage presence, channeling Iggy Pop and a little bit of Bowie. Finally we were on to Dead Sara!
You won't regret this purchase!
The curtains opened and they launched into the slow-building emotional “Sorry For It All” and at the climax of the song we got our first live dose of the lead singer’s pipes! Again: “Wow”. They did a smooth transition to the aforementioned “Test On My Patience” and continued the rock! We were treated to new songs, which happens when the album is yet to be released – needless to say, the preview was fantastic. Sadly the set was too short and they started the final song that everyone in the Viper Room was ready to hear: “Weatherman”. They pulled it off with no problem, this band is well rehearsed and ready for the long tour they are about to embark on. To the singer, Emily Armstrong, I want to know one thing: How do you do it? How will you maintain that voice through numerous tours? I’ll tell you how: Magic..that voice is molded from the spirits of departed rock legends! To guitarist Siouxsie Medley: Keep writing those riffs and jams! To the bass player & drummer: keep layin’ it down and enjoy the ride!
These songs have that perfect feeling, something bands strive for. They don’t need to be remixed or tweaked in the studio, they are solid and feel like they’ve been that way since the first moment the drummer called out the beat and the fingers hit the strings on the guitar. Not only is the first single great, but the rest of the songs are just as good and they can play them all live! There have been a couple of recent bands that got quite popular, but then you hear them live and think “What happened?”. This isn’t one of those bands..they are the real deal and I look forward to the debut album and hopefully the many albums to follow.
