lowsunday

Full Wave Rectifier

The Lime Spider - Akron, Ohio

June 30 , 2001

To start with, this club is a fantastic place to see live music. A long, narrow room, The Lime Spider offers comfortable seating (every view of the stage is great), affordable drink prices, and a friendly staff. A bold step by owner Danny Basone (who also plays drums for local outfit Zero Parade), here's hoping his plan of bringing talented, original acts to Akron is successful in this day of sports bars and dance clubs.

Full Wave Rectifier got things rolling with a new tune, 'Now I'm Sane' and kept the standing room only crowd dancing and bopping for their whole set. Jer Herring (vocals. Guitar) led these self-described 'geek punks' through a blistering hour of original music. Bruce Winer's drumming was relentless while Chris Dopler's bass kept everything anchored. In particular, Mary Plazo (guitar, vocals) was in fine form and her confidence as a vocalist increases with each show. 'Transfer Interrupted' and 'Stop Signs and Purple Flowers,' both featuring Plazo on lead vocals, were just two highlights of a great show.

Full Wave Rectifier will be releasing their first full-length CD sometime this year. Check out their website for more info.

Touring in support of their debut CD, elesgiem, lowsunday took the stage after a short interval. This was the ambient pop ensemble's first appearance at the Lime Spider, and if this night was any indication there will be more visits in the future. The crowd genuinely took to lowsunday, and they responded by delivering an inspired set.

Slowly building momentum from the start, an atmosphere of intense, dramatic music was created, much in the vein of the Cure, My Bloody Valentine, and New Order. lowsunday successfully melded the elements of ambient pop and techno in an effortless display of original music. 'Wallpaper Room' from elesgiem exemplified this perfectly. Developing from a slow, brooding number, the intensity increased to an emotional level rarely seen in young bands. Keep an eye on lowsunday; they'll be going places.

- Brewster

www.fullwaverectifier.com / www.lowsunday.com / www.projekt.com

Skin Machine

Set to Burn

Jillian's Blue Cat Live - Akron, Ohio

July 7 , 2001

It was kind of a melancholy night for Skin Machine. This was the last show for a few months while vocalist Stephen Taylor recuperates from back surgery scheduled in August. No, the group isn't breaking up; on the contrary, they'll be working on material for their follow up to their debut disc Feed the Flesh (see Digital page this issue). However, Taylor's surgery is pretty serious and everyone here at UTJ wishes him a speedy recovery.

The other contributing factor to the melancholia was the venue. The sound was perfect, the stage is easily visible from every angle, but Jillian's Blue Cat Live is still housed inside a sports bar / dance club - not an ideal setting for original music to be played. Nevertheless, the show must go on.

Set to Burn, a new Northeast Ohio act, played two sets of original Goth-pop in the Peter Murphy-Depeche Mode vein. They even covered DM's 'Enjoy the Silence,' and very admirably, too. Why the lead singer chose to perform both sets with no pants is beyond me. He did grab the attention of more than one passerby, though.

After a very short intermission, Skin Machine took the criminally small crowd by storm. Opening with their namesake tune, the Ohio trio offered up two sets of incredible music. Drawing equally from their first release and newer material, Taylor and company were dead on from the get go.

Aside from Taylor, the trio is completed with guitarist-songwriter Michael Render and Kevin Kimmel on bass. The drums and keyboards are prerecorded on computer; no messy tape loops to contend with, just nice, digital perfection. Amazingly, this set-up allows the group to really cut loose. If anything this showcases the group's talents better than if they were a five-piece. And the crowd loved it, too. It's been too long since I've seen people get up and dance to live, original music. It was nice to see it on this night, and you haven't experienced anything until you hear these guys perform Prince's 'When Doves Cry.' It's got to be heard to be believed.

Come late fall, early winter Skin Machine should be playing out again. Catch them if you can.

- Stu da Stael

www.skinmachine.com

Glenn Tilbrook

The Magic Bag - Detroit, MI

July 29, 2001

Back in medieval times, a minstrel or troubadour would travel from village to village singing songs and reporting the news of the day. Jump ahead 600 years and you'll find Glenn Tilbrook doing just about the same thing.

Armed with only a guitar, great songs, and a quick wit, the ex-Squeeze frontman delivered a wonderfully entertaining show covering his extraordinary career. From the beginnings of Squeeze to his latest CD (The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook), the man did not disappoint.

Tilbrook approached the night as if her were playing in his living room and had a few friends (150 or so) over for afternoon tea. Constantly roaming the stage, he joked with audience, told stories about the old Squeeze days, and gladly took requests. All this and he was fighting a cold, too. I've seen healthier performers give less than what Tilbrook gave tonight.

For instance, during the classic 'Take Me I'm Yours' he invited 'anyone who can play guitar' up on stage. One fan responded and proceeded to steal the show with an impromptu jam ending the song as the fan played a very impressive solo. Through it all, Tilbrook beamed proudly and was very happy to share the spotlight.

Many surprises were in store for the evening; a number of tunes form his new solo CD, countless hits from the Squeeze catalog (including some obscurities like 'Letting Go" and 'Piccadilly'), and a couple obscure covers. No matter what Tilbrook played, the audience loved it. For 'Black Coffee in Bed' and 'Tempted,' the crowd did an amazing thing: taking it upon itself with no prompting from Tilbrook whatsoever, they sang the backing vocals for these songs, with harmonies! I've witnessed many things in my lengthy concert going career, but I've never seen that happen before. Not with harmonies.

For the last encore, Tilbrook did something else unexpected. He unplugged his guitar and went into the crowd at the front of the stage to perform 'Goodbye Girl.' If that wasn't enough, halfway through the song he noticed someone in the crowd holding up a cell phone. Tilbrook stopped playing, took the phone and began talking to the person on the other end! After a few seconds, he handed the phone back and continued on with the song, again with the audience providing backing vocals!

Glenn Tilbrook is a rare talent indeed. A consistently wonderful songwriter who loves to entertain and appreciates his fans, he gives his all with every performance. He'll be touring the rest of the US and Canada in August and then it's on to Australia and New Zealand in September. Don't miss him.

- Chris Leib

www.glenntilbrook.com