(Needless to say, The Last Scene's Mark Woodyard had no trouble impressing the judges at this year's Fraggle Rock auditions. © 2008 Benjamin Luk.)
Last Wednesday at the Railway Club was not the first time I'd watched The Last Scene perform live. I'd caught the end of one of their shows back in March, but something about their gig that night didn't exactly strike me as memorable. (Seeing über-fox Alison Sudol live that night right before them may have had something to do with it.) But of what I recall, I distinctly remember thinking that this was a local band that really needed to up its ante. For a basic three-piece (guitar, bass and drums), they required a little something extra to separate themselves from the metric fuckton of local garage bands formed when all their members were still in high school. And of course, as was evidenced by the band's decision to play a cover of "Whole Lotta Love" in the middle of their set on Wednesday, The Last Scene is greatly influenced by Zeppelin. Which, sadly, doesn't do a very good job of separating them from the pack at all.
That's not to say that The Last Scene doesn't have a lot going for them. They're obviously well-rehearsed, stopping and starting in the middle of songs right on cue, and drummer Jordan Storey had no trouble effortlessly thrashing away behind the kit like Animal on a bender. Yet, as much as The Last Scene is influenced by classic rock, their sound is more based in the indie emo tradition, bringing to mind images of every kid I've ever wanted to stab in the eye and bands like The Early November and The Weakerthans. "Come Spend the Night" and "Little o' This, Little o' That", both of which they played, aren't even much of a departure from that genre, with lyrics right on the verge of bad teen poetry.
It sounds like I'm slagging these guys pretty harsh (and maybe I am), but a band cannot evolve musically until they know what's missing. Fully anticipating that The Last Scene will eventually get around to reading this, the only advice I can give is 'change it up'. Indie emo's as dead as The Ataris and they got famous covering Don Henley. Don't try to become famous covering Zeppelin. The music world will eat you alive. Good luck.
Special thanks to Britt Riddell of Less Than Three Promotions.
That's not to say that The Last Scene doesn't have a lot going for them. They're obviously well-rehearsed, stopping and starting in the middle of songs right on cue, and drummer Jordan Storey had no trouble effortlessly thrashing away behind the kit like Animal on a bender. Yet, as much as The Last Scene is influenced by classic rock, their sound is more based in the indie emo tradition, bringing to mind images of every kid I've ever wanted to stab in the eye and bands like The Early November and The Weakerthans. "Come Spend the Night" and "Little o' This, Little o' That", both of which they played, aren't even much of a departure from that genre, with lyrics right on the verge of bad teen poetry.
It sounds like I'm slagging these guys pretty harsh (and maybe I am), but a band cannot evolve musically until they know what's missing. Fully anticipating that The Last Scene will eventually get around to reading this, the only advice I can give is 'change it up'. Indie emo's as dead as The Ataris and they got famous covering Don Henley. Don't try to become famous covering Zeppelin. The music world will eat you alive. Good luck.
Special thanks to Britt Riddell of Less Than Three Promotions.
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