Pinback >> It’s been 10 years since I first saw a Pinback’s video for 'AFK' on MTV’s excellent but now defunct Subterranean. At the time, I was obsessed with music that sounded bad on purpose, which was the norm for most indie rock bands at the time. When Modest Mouse and Built To Spill defined indie rock with 12 minute songs rife with dissonant, distorted guitars and singers who sang like shit - but in a good way. It was a simpler time, a time when indie music didn’t have a lead banjoist or rhythmic clapping or require at some point in the song for someone to shout “ha!” or “hey!” away from the microphone.
Pinback came into this post-grunge indie scene with a different perspective. They presented bass-driven melodies that were precise and layered like Tetris blocks instead of lasagna. I read somewhere a long time ago that Armistead Smith and Rob Crow - the two driving forces behind the many iterations of Pinback - would work on songs separately from one another by sending each other tapes of ideas. They would each individually take the idea and add to it.
The result are songs that sound like two similar but separate songs that met, got to know each other, went to dinners, watched movies and made love - until there was a situation where logistically and financially it made sense to move in together. So they did, then over time the songs slowly took on aspects of each other’s character and personality while still remaining true to themselves.
This is how Pinback writes songs with a lot going on that comes together so perfectly. Songs that transition from bridge to chorus to verse to outro in such wonderful and unexpected ways. Songs that have a bass line that should compete with the guitar phrases but instead combine and support one another.
This style comes at a price, and in my experience, that price was their live performance. This is the 5th Pinback show I have seen, and the 4 times previous I have told myself I will never go to another one as each time something was wrong, when they played these songs I loved live, they simply sounded off. The different pieces of each song must align perfectly, the tempos must be exact, the volume levels complimentary, or you run the risk of sounding muddled and confusing. It was clear that time in the studio afforded them the ability to make sure everything was in its place when producing their recorded albums.
This time around they sounded excellent. Everything gelled and as an extra 'Fuck you!' to my apprehensive scowl, they played 'AFK' at a blistering fast tempo. Again, perfectly. I grinned, looked at Rob from the stage and thought, 'Alright, I get it. Fuck me. I’m the asshole. I was wrong and you guys sound dope'. I am pretty sure he looked back and me and understood what I was thinking.
It was a 3-piece this time around and the fewest I have ever seen. It was only Armistead, Rob and a drummer I didn’t recognize. They were assisted by background tracks, which may have accounted for the new found precision to their live show. Amistead wore a t shirt and jeans, a blank colored one without any ironic designs or obscure band names, the kind you find in a 3-pack at Kohl’s. Rob wore black shorts and a simple short sleeve buttoned up. They looked exactly how I thought they should, like two veterans in the indie music scene who never made it big enough to be assholes, and who are too old to care how cool they are. Ironically, they couldn’t have looked any cooler.
Amistead’s virtuosity was in full display, at Bimbo’s 365 it was easy to work your way to front and it was the closest I have been able to get to them. At that distance, it was easy to be marveled by the speed and technical ability of Amistead's bass playing. Their songs were complimented by a movie projector screen that played random images from old movies. Whether on purpose or not, I could not help but read into the relationship between the images and the songs being played, drawing out themes that might have been important and recognizable only to me.
Someone in the crowd shouted 'Welcome back Pinback!'. Indeed.
Setlist: Tres * Rousseau * Bloods On Fire * Devil You Know * Non-Photo Blue * True North * Drawstring * His Phase * Walters * Penelope * Loro * Diminished * Sender * Proceed To Memory * Boo * Barnes * Fortress * Good To Sea * Sherman * Offline PK * Syracuse * From Nothing To Nowhere * ENCORE: Grey Machine * Prog * AFK
Carmichael
