{"id":1973,"date":"2004-03-11T20:00:36","date_gmt":"2004-03-11T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2015-10-20T15:06:53","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T15:06:53","slug":"jet-the-vines-and-the-living-end-engine-room-houston-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2004\/03\/11\/jet-the-vines-and-the-living-end-engine-room-houston-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"Jet, The Vines and The Living End – Engine Room – Houston, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by Jesse Flores <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar 11, 2004 at 08:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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\"TheOkay, fuck it. I didn\u2019t want to say this out of respect for the other headlining bands, but hands down, The Living End (TLE), the opening band, stole the entire show.I had never heard of TLE up until I was told I was going to be reviewing their show with Jet and The Vines. I didn\u2019t even bother to look them up or try and download anything. I just didn\u2019t care. So, when they came out on stage, the singer looking like a punk version of Brian Setzer with his hollow-body Gretsch, and the bassist looking like a 1940\u2019s jail-break with his black and white striped shirt and his checkered up-right bass (also black and white), I couldn\u2019t help but think that I was about to sit through one of those inevitable shitty openers. Thank God I was wrong.<\/p>\n

The three members of TLE rocked the stage like the Australian hillbilly punk rockers that they are. Whatever that means. They just plain rocked. It\u2019s the best thing to be blown away by a band you\u2019ve never heard before. Especially when you\u2019re not expecting it. Singer and guitarist Chris Cheney plays with the likes of Billy Joe of Green Day and solo\u2019s with the intensity of a Joe Perry lead (damn you if you don\u2018t know who Joe Perry is). And his vocals range from the likes of Bradley Nowell, of Sublime, and again, Billy Joe of Green Day. The bass lines from Scott Owen were so intricate and performed to perfection it\u2019d make any aspiring bassist just go ahead and give up and not feel bad about being a quitter. Drummer Andy Strachan was completely on point, had great time, super-duper chops and knew when to play and when not to play. After looking at the bands web site and seeing Dave Grohl listed as one of his influences, I realized completely where his drum-style comes from (unlike that bastard drummer from Good Charlotte who apparently has multiple Dave Grohl shrines in his house and on their tour bus, but in reality plays nothing like Grohl, Strachan actually has a very similar style to Daves: hard hitting, fast and flawless).<\/p>\n

When TLE first jumped on stage, I was a bit confused, a bit uninterested, and found myself asking why this and how come that. But when they were done, it all made sense. They were just there to rock. And they did.<\/p>\n

Next up was Jet. They are such a blatant rip off of every band from The Beatles to Lynrd Skynrd to AC\/DC, that it\u2019s almost pointless to try and argue them an original band. And I think they know it. The best part is, they don\u2019t care. If you\u2019re one of those technical music listeners that won\u2019t have anything to do with a band unless they are doing something completely original (we all know a few), then these guys aren\u2019t for you and be glad you missed the show. I couldn\u2019t tell whether or not they were playing their own songs or somebody else\u2019s. But, that\u2019s not what matters at a concert (originality only matters for the albums sake). All that matters at a concert is that they play loud, with enthusiasm, consume alcoholic-beverages, rock-out and play songs that people can sing along with. They did just that. Oh yeah, and they even scored some skin. At one point, singer and guitarist Nic Cester yelled out, “Thanks for the boobies!” as some chick up front flashed the band.<\/p>\n

For me, the best part of the show was when they played the fourth track off of their debut album, “Get Born,” a very Lennon type track, titled “Look What You\u2019ve Done.” Except it pissed me off that they played it acoustically instead of on piano. The album version sounds much better. Oh well, still sounded good. And of course, there was the sing-along to the single, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” which I could have done without.<\/p>\n

As for The Vines, singer and guitarist, Craig Nicholls, was definitely, most assuredly, without a doubt, fucked up. He sang off-key at times, hit completely off notes on his guitar, screamed ridiculously, gained lots of hi-pitched feedback from his amp, and even seemed to be ad-libbing new lyrics to his songs. But it was great.<\/p>\n

He rocked-out, threw his strat\u2019 into the drums, drank whatever he was drinking, made weird gestures, flicked off some people, fell over, jumped off the drum riser, and continued to sing crazily and almost annoyingly. It was punk rock and fucked up. The band was far from flawless and sometimes barely together, but some-how, it worked. Not one of them looking a day over 18. The crowd sang-along and remained jumping and shouting amongst the beer-slicked floor. They played “Get-Free” and he screamed nonsense during the chorus. He didn\u2019t care, at all. And neither did the crowd. It was just about having fun. Like it should be.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Jesse Flores Mar 11, 2004 at 08:00 PM Okay, fuck it. I didn\u2019t want to say this out of respect for the other headlining bands, but hands down, The Living End (TLE), the opening band, stole the entire show.I had never heard of TLE up until I was told I was going to… <\/p>\n

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