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Minus the Bear is a name I have heard for years, but never seemed to track down. My only real experience with the band was seeing lead guitarist Dave Knudson\u2019s old band, Botch, years ago. With that being my only marker for what to expect, I was slightly taken back by what I heard when I checked out Minus the Bear. The sound was as far from Botch as I could imagine a band to be. It was melodic and inviting.<\/p>\nSo what does a band the lead guitarist was in over a decade ago really mean to this show? Not a whole lot, but sometimes you feel the need to disclose what you know.<\/p>\n
The band took the stage and in a flash of light, right into the audiences face, kicked into Steel & Blood. I was instantly in love the guitar riff, which was mirrored by the keyboards. The song had edge but was instantly accessible. It was musical gold, to be blunt about it.<\/p>\n
The follow up of Lies & Eyes was much more smooth and dropping the initial energy level down a little bit. The audience alternated between singing along and just standing there watching. It was not until after the show that I realized how heavy the set was with material from their newest album, Infinity Overhead.<\/p>\n
The good news? Minus the Bear put plenty of old favorites in between the new songs to keep everyone into the set. I know from past reviews we have done here on Minus the Bear, that there is a bit of contention between fans of the older material versus fan of the newer material, but from what I heard around me, the voices that sang along were there on everything outside of the new tracks. One of the best parts of this entire show was the voices in the audience singing along to every band.<\/p>\n
The audience stayed strong from the opening set to the final one, which was surprising, since normally when the audience is so into one of the opening bands, they are lukewarm to the headliner. However, Minus the Bear had the audience enthralled throughout the set and were met with a wall of applause as they came out for an encore of Pachuga Surprise.<\/p>\n
All in all, this set had moment of ups and downs for the uninitiated, like me, but those in the know seemed to be into the set from start to finish. And with an 11:10 pm shutdown, it gave the audience members time to converse outside as I ran over to the Studio for another show.<\/p>\n
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The second band of the night, which the audience was clearly all about, was Cursive.<\/p>\n
Cursive is a band I have always flirted with being into. I have been given mix tapes featuring the band, remember them from the old Emogame.com appearance and heard a ton of good reviews from friends I trust. I always really liked what I heard. Finally, it was time to check them out in person.<\/p>\n
From the first note, the tone was set. Shades of The Cure with enough rock edge to keep it interesting. These guys were wonderful. The addition of horns and keyboard from Patrick Newbery added a whole other dimension to the well-constructed songs the band presented. I love the feeling of hearing a song that would be solid without anything extra and then getting the build of layers that creates a complete work. Cursive did that perfectly.<\/p>\n
Vocalist\/guitarist Tim Kasher kept the set rolling with little discussion between songs. The audience was definitely well-versed in the songs as I heard the songs being sung around me. You could feel the caring the audience had towards the band.<\/p>\n
For a band that has been on the road for 17 years now (with only a short \u201cbreak-up\u201d period back in 1998), the energy was high, the music was tight and the band visibly was having fun with their set. The audience was singing and dancing along. It felt good to be in audience on a night like this.<\/p>\n
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Opening the show was San Antonio rock n\u2019 rollers, Girl in a Coma, who I\u2019ve been wanting to see for quite some time now, but have never been able to catch up with until now.<\/p>\n
In an abbreviated opening set, these three laid down a straight-ahead rock set with a ton of pop sensibility. That is the one thing I was no expecting to experience. Guitarist\/Vocalist Nina Diaz does an excellent job jumping from melodic crooning to abrasive growls. Her guitar playing does the same, single string runs that get you wrapped up in the song only to explode into heavy choruses.<\/p>\n
Bassist Jenn Alva and drummer Phanie Diaz keep the rhythm wonderfully and Alva even throws in some great backing vocals to give the sound more body. For being a three-piece band, the sound was huge and got the show off to an excellent start.<\/p>\n
Minus the Bear Setlist:<\/p>\n
Steel & Blood Lies & Eyes Game Needed Me Throwing Shapes Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse Into The Mirror Diamond Lighting Toska Knights Hooray T2 Mystery My Time Cold Company<\/p>\n
Pachuca Sunrise<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Samuel Barker Nov 01, 2012 at 08:00 PM Minus the Bear is a name I have heard for years, but never seemed to track down. My only real experience with the band was seeing lead guitarist Dave Knudson\u2019s old band, Botch, years ago. With that being my only marker for what to… <\/p>\n