RX Bandits and The Dear Hunter on the same bill—this would have made no sense back in the early days of the RX Bandits, then again, The Dear Hunter weren’t even around then. My point being, if you remember RX Bandits during the early to mid 2000s, then you would remember them as one of the leaders of the so-called “third wave of ska” movement. I’m here to tell you that this is a much different band, one that has both matured and evolved into something very unique since that time leaving their cohorts in the dust.
The band’s latest record Gemini, Her Majesty was just recently released through Pledgemusic (of which I am a huge fan) and it’s quite a remarkable record. There are elements of pop-punk (think Acceptance at their peak) mixed with a bit of early ’80s Police (think “Message in a Bottle”) but fueled by some very progressive musicianship that reminds me of King Crimson during their finest hour (which I would say is the Red album). This is cool stuff folks, and while you might be thinking that my description is insane, I can promise you that it all comes together brilliantly both live and on the record.
In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd get more into a show at the Fillmore over the past 4 to 5 years that I’ve been going there. These fans are lifers for sure and the band delivered. An enormous capital R and an equally large capital X backlighting the legendary stage at the Fillmore was one of the coolest setups I’ve seen (although very difficult to shoot).
While I’m not going to go down memory lane and analyze the band’s evolution, I will say that Gemini, Her Majesty is a solid record that has something for almost everything. I really dig the songs “Ruby Cumulous” (the groove in this one is killer) and the true standout song “Stargazer” which should be blasting out of every car window and every pair of oversized hipster headphones this summer, that is, if it hasn’t been already and I just missed it. Either way, great stuff.
While I was really there to see RX Bandits I did arrive early to see The Dear Hunter. Let me start by saying that these guys have one of my favorite band names of recent memory. As I mentioned before, the only similarity I found between The Dear Hunter and RX Bandits was the progressive nature of their sound. Who in the hell knew that there were bands out there still putting together epic songs with brilliant lyrics and time signatures that could confuse Mudvayne? I sure as hell didn’t, but man was I impressed.
As I watched these guys live I kept thinking to myself, these guys have to be big Queen fans and it’s fucking awesome to see them keeping this genre alive and bringing it to a new audience. In the world of overproduced generic pop-crap all over the radio, after watching both of these bands live I think there might be hope for a new generation here. Just my thoughts though, now go see this show folks.
THE DEAR HUNTER
Check out the hi res photos in the gallery. Oh, and if the guys from The Dear Hunter are reading this, you ran out of the very cool brown t-shirts at the merch booth. I’m a walking billboard for you my friends, you can’t be selling out of that stuff so early on.
