Concert Review: WAYNE STATIC, AMERICAN HEAD CHARGE, SMILE EMPTY SOUL, and THIRA in Minneapolis

Wayne Static, American Head Charge, Smile Empty Soul, Thira

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Skyway Theatre, Minneapolis, MN

Click on any of the photos to see more live pictures of the respective band on my Flickr site.

About 20 bands had been playing since early afternoon in the main theater and the smaller Studio B room at the Skyway, and I arrived just as Blue Felix left the stage. The time between sets was very short, so I reluctantly stayed in the theater and missed all of the performances in Studio B. This was my first time seeing local industrial metal band Thira, and the horrendous sound made it a disappointing experience. The band was tearing it up on stage, but unfortunately the muddy sound left Thira’s music an indecipherable mess.

Surprisingly, the crowd was slow to warm up to rock radio favorites Smile Empty Soul. Leading off their 30 minute set with “Black And Blue” from their new album Chemicals, the band mixed up some album cuts with a few of their many singles. After playing “Don’t Ever Leave” and “Faker”, the audience finally came to life midway through the show for “Silhouettes”. “False Alarm” and “Bottom Of A Bottle” were well-received before “Hard Biter” closed the set. Original bassist Ryan Martin is staying off the road due to the expected arrival of he and his wife’s first child this summer, so Phil Lipscomb from Taproot filled in and seemed like a natural fit for the band. Guitarist/vocalist Sean Danielsen was stuck by the mic stand for most of the show, but he managed to step back at times while ripping out some solos. Despite the slow start, Smile Empty Soul managed to put on a great show that was far too short.

I hadn’t seen local favorites American Head Charge since their release show for The War Of Art at First Avenue in 2001, and tonight left me with a far more favorable impression of the band. They came out like they had something to prove to the 2,000+ strong crowd, and one couldn’t help but be impressed. Yes, this was a hometown crowd, but the audience went nuts throughout the entire nine-song, hour-long show from the moment the band took the stage and launched into “A Violent Reaction”. Nearly the entire set was drawn from The War Of Art and last year’s Shoot EP; “Pledge Allegiance” from The Feeding was the only exception. Guitarist Ted Hallows was having what appeared to be major technical problems and the band forged on without him until he finally emerged from behind the backline to play late in the show. A frustratingly long time was taken between songs, often to do silly things like handing the remaining sandwiches from catering out into the crowd. Despite the problems, American Head Charge was the highlight of the night. Former guitarist Benji Helbert even came out to play “Seamless”, while guitarist Karma Cheema took a dive into the crowd and got into a scuffle with security (I previously wrote out this here in some detail, and I now have some video footage of the incident that I’ll be posting). American Head Charge is sounding better than they ever have, and they proved to be a difficult act to follow.

Former Static-X frontman Wayne Static closed the show, and playing after American Head Charge’s home crowd proved to be difficult. Wayne’s band is effectively an all-new version of Static-X in all but name only, and the band’s signature flaming X logo was even used on stage props and banners (and notice the larger, more prominent color Static-X logo on the flyer). This tour was to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the ground-breaking and much-beloved Wisconsin Death Trip album, but the performance of the album seemed flat and uninspired. Having seen the original band play most of these songs many times, going back to tours before the album was even released, tonight’s show just couldn’t match those early tours. The crowd didn’t seem to notice, however, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. A few songs were played after running through Wisconsin Death Trip in its entirety, the best being “Assassins Of Youth” from Wayne’s Pighammer solo album. I hate being so negative because this really wasn’t a bad show, but it’s difficult to shed past memories of how great Static-X used to be and this just didn’t live up to that standard.

Tours: ULI JON ROTH Cancels North American Guitar Gods Tour, Reveals Plans to Return to U.S. in Spring 2015

Uli Jon Roth performing February 16, 2013 at Neisen's in Savage, Minnesota. Click on either picture to see more photos of Uli and his band (63).

Surely this is the most disappointing concert news of the year. Uli Jon Roth, legendary solo artist and former Scorpions guitarist, made the announcement on his Facebook page that he’s been forced bow of his upcoming tour with Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Gary Hoey, and Bumblefoot:

“Unfortunately we are forced to cancel my participation in this tour due to unforeseen circumstances which are beyond our control. We don’t know why, but work visas got mysteriously delayed for no apparent reason to the point where we were left with no other reasonable choice but to cancel at this late stage. In over 30 years of obtaining US visas this has never happened to me, but I guess there’s always a first.

I would have love to play for the North-American audience on this tour, like so many times before, but I’m my three guitar-playing friends will be just fine without me and will more than make up for it with their considerable skills. I’m wishing them best luck and lots of inspiration!!!”

Uli responded in the comment thread to his post with the news that he’s planning to return to North America early next year:

“I’ll be back some time in the Spring! See you then hopefully.”

The Guitar Gods tour featuring Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Gary Hoey, and Bumblefoot comes to the Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis on Monday, June 23.

SMILE EMPTY SOUL Interview: “We probably won’t make another full length album” Says Vocalist/Guitarist Sean Danielsen

California’s Smile Empty Soul achieved immediate success with their debut, self-titled album in 2003, aided by the support of rock radio for the record’s three singles: “Bottom Of A Bottle”, “Nowhere Kids”, and “Silhouettes”. Their heavy, melodic songs got them lumped in with similar bands such as Chevelle and Breaking Benjamin, and were embraced by both fans and critics. Despite this and a string other successful albums, Smile Empty Soul over the last ten years has had each of their albums released on a different record label. Undoubtedly, the lack of long-term financial backing by a single company has been frustrating. A lesser-committed band would have certainly called it a day by now, but Smile Empty Soul undertook the huge responsibility of taking control of every aspect of the work in forming their own label imprint (Two Disciples Entertainment) in partnership with Pavement. Chemicals, the first result of this arrangement, was released in October 2013 and the band has been on the road nonstop to promote it. Currently on tour with Wayne Static and Twin Cities bands American Head Charge and Thira, Smile Empty Soul has five upcoming shows in Minnesota (details below), including one Saturday, June 7 at the Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis, as well as some headlining dates.

Smile Empty Soul (photo courtesy of the band)

In answering some questions by email, founding vocalist and guitarist Sean Danielsen commented, “Not at all,” on whether the speed at which Chemicals was recorded (two weeks, nearly unheard of in this day and age) had the band feeling rushed. “We made the record fast, but that was by design. Chemicals has so much more of a human feel than some of our other records we spent more time on, and we'll record like that from now on.” Fans shouldn’t expect new music any more frequently, however, as Sean explains that “There's still always gonna be a cycle to things. You release music, and then you go on tour a bunch. Just because we can make a record quicker doesn't mean we'd spend less time promoting it. Even if we only release EPs from now on it would probably be once a year or two years.”

The mention of EPs raises the timely issue of whether releasing new music in the traditional album format makes sense when streaming is the biggest growth area in music consumption. Sean reveals Smile Empty Soul’s intentions by stating, “We've already decided that we probably won't make another full length album. As the times change you need to evolve with them, and it doesn't really make a lot of sense for a band like us to record and release 10 or more songs at one time. Look for us to release EP's from now on, most likely.” He does view releasing new music as essential: “Making new music is what this is all about. That's why we do this. It's true that you don't make any money from album sales, but that would never stop us from making music. Even if we stopped doing Smile Empty Soul, I'm sure we'd all be releasing music on our own.”

Now that the band is in full control of their career with their own label imprint without deep corporate pockets, the success of Chemical’s first single, “False Alarm” is surely welcome. Sean admits that the “costs to run a radio campaign are insane.” Despite this and other potential frustrations, he adds that “We'd like to stick with our own imprint if possible. We like to do our thing, our way.”

Watch the video for "False Alarm", the lead single from Chemicals

After a well-deserved rest at home in July, Smile Empty Soul will return to the road for a headlining run in August and September. Touring is the lifeblood of bands more than ever, and Sean encourages people that view Smile Empty Soul as simply a radio band with its implied negative connotations to come check out the band live. He comments that those that only know their radio songs are “Usually impressed with our live show and want to get deeper into our music. I think they're surprised they haven't heard more of our music based on the quality of our songs and live show.”

Smile Empty Soul plays a remarkable five concerts in Minnesota this week, so there’s no reason to miss this great band. Go to the band’s webpage for all tour dates, and here are the upcoming ones in Minnesota:

June 5 – Moorhead, MN, The Garage Bar, Summer Static Fest, w/Wayne Static, Bobaflex, Shadow Of A Giant, Thira, Angel Roze, Romantic Rebels, Killform, Six Gun Freedom, Star Crown, Sinematic, Anomic, and A Dying Tide

June 6 – Rochester, MN, Wicked Moose, w/Wayne Static, American Head Charge, Thira, and Embrace The Ending

June 7 – Minneapolis, MN, Skyway Theatre & Studio B, Totally F*kn Awesome Fest, w/Wayne Static, American Head Charge, Thira, Blue Felix, Nuisance, Black Flood Diesel, Gabriel And The Apocalypse, I Corvinus, Solution Thirteen, Born In Regression, Rooin, Emergent, Tepetricy, Pinwheel, Ashes From Stone, Spacemaniam, Names To Faces, Karma Sutra, Piranha, Whither The Tide, A Pre-Fabricated Lie, Shadow Of The Giant, Killform

June 8 – Sauk Rapids, MN, Bubba’s (headline show)

June 9 – Duluth, MN, Clyde Iron Works (headline show)

YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN to Headline Guitar Gods Tour, Minneapolis Show June 23

In case you missed the news a couple weeks back, guitar legend Yngwie J. Malmsteen has announced the Guitar Gods Tour that has him teaming up with the powerhouse bill of Uli Jon Roth, Gary Hoey, and Bumblefoot across North America for what should go down as one of the best concerts of the year. Love him or hate him, it cannot be denied that Yngwie influenced metal guitar players in ways not seen since Ritchie Blackmore and Eddie Van Halen. Remember how the saying goes - there's the right way, the wrong way, and there's Yngwie!

Uli Jon Roth performing February 16, 2013 at Neisen's in Savage, Minnesota. Click on any of the pictures to see more photos from this concert (63).

I've seen Yngwie twice, first on the godly Trilogy tour (supporting Triumph) and again in support of The Seventh Sign, and it's impossible walk away from one of his shows slack-jawed. Making this an extra-special night is the inclusion of Uli Jon Roth. Uli's show last year at Neisen's in Savage, Minnesota was hands down the best concert I saw last year (reviewed here), and this tour has him once again playing an all-Scorpions set of classics from the five albums on which he performed. The bottom line is that you don't want to miss this tour.

The tour stops in Minneapolis at the Skyway Theatre on Monday, June 23. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketfly, and the seated floor section is already sold out. Here's the full list of tour dates:

June 12 - Wilkes-Barre, PA, Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
June 13 - Huntington, NY, The Paramount
June 14 - Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom
June 15 - Akron, NY, Braun's Concert Cove
June 17 - Englewood, NJ, Bergen Performing Arts Center
June 18 - Cleveland, OH, The Agora
June 20 - St. Charles, IL, Arcada Theatre
June 21 - Toronto, ON, Phoenix Concert Theatre
June 22 - Joliet, IL, Mojoes
June 23 - Minneapolis, MN, Skyway Theatre
June 26 - Seattle, WA, Showbox Presents
June 27 - Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
June 28 - Richmond, BC, River Rock Casino
July 2 - Santa Ana, CA, The Observatory
July 3 - Beverly Hills, CA, Saban Theatre
July 5 - Ramona, CA, Ramona MainStage
July 7 - Las Vegas, NV, House of Blues
July 8 - Tucson, AZ, Rialto Theatre
July 10 - Dallas, TX, House of Blues
July 12 - Houston, TX, House of Blues

WRETCHED To Tour U.S. In August, Play Minneapolis August 17

Technical deathcore band Wretched will hit the road across the U.S. in August with Abiotic, Allegaeon, and Rivers Of Nihil, bringing them to Minneapolis on Saturday, August 17 for a show at Studio B at the Skyway Theatre. Local support at the Minneapolis show will come from The Astraea Complex and Solar Slaughter.

August 2 – Winston-Salem, NC, Ziggy’s

August 3 – Newark, DE, Mojo Main

August 4 – Jeannette, PA, Gators

August 6 – Trenton, NJ, The Backstage at Championships

August 7 – Hartford, CT, Webster Hall

August 8 – Rochester, NY, Montage Music Hall

August 9 – Buffalo, NY, Waiting Room

August 10 – Cleveland, OH, Peabody’s

August 11 – Westland, MI, The Token Lounge

August 13 – Joliet, IL, Mojoe’s

August 14 – Portage, IN, Camelot Hall

August 16 – Peoria, IL, The Brass Rail

August 17 – Minneapolis, MN, Skyway Theatre Studio B, w/The Astraea Complex, Solar Slaughter

August 20 – Oklahoma City, OK, The Chameleon Room

August 21 – Houston, TX, Scout Bar

August 22 – San Antonio, TX, White Rabbit

August 23 – Austin, TX, Dirty Dog Bar

August 24 – Fort Worth, TX, Tomcats West

August 25 – Little Rock, AR, Downtown Music Hall

August 26 – Nashville, TN, Exit/In

August 27 – Louisville, KY, Diamond Pub and Billiards

August 28 – Atlanta, GA, The Masquerade

August 29 – Destin, FL, Club LA

August 30 – Jacksonville, FL, Jack Rabbits

August 31 – Lake Worth, FL, The Speakeasy