and you will know us by the trail of dead…

by stefan

I have only gotten into ToD in the last few months, so when I heard they
were going to be in town I was a little unsure if I wanted to go. However
due to lack of anything better to do and a whiling friend to go with I
decided it wouldn’t hurt to go, especially after hearing they put on a
pretty exciting live show. The show was supposed to be held at the Infamous
Commodore Ballroom however last minute they moved it to Richards on
Richards. I was a little disappointed about this as I have yet to see a show
at the Commodore. Regardless Richards is a very good venue, and the
disappointment didn’t last.

The first opening band for the show was Forget Cassettes, which is a duo of
Doni Schroader on drums and Beth Cameron on Guitar vocals. Doni Schroader
also plays for ToD now as a second drummer. For being a duo they sure create
big sound. They have an excellent ability to switch from slow melodic riffs
straight into loud heart pounding blasts in a very Pixiesesk fashion. One
thing that became very apparent during there set was that Doni Schroader is
a very talented drummer.

After the Forget Cassettes was a band called Dance Disaster Movement. I am
not going to say much about them besides the fact that is was 30 minutes of
my life I won’t get back. Having to see band was painful at best, and on an
aside the lead singer could really go with wearing a little less tight
pants, pulled a little higher up.

ToD finally took the stage close to midnight and blew any expectations I
might have had out of the water. They play with such an intensity that you
cannot help but rock out. I couldn’t believe how well the two drummers
sounded together; really adding an extra element to their music, Doni
Schroader complements this band very well. It was also wild to see Conrad
Keely and Jason Reece switch on and off of drums and guitar/vocals, both of
which they can play quite well. Conrad handling the more melodic songs while
Jason takes on more of the louder ones. Throughout the show the band would
through water at the crowd, destroy their beer bottles on stage, and were
basically off the wall definitely blurring the lines between the crowd and
band. Sometime during the show after throwing a bunch of water at the crowd
a bit of it ended up on Jason’s symbols. With a spotlight shining right on
the symbol it created a wild effect whenever Jason would hit his symbol by
making the water bounce straight up and down. Anyway the last song of the
set they destroyed the stage including most of there equipment before
leaving the stage. The crowd went nuts and wanted more. Conrad came out with
a silly look on his face trying to explain that it would be hard for them to
play another song with there destroyed equipment. After a few minutes of the
band putting together one usable drum kit for Doni they ripped into their
final song of the night Totally Natural with Conrad and Jason both doing
vocals.

This was probably one of the best shows I have seen all year, very intense,
totally rock. I am so glad I decided to go.

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and you will know us by the trail of dead…

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