Starts With One...

June 22, 2007. Baltimore, Maryland. Sonar. Shiny Toy Guns.

First off, happy birthday to my brother. This was his present, even though I wanted to go, too.

Currently situated in Delaware, I found myself on a road trip back to home sweet Baltimore. I still can’t navigate this city for the life of me, so in addition to traffic, we got pretty lost and ended up getting there a half hour late. For some reason, doors still hadn’t opened.

Sometimes, I get the strange feeling that Shiny Toy Guns are more trouble than they’re worth. Then you see them live and the show makes up for it tenfold. (Oh, and why do I get this feeling? Because four out of the six opportunities I’ve gotten to see them something came up on one of our parts and the show didn’t happen. Of the two shows that I did see, they were AMAZING.)

Well, somehow, even though we go there late and found ourselves around the corner of Sonar, we still managed to get in the second row. And after making friends with the girls in front of us, they made room so that I could be up front and my brother would be behind me. Shout out number two, to Sharpies_SmellGood and her girlfriend (who I accidentally forgot to learn their names, but maybe one day).

The Hourly Radio was the first band to play. They weren’t bad. Some songs sounded straight out of the 1980s. I liked them the best. Most of my attention was focused on bass and drums – maybe it was because they were the most prominently heard instruments, maybe not. The bassist, Tim Jansen was good. A lot of the lines were really simple, but others were pretty amazing. Drums were pretty good – I only remember one song well, and Vanderkolk played his heart out. I didn’t particularly like the vocals. Possibly because I couldn’t hear them, and when I could they sounded as if they were jumbled and really high pitched – kind of like a cracked out robot. The guitarist, Ryan Short, didn’t stand out to me at all.

They actually sound completely different on recording. Check out their myspace. The recordings aren’t bad.

Stars of Track and Field were fucking weird. I’m just going to put that out there. I only recorded one song, but one or two songs afterwards really weren’t bad. Honestly, that may not have been the best way to do things. Everyone around me was creeped out by the first two songs and immediately turned off. The lead guitarist was very drunk and my brother said he reminded him of the elf-man on the Starburst Berries and Cream commercial. Not a bad comparison if I may say so. Their lighting on some songs was enough to give a person a seizure. It wasn’t good.

The band performed with two guitarists, a drummer and a Macintosh Laptop. Their bassist “lives in a computer,” as the lead singer said. Why not just bring another person in to play bass? Why use a computer? I’m not sure how I feel about that.

As for their recordings the recording of Centuries is much more tolerable than the performance. Just a little less creepy. Almost pretty. But still weird. That was the song they opened with. With You might have been the third song they played. That one was actually really pretty. Albeit they were weird, but they did have some really pretty songs. I might actually pick up their album at some point when I have some money.

This is where I’m going to put a disclaimer. Before you go into a show, make sure you’re well hydrated and well fed. Otherwise you’re not gonna feel so hot. Take it from me I’ve learned it the hard way several times. Last night included.

“Shiny Toy Guns! Shiny Toy Guns!” Somehow chanting isn’t as epic when it’s a tiny venue. As the band set up, you could actually see drummer Mikey Martin backstage talking with one of the members of The Hourly Radio and smoking a cigarette. While we waited for the band to come out, my brother, the girls next to us and I sat down for a little “picnic.” Somehow I’d gotten really hot and couldn’t stand up (hence the disclaimer) and decided not to make it worse by standing and waiting. Set up took a bit and when the lights when out we were up and ready to go.

They look so different since I last saw them – except Carah. She pretty much looks the same. Chad looks like he hasn’t slept since I last saw them. Mikey’s lost a lot of weight. For some reason I feel like he had ‘chubby charm,’ or something, and that’s why I found him attractive… I’m not quite sure. And Jeremy has cut his hair. You can actually see his face. Well, Carah got more tattoos on her arms, but that doesn’t make her look any different.

Set List:
Starts With One
Jackie Will Save Us (Kennedy)
Rocketships
Stripped
Rainy Monday
Le Disko
Chemistry of a Car Crash
Don’t Cry Out
Encore
Shaken
You Are the One

Anyway, after a brief introduction, the concert started with Starts With One – one of the favorites, so there’s no complaining there. Followed by Jackie Will Save Me (Kennedy). Carah’s voice is stellar. She and Jeremy are so energetic.

After that, they played an old demo that I’d actually never heard before. Rocketships. It was epic! They followed with Stripped – a cover of the Depeche Mode song. Any way you hear it, it’s such a great song.

“Hey guys? Do you know what day it is today???” Friday? My brother’s birthday? No apparently it, it was a Rainy Monday. Silly Jeremy. He made me laugh. I like him. A lot. Afterwards, they played the song that is currently on the Gap soundtrack. Chemistry of a Car Crash. I still REALLY like that song.

Requests? Requests? The Weather Girl!!!! FREEBIRD!!!!!!!!! Chad won about 80 million points in my book for playing the beginning of Freebird. I knew I liked him for a reason. They actually started playing Don’t Cry Out a bit later and then left the stage.

The encore consisted of Shaken and You Are the One. Honestly, it wouldn’t be a Shiny Toy Guns show without You Are the One. Jeremy is my favorite person to watch during that song, for some reason, him kicking ass on the keyboards is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.

Jeremy was a lot more talkative than I remember him being. It was actually as if he was the front man of the band, which was really interesting. Carah Faye was all over the stage – interacting with everyone. She was great.

Aside from the music, the light show was AMAZING. I can’t even explain. But they certainly have gotten their lighting right.

Great, great, great show. Click around for goodies. (This is a test. The quality may not be amazing. But it's good enough for now.)