Noise rockers, The Big Pink and A Place to Bury Strangers, visit Houston

I've been eagerly awaiting this show for a month now and, I must say that, it lived up and even surpassed all of my expectations. The show took place in the intimate setting of the Warehouse Live ballroom amid smoke machines, laser-type lighting, and strobe lights. The music, ambiance, and levels were absolutely perfect. The venue was almost completely filled which only added to the energy in the room.

The first band was "A Place to Bury Strangers", a noise rock band from Brooklyn whose music contains echoes of excellent shoegaze and noise artists like The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine while still sounding very fresh and original. The band included a bassist and guitarist on vocals and a drummer. During their set the stage was dark, smoke-filled, and occasionally interrupted by stabs of lighting and at the end, an explosion of strobe lights. Their stage presence was strong as they rocked back and forth, up and down, and danced in the flickering storm of light and smoke. The visuals combined with the almost tribal drumbeats of some songs and their erratic dancing made their set mesmerizing to watch.

I'm well acquainted with their music but I'm not going to waste any time naming too many songs, as usual, because I can never remember set lists. Just trust me when I say that it was great. If you haven't heard of A Place. . . and you're open to noise-rock and shoegaze (more noise-rock though) then I'd encourage you to start with their eponymous first album. You won't be disappointed.




This one isn't too sharp but I still think it's cool^


One of the best photos^



A Place to. . . was a hard act to follow, in my opinion; but The Big Pink were just as exciting. The lighting was brighter for their set so my photos are a lot better, even at a 3200 ISO the first set was hard to shoot. When front man, Robbie Furze, came out I was immediately drawn in. His crazy outfit and hairstyle were very glam-rock, which is always a plus for me. They played all the songs off their debut LP "A Brief History of Love" and even though a lot of them are very electronic and tightly produced there was enough of a live sound to the set that they all sounded organic rather than a very loud pre-recorded recital as some electronic bands do live. I didn't realize how much guitar was on the album until they played live. Furze was constantly playing guitar and acting as the backbone of the band rather than any of the electronic textures being used. It was a very robust performance with the highlights being "Frisk", "Count backwards from ten", "Velvet" and "Dominoes". Furze told us that he thought it was one of the best gigs on the entire tour so hopefully that means that they'll return to the Bayou City soon. The minute I see tickets for their return, believe me, I'll be the first one in line.






I'll upload another video from The Big Pink later. I'm having some internet issues.