Sparta + Futher Seems Forever + Copeland + Sunshine @ Club Soda

Dallas Richter - Dont Mess With Dallas - 11/20/2004

Further Seems Forever – FSF, perhaps most commonly known for being Chris Carrabba’s (Dashboard Confessional) former band, were awesome in terms of sound. The band, now with John Bunch, former Sensefield frontman, sounded just as good live as on their studio recordings. Their stage presence, on the other hand, was mediocre at best. Not that I think bands should have to do backflips or breathe fire or whatever gimmicks bands use to try to keep audience attention, but move around a bit dude! Tell us about your first poutine experience…something, anything. Despite the somewhat stale delivery, FSF proved that a slightly more aged group can survive in a genre dominated by countless little kid, poser poetry bands that the scene is made up of (for the most part) Rantline worthy?.

Sparta – My expectations were not that high for Sparta. In fact, I had higher expectations for Further Seems Forever, as I was never a huge fan of Sparta. Despite some general belief that Sparta exists solely in the shadow of former superheroes, At The Drive In, I shan’t compare the two bands. An air of anxiety occupied Club Soda in the 15 minutes after FSF’s stage exit. The band seemed exceptionally confident upon arrival except for singer Jim Ward, whose shaking hands and desperate voice made the band seem slightly more human than the crowd had built them up to be. Sparta fuckin’ brought it! From the first song to the last, they dominated the stage. The moments in between songs consisted of weird guitar noises, deep hallow drum hits and soft lighting creating a sort of trippy dreamlike state (I was sober). Their 50 minute set blend of old and new, slow and fast left the crowd chanting for more, but more they would not get. No encore from the Sparta boys. It’s safe to say that I now hold Sparta in a higher esteem than I had from my concise sampling of their CDs. Their latest CD, Porcelein, is seemingly not good at first, but it really grows on you if you give it a chance.

Overall, the crowd was great. They were extremely welcoming, cheered a lot and made the bands feel comfortable and confident to do their thang. Audience members were slightly older than the generally young crowds at punk (and I use the word in the most HMV classifying sense) shows. I unfortunately missed the two opening bands which were Copeland and Sunshine. 4 out of 4 audience members I questioned assured me that I didn’t miss much, but I don’t wanna discredit them before giving them a chance, so I’ll try to dig up some of their songs.

This show get’s 7.5/10 on the Richter scale (Richter is my family name fool….clever).

Dallas hosts Don’t Mess With Dallas (Dallas is his first name fool…clever) every Tuesday from 8am to 10am. He swears that he has never used the Richter pun before.