Clearmotive/Grace Like Gravity/Per Capita
live in Denver (2004)
This was a good show.
Clearmotive is a band from Buffalo, NY who has released a full-length and an EP on Rainstorm Productions out of Buffalo, NY, and apparently Portland, OR. They rolled into the bluebird and nobody knew who they were…but that all changed.
Local opener Per Capita rocked as we walked in the door…this band looks super young but has boatloads of potential…they were hard and soft in just the right places, and their singer had some killer pipes. My only complaint is that he wasn't singing/screaming enough over some of the harder breakdowns, but that's just nitpicking. They set the stage.
Next was another local band Grace Like Gravity who I'd seen with Midtown and then again with Fallout Boy. Their songs sound a little like Thrice meets Rufio meets Brand New. They brought a lot of energy and a frontman in a tie who was drunkenly bouncing around the stage. The bass player was all over the place too, although he needs to work on his jumps of the drum stage. There were a bunch of guys with big video cameras recording them too, but the band looked more annoyed by this than the crowd. They never have a cd, although they announced that they will be releasing a cd next week that should be available in all local Denver record shops, at least that's what they said. Look forward to seeing more from these guys. The bass player also told me they were opening for some Suicide Girls show in February.
Then, as we were thinking of leaving (we got free tickets from a record store) Clearmotive began to play. Within six seconds we decided we could not move an inch. These guys rocked. The singer has moves that Geoff from Thursday and Adam from TBS could never touch. He reminded me of singers back before mic tricks were cool (even if he had a few of his own). I bought their album "Is There A Market For This", which seemed like was the majority of the set, including two great titles, "Boy Meets Girl…Hilarity Ensues" and "Huzzah! The Ship is Ours!"…which has to be a Pirates of the Caribean reference (sorry- obsessed with Johnny Depp). There is a big trend to the long, funny song name these days, and it can be annoying, but these guys rocked so hard live you had to forgive them.
So the show ruled, but seriously GO GET THE CLEARMOTIVE RECORDS! I overheard the singer telling someone from Grace Like Gravity that Victory records was at a show they played in Chicago, and it wouldn't suprise me if we hear a lot more from these guys in the very near future.