Tuesday night, the Bloomfield Ave. Café hosted the "New Faces From Different Places" tour for about 150 fans on a hot evening in NJ. This tour featured Victory's new blood, Chicago's the Audition, as well as Seattle's Aiden. Headlining the the tour was England's the Hurt Process. The first three bands have their Victory debuts that were just released, or will be released in the next two months.
Starting off the show was Victory's newest band the Audition. The Audition hails from Chicago, the same scene that features Victory's other new bands the Forecast, the Junior Varsity, and Spitalfield. Chicago is becoming a melting pot for bands in this genre, which also includes established acts Fall Out Boy, Plain White T's, and the Academy Is...
The Audition is a four-piece similar to other bands in their genre, mainly Fall Out Boy. The Audition played new tracks off their debut Controversy Loves Company out September 20th on Victory, as well as "Dance Dance" off their EP. They have the look, the sound, and good stage presence, but they bring nothing new. They have a dancy power-pop sound, which is promising, but do little to establish an identity in an already-crowded genre. Maybe when the full-length is released, they will manage to stand out from the rest. Time will tell. The next band was Aiden.
Aiden from Seattle played next. Aiden is a five-piece from Seattle, Washington, and are Victory's signee as well. From a first glance, Aiden looks like a My Chemical Romance clone. From Victory's announcement of the signing, many wrote them off as just that; I know I did. How I was wrong.
Aiden look like they try way too hard. Decked out in all black, they could be poster boys for Hot Topic. From a glance, they seem like a second-rate AFI or My Chemical Romance. Singer Jake is decked out with full sleeves, neck tattoos, and looks strangly similar to Davey Havok. From first glance, anyone would write this band off as a joke.
Aiden took the stage and jumped into songs off their split with Stalin's War, A Split Of Nightmares, and their EP Our Gang's Dark Oath. They blasted through 8 or so songs, getting everyone in the crowd into it. They closed with their signature song "I Set My Friends On Fire," getting everyone to sing along.
The "New Faces Tour" introduced the masses to Aiden, as it was Aiden's first U.S. tour (they previously toured in the Midwest on school breaks and took a run with Silverstein and the Black Maria in Europe). Members Jake D and Angel actually just graduated high school this year. Suprisingly, Aiden had the biggest draw of the night, and had a small army of girls wearing tee-shirts, which is rare for a band with nothing released nationally, and never having played on this side of the country. They play an energetic type of punk/goth/glam in the vein of AFI, My Chemical Romance, and the Misfits. It's actualy a refreshing sound compared to Victory's current, generic sound. They are also some of the nicest, down-to-earth guys. Many songs had fast double-time beats over melodic punk rock. Aiden has recently picked up Victory's trophy band Hawthorne Heights' big-time management, and have an opening spot on their fall tour, which coincides with their album release on October 4th. Aiden also plan on returning to Europe in the late fall.
Aiden have all the ingridents for sucess: the look, the sound, the backing, and the live show. Expect huge things from Aiden in the near future; they will be huge. Next was England's the Hurt Process.
The Hurt Process is a five-piece from England. Described as "England's best export" from Victory Records, THP's first album Drive By Monologue received horrible reviews, and was quickly forgotten. They have a sound similar to Victory's other screamers Silverstein and Hawthorne Heights, but THP's sound comes off as a second rate rip-off, and way too formulated. Their first release was actualy a guilty pleasure of mine last year, and hearing they were finaly going to tour the U.S. (they played selected Warped dates last year), I thought I would check them out. On their new release A Heartbeat Behind, THP ditched their generic screamo sound for double-bass drumming and guitar-work in the vein of Victory's other band Atreyu. But as they came off as a second-rate Hawthorne Heights on their previous record, they come off the same on this album, just sounding like Atreyu this time.
THP isn't necessarily a bad band. The musicanship and overall sound is very well-executed, and if you overlook them sounding like everyone else, and take them for what they are, you will enjoy their album; I did. They don't reinvent the genre or bring anything new to the table, but if you look past that fact, they are very enjoyable. They played the majorty of their new album, with the exception of "This Piece" from their previous effort. The room was nearly empty after Aiden's set, but the small group of fans left in the room sang every word, and THP played for the 15 or so kids there like it was 500. They truly deserve better, and put on a great show.
Overall, "New Faces From Different Places" was a sucess. The tour showcased future stars Aiden and promising young guns the Audition, as well as the semi-established the Hurt Process. In the fall after Aiden, and the Audition's debut albums are released, we will be able to look back and remember this show as the starting point for two promising careers. Sadly, for the Hurt Process, I can only hope they dig out of the hole they are stuck in, and find their own sound.