Aug 29
- The Trophy Life, Mr. Orange Undercover, Double Clutch, Jake -
The Scene
Well, here we are again.. Same old, same old.. Just a new band, but a traditional singer.. Same drama, same people.. But, a surprising feeling, that you can't really find anywhere else. Sure, I've said that TwentyOneRest has an awesome presence, and a beautiful stage show, and they TOTALLY do.. However, there's something about Evan.. There's always been something about Evan. Here, let me explain.

So, I met Erin at In-N-Out, as usual, and I had a normal Red Bull, and then a sugar-free one, because my mother is crazy.. So, we had to go to our traditional gas station to purchase more, and naturally get gas, and then we were on our way. Traffic was horrible, holiday weekend.. But, it's alright considering we had the "We're on our way to a 21Rest show" CD, and I brought my pirated The Trophy Life CD, so things were good. Erin loved Evan's vocals, she thought the intro to 'Ember' was really hott.. I agree. Jaime came with us, and she loved the stuff. She said that she normally doesn't like emo because it's generally do whiney, but she enjoyed The Trophy Life. Yay!

So, we drove, and I drank my four Red Bull, and then we got to Clairmont Mesa.. But, we were way early, so we went to Starbucks. Erin wanted a caramel frapp, and I kinda had to pee, so we dealt with our issues in Starbucks, and then Jaime was hungry so we went to McDonalds, and then finally headed back to the show. We wandered around the parking lot, looking for people we knew, and then we ended up looking at this tattoo magazine, and there was this pic of this guy who got half of his torso tattooed, and the un-tattooed side was SUPER hairy.. like carpet.. So, the side they tattooed was all shaved down, but the other side.. EW! For those of you who don't know.. I hate, HATE, body hair. I mean, with the people I love I can deal with it, but if its anyone else.. Gross.

So, The Trophy Life showed up.. all adorned with blue jeans and a black shirt, but no Evan.. He was a little late to the party. But, there was this random girl with super swishy hair.. like a bad Jan Brady. It was just random.. well, she was random. Whatever. So, I wandered over to talk to Roy, the drummer of The Trophy Life, just to say "Hi!", and see how things had been. Roy introduced me to Mark, one of the guitar players in the band.. He's a cool guy, I suppose. I don't know, he just seems a little superficial, but that's alright, it very well might just be me. Either way, Evan showed up shortly thereafter, and he was REALLY out of it..

Ok, side note. Sometime, about a week and a half ago, prior to the show, Evan cracked his sternum, long story.. It's not that important. But, either way, sternum injuries are immensely painful, so he's been pretty much sitting around at his dad's house not doing much of anything, because he can't really. But, he's been on Tylenol codeine, and that stuff makes you super sleepy, kinda like vicodin, so.. Evan was a little out of it. I was up at his house a few hours before the show, and he was sound asleep.. not surprising.

And, Evan didn't match the rest of the group. It was probably intentional to single him out at the lead singer, but still.. He was in Dickie's and this white Swindle t-shirt, with a baseball long-sleeved shirt beneath that.. but, the baseball shirt had one of the sleeves cut off, so only one of the long sleeves stuck out beneath the Swindle t-shirt. It was funny. I love Swindle. Oh, well. When we get pictures, I'll put them up. You can see Evan in all of his strangeness.. LoL. And, then Erin had to start yelling to everyone in the world, really loud, about how I got my tongue pierced.. It's all because of this story I wrote, and I had my tongue pierced.. And, this party.. And, band people were there.. And, well.. Anywhoo..

We finally decided to enter the venue, and the first band, called Mr. Orange Undercover was on. We got in for free, and we got Evan his wristband deal, since he's in a band. Once inside, we started musing around, looking for people that would be familiar to.. Well, I don't know.. There's just a certain crowd of people, call them what you will, that are usually present at these shows, with these Ramona kids.. It's a little confusing, but to those of you who have ever come with me to any TwentyOneRest, RxDrama, or London's Falling show, you know the exact crowd of people I'm talking about.

Mr. Orange Undercover's drums were all over the place, but half-way decent, surprisingly. Many bands have beautiful sound, but their drummers are just all over the place.. These guys were halfway decent. The song that they played just after they announced that they had CD's was actually quite good, simply cheeky if you will. Overall though, the entire band was a little typical. The vocals sounded like Dashboard Confessional, and the overall sound of the music was typical to any emo/punk band. The lead singer played bass though, which you don't see too often, so that was kinda nice. But, there was no significance between each of their songs, they all sounded the same, except the first one I heard.. Other than that, every song was a typical emo/punk song, and it all just blended together. Oh, well.

They did had half-way decent random guitar solo's though.. LoL. The enunciation of the vowels though, as in consonants and vowels, by the lead singer reminded Erin of the lead singer of Shaw.. But, I think it was overall a Dashboard-ey sound. There was this one time though, that the lead singer was all wandering around, bobbling his head, like a bobble-head doll. It was funny. You should've been there. And, then the whole band was doing it, it was the bobble-head doll band. LoL. But, then I noticed that the drummer's drums were Ludwig, and that made me think of Ladwig, and then it was just no more.

So, Mr. Orange Undercover was finally done, and Erin and I were looking around for the typical 'crowd'. There was no Weston, or Tyler, or Marissa, or Ally, or well.. The gang. But, it's alright. There was this random little kid, he was.. I dunno.. maybe seven.. It was just funny, because he was standing there with his hands over his ears because it was so loud, and I just thought to myself in my head, "Duh?!" Whatever. And, there was this randomly huge burly guy.. Like something out of a bad action movie, all tan and ripped, but gross.. I don't know how to explain it. It was just random. And, there was this like eighty year old woman.. Peculiar.

So, Double Clutch began to set up their stuff, and Erin, Jaime and I went outside to talk, and Erin and I remembered at the last 21Rest show about how Aaron was calling the band a camel without water, and Weston was all like "yea, we're a backless camel - a hump-less camel".. It was funny. We spotted Evan, but he still seemed tired. There was still no Tyler, or Bill, or any of them.. 9 Jaime said that Evan reeked of liquor.. I dunno, I don't think so, but whatever, that's his deal either way, not mine. Erin was teasing the smoker's outside the venue, because none of them had a cigarette, but she did, so she'd randomly take them out and put them back in her purse, and pretend to light up.. It was funny.

But, then I needed my last Red Bull, which was in Erin's car, so we left the venue, and I wanted a double-shot, and so we drove to the gas station. As we were leaving though, it looked as though Evan thought we were leaving leaving, like as in not coming back, I kinda felt bad.. I kinda felt bad because I didn't get a bigger crowd for them. Bad promoting. I mean, I haven't needed to promote anything since Les Miz, but before that, since 21Rest had their last show in December at Cane's, it's no excuse, but it's all I've got. So, we got our double-shots, and then headed back to The Scene.

Once there, we headed in and I powered down the rest of my Red Bull, and a double-shot.. Caffeine is good when you don't really sleep.  Oh, and I saw this yellow acura, and I thought it was Weston, but it wasn't.. It made me sad. But, that's how it is. By the time we got back though, Double Clutch was on, and they were actually pretty good. I must say. They had really strong intros to each of their songs, and the vocals were pretty typical, but the lyrics were hard to decipher, so I can't really say if they were good or not. I had this sugar free Red Bull in my hand for Evan, remember the random one my mother gave me, well I don't drink the sugar free ones, but he does, so I was trying to find him.. But, he was all lost.

Double Clutch however, decided to eat up their crowd all over the place and act like the biggest band ever, it was interesting. They randomly introduced the members of their band, and went on about who was single and not, and the girls in the crowd just ate it up. There was this constant squealing from the silly girls, it was entertaining. But, then they went back to playing, and they were just all over the place, literally, working the stage beautifully. The lead singer randomly would start dancing, it was quite amusing, but it worked in some sense I suppose. Then, they'd all jump together at certain parts of their songs, like a boy band punk band, it was funny. And, then the lead singer, introduced their drummer, Gavin, and how this show was dedicated to his grandmother (the random eighty year old woman I mentioned earlier), so that was cool.

But, then the band had to randomly tune their guitars before they played 'Keeping Score', about how Gavin can't get a date; THAT was random. So, their drummer and bassist made up "intermission music" as the lead singer called it, it made me think of Brant and Sean and I think it was a Scene show, when Weston was having issues with his guitar. It was funny. I miss Brant.. 9 And, then there was this random guy on stage doing the Mr. Roboto dance.. that was interesting. Overall though, the band has a very good stage show, I was pleased by it. I'd definitely go see them again sometime. Their song, 'Mind Games' had a typical intro though, but it was very well executed. And, then the show was over, and there were these random three guys trying to start a mosh pit, it was kinda funny.

No wait! They played one more song after that, but I don't remember what it was called, but the lead singer dedicated it to these three "hott" girls in the front row. I don't know, I didn't see them. But, it was like "wanna get laid?".. It was funny. It was such a ploy. Oh, well. You can do that, when you're in a band.  But, their drummer, Gavin, reminded me of Brant. He was all over the place, not as good as Brant, but all over the place like that. And, their guitarist did the COOLEST thing! He ran across the stage, and randomly threw up his arms, then jumped and landed on the stage, started playing his guitar again, ran to the other side of the stage, jumped and landed, and then threw his guitar over his shoulder, and as in came back around to the front of his body, started playing again.. It was pretty sweet.

So, Double Clutch was over, and Erin went outside to smoke.. Cause she's cool like that.. cough.. And, The Trophy Life started setting up, but Evan was missing, off doing, whatever.. And, there was this random photographer girl, it was cool and all, but annoying when her flash got all in your eyes. But, then Evan randomly walked in, and I gave him the Red Bull, and he was happy, and there was no Weston.. But, Bill, and Aaron from 21Rest, and Tyler, Evan's little brother, and Tom Clark, this guy that my dad used to work with, were all there. It was cool. I was happy. I talked to Aaron, but he was being, a little peculiar, I don't know.. He just seemed very annoyed with me. Oh, well. I'm sorry. He got a cool tattoo of these eyes on the underside of his right forearm.. It looks like a picture I drew once, so it kinda made me laugh. Oh, well.

The Trophy Life started out of nowhere, with 'Hide Away', and Evan was ALL OVER the place.. Like, running around the stage, fighting with his mic cord, it was random. His vocals were beautiful though, so that's all that really matters, and the bridge in the song was really nice. Jason's bass line was beautiful, I simply loved it. Jason moves like Wes Borland on stage, as a bassist, it's the funniest thing ever, but it's totally awesome. Near the end of the song, Evan totally zoned, as if staring at something or someone in the audience. The color washed from his face and his eyes were focused yet trembling, it was odd.. It was like he was scared.. Of what or whom, I can't say, that's his deal.. But, it was interesting.

Then, he was having monitor difficulties, and wanted more vocals in the monitors. 'Phoenix' came after 'Hide Away', and the vocals were totally lost in the beginning.. But, the come back was spectacular.. really it was.  I used to tell him, years ago, when he was in RxDrama, about how there are the times when you let all of your inhibitions go, and you re-live and re-feel everything that compelled you to write a song, and it's then and only then that you can ever truly find your voice.. He TOTALLY found it. It was quite possibly the best display ever. And, the emotion.. Good Lord, the emotion.. He kept grabbing at his shirt, pulling, tugging.. And, there was this lyric, "She took my heart then fell into me", (at least that's what I think it was), and it came across beautifully.. Shirt clenched in hand, mic wrapped in the other, and that feeling in his eyes, that Evan feeling.. It's so hard to explain, but when you see it, you know it's real, and there's nothing greater.

Evan got himself all cottonmouth, and had to declare it on stage as he was drinking from his water bottle, it was amusing. 'Ink' came after that, with mic cord still wrapped around his wrist. And, then he started being a bobble-head doll! It was so random. It's like the entire night was the night of the bobble-head doll bands. Crazy. The format of 'Ink' though is really REALLY cool. The way each of the individual pieces of the song fit together is perfect. There was this soft slow build into this faster louder swell, and then it would slip back down again and rise up even stronger. It was perfect. And, there were these random little "ooOOoo" at the end of the song, that made me think of the end of 'Drifter' by 21Rest.. Oh, well.

'Do You Know' came after 'Ink', and it.. Well, let me explain.. Remember what I was saying about reliving moments in songs, and the feelings that you felt that caused you to write the song in the first place. Well, the strongest performances, for anyone, are those when you relive those moments, be they bad or good, because that emotion is conveyed through your performance.. Evan was in that zone at the beginning of 'Do You Know'. He was kneeling at the front of the stage, with one foot on the stage monitor, and his hand atop it, rocking the monitor, pulling it toward him, then pushing it away, fighting with it during "Save me/I need to know/I'm all alone/Don't turn around/Don't turn around".. Somewhere at the end of the first chorus though, he broke himself out of it, stood, walked to the back of the stage, and at "As I chase elations glow" had begun to pull up his left pant leg, grasping the material in his fingertips. The conviction..

But, then the guitar break came, just before the lyric "Driving, pushed out of scene", which never did get sung on this night, but the guitar break was beautiful, I'll say that. Applause goes out of Mark and Chris. And, as the music fades, and it's just Evan leading into the chorus on "Save me", the lights went out on stage, and the swell of electricity after that was astounding. The music picked right back up into the song, and the lights swelled with the music, it was cool. For those of you who saw it, it was the best number of the night, except for 'Lotus', but that's later… So, a huge applause came after 'Do You Know', obviously and Evan half smiled, and was like "Thank you". I laughed.

'This By Then' came on after that, and it was cool, because of the lights. There was this soft blue glow about the stage, and this is going to sound dumb a girly, but hear me out. Evan looks REALLY good in blue light. Okay. Now, that that's said.. You see, I'm a Lighting Design major, but I'm really into photography and theatre, so I know what looks good on people, all people, any people.. And, Evan looks really good in blue light, that's just how it is. But, anyway. He had these random little raver bracelets on, in neon colors, it was funny. Roy was playing all mop style, with his head down, and his hair all in his face, it was classic. Erin was like, "He looks so stoned", in reference to Evan. I don't really think so, but that's how it is.

As he ran his hand through his hair, almost pulling it, causing it to stand on end atop his head, he knelt at the front of the stage, cast a glance at me, the music had this huge build which led into the lyrics, and it was perfect. The build was picturesque. And, then he started doing this little "I'm gonna stick my tongue out and walk like a penguin" dance. You see, he'd keep his thighs and knees together, forcing his hips to swivel, and his feet to cause him to walk all funny, and his stomach would kinda stick out, with his head tilted back.. It was SO random. (Random, like Brant.. j/k) It was cool though, so it's alright. 'This by Then' ended, and it went into this new song, and I don't know what it's called, the New Something A-Rather's or Something.. LoL.

Anyway, that song, number six in the line-up, had a sweet intro. There was this hard build, then it got slower, Evan randomly yelled out.. Like the beginning of 'Eating Tinfoil' by 21Rest.. But, not. The guitars were awesome though, in this song, it was sweet! I was very impressed. And, then smart guy Evan hit himself in the face with the mic cord, and my general being impressed lingered, j/k.. LoL. Evan kept leaning in on his lyrics, especially, during "close your eyes", he was totally lost in Evan-land. And, Chris was doing the stage trot. Do you know what the stage trot is? It's where you walk around in a circle on the stage, stomping one foot down as you pick up the other and almost kick your butt because you throw your foot that far back, and then stomp it down and repeat.. It's hard to explain, but if you saw it, you'd get it. It's the stage trot.

The song ended, and 'Lotus' began by Evan hitting me in the face with the mic cord.. You see, during the song prior, he had managed to spin around in such a fashion that the mic cord wrapped around one of the stage monitors, so at the beginning of this song, he was trying to unravel it, but failed to realize he had already unraveled it.. So, as he spun around, cord in hand, the cord whipped out into the audience, into my eye.. Thanks. LoL. No, it's really ok, because the song was beautiful. The vocals in 'Lotus' are AWESOME!! Like, they're as awesome as they were in 'Spectrum', and that was, and still is the best song to date, and Evan you know that.

During 'Lotus' he started dancing with this random mic stand, that he had laid down on the stage earlier, because it had one of those three-pronged bases that are complicated to get set up again.. LoL. Like when RxDrama played at my house, it was like that all over again. LoL. Sorry, that's just REALLY funny. Anyway, Evan proceeded to dance a little more, into "Take me now", which was undoubtedly beautiful.. Then, the music got softer, and the sound was impeccable, followed by the swell into the end. It was seriously the greatest thing ever. Best song of the night, beside 'Do You Know' of course.. But, seriously, it was awesome.

'Ember' followed that, and it was.. well, kinda not too hott. I don't know where it went, but it wasn't there. Evan missed the intro, and the beginning was all over the place, however "Tonight we are justice, and this art is our demise" was perfect.. But, that one doesn't surprise me, in lieu of the sentimentality of that lyric. Evan's vocal solo was super emo, and in the bad sense. Sorry babe, I love you, but it was.. It was just whiney, almost squeaky.. And, mind you, I love this song, but it was no bueno. He just seemed a little out of it. But, the rest of the band compensated as best they could for it, and they had a strong end. 

'Some Day Maybe' was a beautiful song. The intro was very pleasing, and the inflection in the vocals was extreme, and better than the song prior. Jason had this random little jump at one point during the song, but I'll tell you one thing, he caught some air. Evan seemed lost, he was wandering around the stage pulling on his shirt. The ending though, of the song, was REALLY STRONG, it was seamless. It was the perfect way to end the show. It was perfect. Evan proceeded to mention the upcoming Cane's show, and say that after the show, everyone could "party on the beach together".. Yea, no. LoL.

The Trophy Life overall had a very good opening show. Sure, there were the little glitches and flubs all over the place, but it happens. It's hard to make your first ever live show perfect. It's extremely surprising that they recorded the three-song CD before ever playing a show. I give them massive props on that one. Good job you guys, you deserve it. Party hearty, but be safe. Please. No more trees. : Keep on practicing, and try to work together as a band a little more.. Because at the moment it's still a little individual. No offense, I'm not trying to be a bitch here, I'm just saying, try to work as a group a little more, it just seems that you're not.

So, the band got off the stage, and I talked to Aaron a little more, but he just seemed extremely perturbed with me.. I don't know. He just kept making rude comments, and being like "I don't believe in violence, I believe in killing people with kindness instead" and then being super nice to me. It was odd. I love the kid, but it just seems like no matter how much I do for him, or how much I try, it's never enough. Whatever. Aaron, I love you, but don't be a jerk. Anyway.. Bill said that the lyrics were really good, but he thought that the guitars and drums volume were too loud and overpowered Evan's vocals, thus the lyrics were lost. I agree. Tom Clark said the same thing, but overall he truly enjoyed the music and the band. Yay!

I went looking for Evan, to say my goodbye's and plus I needed to get some The Trophy Life CD's to sell to some people at home. So, I found Evan, but he seemed a little apprehensive about talking to me, for whatever reason. I don't know. Maybe I just carried around a negative aura at The Scene.. I don't know. I'm sorry if I did, I really wasn't trying to, I was actually trying to be nice to everyone since I don't really know everyone yet.. But, I'm sorry if it came off any other way. I'm sorry, I love all of you guys, you know that. Aaron, even though you're being a jerk right now, it's alright, you're totally still one of my favorite's.. :

We left after that though.. It just felt too much like I was imposing on them, which is cool. It just hurt. Not that they felt I was imposing, if that was even it, but more because no matter how much I do for Aaron, it's not enough. I'm sorry. Follow your dreams, but listen to the little tidbits of advice people throw at you.. Sometimes the people you doubt the most actually do know something. Either way, awesome opening show, I look forward to seeing the guy at Cane's in September, it should be sweet. Weston never did show up.. I think he's still on vacation. That's good though. LoL. I'm random. Yay for spontaneity. (I love you Brant!) LoL.