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Special Feature: Anatomy of a Cavity
Where: Old Settlers Days Festival, Galatia IL.
When: July 14, 9 PM
Who: The Vibes www.vibesmusic.50megs.com
What: Rock and Roll Music
Why: Because 2 hours can be very effectively spent in very few ways, this was one of them.
But were they any good?
THE SHOW: This will mark the second time I have seen the vibes play, the first being a short set at the Galatia Christmas Carnival. Me, my wife and friend, and giant Oasis fan, Chris found out that in the span of about 5 months they have wrote several songs and improved a great deal. The Old Settlers Day show is their biggest to date. The turn out was excellent, there were lots of people setting and lots of people standing. Being that Old Settlers Days isn't exactly on the radar of events in Southern Illinois and the fact that there was a larger country music (PUKE) show going on I would say the turnout was phenomenal! Also the backdrop they had put together was awesome!
THE MUSIC: The gig was divided into 4 sets, I didn't have a pen paper with me so I did my best to remember the songs, I know I am leaving several out and I am sorry about that. The first set was some covers, including Glycerin by Bush, Hey Hey My My by Neil Young, Live Forever by Oasis. I unfortunately missed the first song. The Glycerin cover was good but Matt wasn't singing all the lyrics, the music seemed to be right on though. The Neil Young was the highlight of the show for me and by far the best song they played. The Music was spot on, Matt's voice was perfect for this song, the way she screamed out hey hey my my made me think he was really into this whole music thing, unfortunately again they seamed to skip a whole verse, the one about Johnny Rotten. Finally Live Forever, the best song by Oasis, I have to say that Andrew Hall laid down this difficult drum beat very well. This song went off very well, though it suffered from lack of back up vocals, either Jesse the bassist or Bryan the rhythm guitarist need to step in for the very important role.
Set two was entirely Vibes penned material which is pretty impressive for a nearly new band, and what is even more impressive is that they had the guts to play stuff they had written all in a complete set. (Most bands think their own songs suck and stick them in between tried and true covers) Oddly enough while Matt announced most of the titles for the covers, he never announced the titles of his own songs, we know the covers' titles but not yours Matt! Anyway since it was the first time I heard them and I don't know their names there is not much I can say about them, but musically they all seemed very similar, fairly mellow riffs and beats with long drawn out solos. what I caught of the lyrics seemed good but I think more words are in order. The instrumental they did seems to stand out and the first one. It would be really, really helpful if someone would put up the set list and maybe write a little about the songs the band wrote on the website.
Set three was a Matt Mings only acoustic set. Unfortunately I was distracted by Forrest (the webmaster) during this set and really couldn't listen, of course everyone was probably distracted since no one could hear Matt singing and playing. The fact that there was a carnival ride behind us might have caused this, but I wish they could have gotten the volume turned up. This set had the opportunity to really shine but didn't. I know Matt played Wonderwall, another Oasis cover, and what I could hear of it sounded OK, I know he also did some song and started putting verses from strawberry fields in it, or maybe it was strawberry fields, either way is was very cool but very quiet.
Set Four brought out a band who I am sure had played longer in front of a crowd then any other time in their lives, they seemed tired. This set contained Sweet Home Alabama, but again Matt only sang the first half and played out the second half. They also played Supersonic, a great Oasis song, that I know Matt knows all the words too but chose not to sing any of them. It kind of made me mad I love that song.
In general looking at the entire show it Seamed like variety is a bit of a problem too, I keep comparing The Vibes to Oasis and I'm going to do it again, many peoples number one complaint of Oasis (Especially during the Whats the Story Morning Glory Heyday) was that their songs all sound alike. This is a problem for the vibes. They need some songs stuck here and their that have faster tempos and some that have slower tempos. Wouldn't hurt to busting out that Acoustic guitar we know they have for rhythm or lead occasionally, and chucking in some music from a different background, like polka for instance.
The Band: Ok now I want to talk a little bit about the band. First off Andrew Hall on drums seemed to be doing good, I didn't notice any problems and he was hitting hard and clear.
Now the Rhythm and Bass section, these guys need microphones so they can back up Matt and what not, the vibes is not a punk band so lyrics and harmonizing are important. Plus it wouldn't hurt one of them to sing a song everyone once in a while. One of the great things about Oasis is the Liam, Noel connection. Liam is a great singer, but his voice isn't suited to every song, Noels voice doesn't have the spark of Liam's but is better suited to some songs, it wouldn't hurt the vibes to look into this. Also and this goes to Matt as well, the staged lacked energy. Near the end of the show we noticed the bassist and rhythm players kind of moving around a little bit, they also turned and faced each other once, they need to be doing that kind of stuff more often. Matt seems to move very little probably due to the concentration of playing lead guitar and singing.
Finally on to Matt, his solos and playing are excellent, he plays a very slick lead guitar, he needs to work on his singing. When he came out for his acoustic set he seemed to be using his acoustic voice which sounded very nice, (when I could hear it) the rest of the time he was using his Rough, Rock and Roll voice, which worked great for Hey Hey, but not so good for Glycerin. Also has band leader Matt needs to work on addressing and bantering with the audience. Just like the oasis song, Rock and Roll star says, "If your not down with who I am, look you now you are in my hands tonight." The audience is in the hands of the Band, especially the lead singer. Throw in some cool sounding riffs or solos between songs, tell a stupid joke, just look at the crowd and laugh. Point at someone and call them a name. Jump around, set your guitar on fire, "Ok that may be a little extreme, but you get the idea.
General Statements: IN conclusion I want to say this, For the vibes right now is a dangerous time, they have gone farther then many high school bands go, they have proved they can write songs, play to a unfamiliar audience for an extended amount of time. They can either keep going up or they can level off, just playing when they feel like it for fun In my opinion they need to get as many gigs as they can, they need to build confidence, and become more comfortable playing in front of a crowd. You can practice all you want to in your basement and play perfect but if you can't connect with an audience then you aren't going to make it. They need to release the lyrics of their songs, and put together a CD of their music. As they say the time is now, but now doesn't last very long. If they do the right things now they may have a future in music.
GhoLsoN June 17th 2003!
