I know I've done several entries in a row that were intensely personal, almost like diary entries, but again... I WARNED YOU. maybe this is why people aren't really turning to me for true show reviews; just my friends seeing what I had to say. and maybe all this will turn into some fucked up memoirs for a book one day... "A Year in the Triangle Music Scene, Durrr" by Karla Anne... Sounds good to me. It's certainly not full of journalistic integrity so far, is it? Just a lot of me rambling about personal growth and art for art's sake. That's how I do. and if you want the real technical review of the shows, look to the right for the Blogroll.
Digression aside, more personal confessions instead of technical perspectives ahead: One of the things I like best in life are surprises. I LOVE SURPRISES. In any capacity. Surprise parties, a postcard when you weren't expecting it, a cute puppy coming around the corner who is dying to be your new friend; on any and all levels: I love when life isn't what you expected it to be. And in the same vein, what i *really* love is when someone isn't what you expected them to be, and more importantly when someone has a place in your life and in your heart you never expected them to hold.
One other thing I love in life: recognizing signs and coincidences, taking absolutely nothing for granted and relishing every second, (even the terrible and boring ones,) of this life as a gift. I sometimes dub myself "Queen of Perspective". I love putting the pieces of my life together. I love playing the six degrees of separation in events and people and moments that brought me and my friends and lovers together. I love recognizing and appreciating the butterfly effect of my precious moments on this earth that lead me to the ones I have chosen to share these moments with. I love life; the sacredness, the fragility, the urgency, the shitstorm, the gift.
That being said: 1) I met James the day before I met James. 2) And when I met James he was not the person James actually is... IWTDI did the U2 show at TNN and I met James and then the very next night I met James at Whiskey. When I first officially met and spoke with him, I pegged him as a hippie but then I got to know him and he's someone so complex that it defies a label. He's somewhere between a hippie/missionary/radical/egomaniac/shit stirrer/lionheart/asshole/saint; other than myself, he's probably one of the more fucked up, complicated, beautiful people i've known in my real life. I don't carry a flame for James, I carry an inferno... One of those crazy damn oil well fire hurricanes like in that John Wayne movie "Hellfighters." I love James. but that's the thing; EVERYONE loves James. but this isn't the James Hepler Fan Club, I'm just trying to partly explain why every time IWTDI plays, I see IWTDI.
Ok, Now THAT being said: Through my getting to know James, I got to know the rest of the gang. I got to know the well oiled machine of IWTDI. The dynamics. The heartbeat. the drama... I got to know the songs so well. I got to know the reasons and the meanings and I found myself getting songs stuck in my head. I found myself recruiting more and more people to check them out; dragging friends to shows, etc. I am beyond proud of this band, I know too well that very soon they are going to be huge. HUGE.
This show was probably one of my more favorite shows... random reasons; I was in a great mood, the new songs are so good, it was the kickoff of their tour, i was with the right people, the sound guy was on point, I was seeing one of my favorite bands. The crowd around us were a little tame, but the room was packed. I didn't notice really because i was dancing my ass off and having a blast. Roo had to tell me later that most people "weren't even moving". I didn't notice, because I was. A lot.
So as I said, the new songs, off the new album Preludes, they are on a whole different level from what we've heard from them before. The first couple releases are good, yes. This is something different. Preludes is hitting that point of depth and fullness that I absolutely need to devote myself to a sound. If i had walked in, note unheard, to this show at TNN and never heard the band before, didn't love them the way I do on such a personal, completely biased level, I would have told you the same thing: this was one of the best sounding shows I've heard/seen in months. and the funny thing is I heard the new songs live at the Redress, but there was some sort of energy and perfection to this performance. Maybe they were riding high after the SXSW trip, but I really think IWTDI has found their moment. I am only expecting them to come home superstars.
So they just released a new video for Fight/Flight, as I briefly mentioned last week. This song, as I said, I'd heard it live once or twice before, took on a whole different personality for me Thursday night. There was an intensity, a heartbreak, a fire under it's belly. It was one of those rare instances when seeing a show live where an otherwise non-weepy song hit me in just the right way and I got the goose bumps and my eyes welled up. It was during this song I knew, i knew... my friends are rock gods. my friends are amazing. I cant even being to describe to you how much they deserve it and how much i love them.
Hellfighters, baby.
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