By: David de Young
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Halloween, Alaska at First Avenue (Photo by David de Young)
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Despite a chock-full Saturday evening Twin Cities music roster that included the multi-band Bryant Lake Bowl Block Party featuring Polara and other Minnesota heavyweights, First Avenue boasted a healthy-sized crowd for its own triple bill of Fitzgerald and Haley Bonar, opening for Halloween, Alaska at their CD Release Party.
Fitzgerald had already finished playing by the time we arrived at 7:15, but we caught all of Haley Bonar’s set. Bonar had no trouble filling the main stage with her musical energy, though backed by only her bass player and then Halloween, Alaska's percussionist extraordinaire Dave King on a couple of her final songs. Bonar’s vocal and songwriting skill were more than enough to keep the sizable audience wrapped for the duration, and the many songs I heard Saturday that were not on her debut release (The Size of Planets, Chairkickers, 2003) suggest the upcoming CD she recorded at Cannon Falls’ Pachyderm Studio this summer should be another strong one. “With luck,” she says on her website, “the record will be out early 2006.”
Halloween, Alaska opened up with the bright but reserved “Call it Clear” from their debut, eponymously-titled album (Princess Records, 2003 and the East Side Digital reissue, 2005) and then immediately dug into the new stuff with “Bad News Sticks To You” from their as-good-if-not-better new album, Too Tall Too Hide.
It’s not written anywhere that a band needs to make a huge departure from their debut or outdo themselves on their sophomore release, and Halloween, Alaska has done neither. What they have done, is delivered another top quality and unique collection of songs that cries out for major label distribution and worldwide alternative radio play.
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James Diers of Halloween, Alaska - Photo by David de Young (click for larger versions)
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The songs on Too Tall To Hide are musically and lyrically meant to stand up to scrutiny. This is another way of saying, the more you listen to the album, the more you will begin to appreciate the artfulness and thought that obviously went into it from the song-crafting to the instrumentation to the production.
I have seen Halloween, Alaska Several times, most recently at the Cedar Cultural Center at a sit-down show earlier this spring, as well as front man James Diers solo in January, and I’ve always been mesmerized. What struck me most Saturday night was the abundance of young fans at the 18+ show, many of whom were in the front row mouthing along with the words (not quite singing, as the mood of a Halloween, Alaska show doesn’t quite allow for that.)
After “Bad News Sticks to You,” Diers and company headed into “A New Stain,” the moody and rhythmically complicated lead off track from the new album. Diers had introduced the track as one from the new disc, but apologized afterwards in case he had sounded “too glib.” He reiterated that they really were glad to have the record out and to be there playing songs from it tonight. “A New Stain”’s chorus provides exhibit A of quality lyrics when Diers sings, “The way you fell, it was me who hit the ground / And when I spilled, you left me empty.”
Perhaps a standout track in the set, and the song from the new album that’s difficult to get out of your head after even just one listen is the cover of the 1985 LL Cool J song “I Can’t Live Without My Radio.”
As many bands have done from the First Ave stage, Diers cautioned fans, “Do not be deceived by the large guitar across the street,” referring to the gaudy, neon-illuminated monstrosity adorning the Hard Rock Café on Block E. He went on to say, “If you are looking for ‘hard rock,’ talk to one of us after the show.”
Introducing one of the slowest numbers from the new album, “Light Bulb,” Diers, reminded people that First Avenue is known as a Danceteria, and that this might be their opportunity to dance. A slow dance of course. Lyric exhibit B: “Don’t give the end away / I haven’t seen it” in the context of this song has sweetly heartbreaking connotations. But speaking of dance, or lack thereof, at least one concertgoer opined that it would be nice to see this bill in a theater next time so people could sit down. 3 hours is a little long to stand without moving much or dancing.
Towards the end of the set, “Forever” provided some amazing visual moments as Dave King seemed to draw circles on the surface of a cymbal with a drumstick for a sort of non-percussive percussion, after which a few taps of the cymbals suggested they were being played through a phase shifter.
The band was called back for two encores, “State Trooper,” (a Bruce Springsteen cover) and what was the likely radio hit from their first album despite its repeated use of the “s word,” “You’re It.” East Side Digital is currently seeking radio play for the new album in Europe where it will have its official release fittingly on October 31st, and I have no doubt it will fare quite well as word spreads.
Halloween, Alaska Set List
1. Call It Clear (Halloween, Alaska)
2. Bad News Sticks to You (Too Tall To Hide)
3. A New Stain (Too Tall To Hide)
4. Drowned (Too Tall To Hide)
5. Des Moines (Halloween, Alaska)
6. Radio (Too Tall To Hide)
7. You and Me Both (Too Tall To Hide)
8. Light Bulb (Too Tall To Hide)
9. All The Arms Around You (Halloween, Alaska)
10. Receiving Line (Too Tall To Hide)
11. Forever (Too Tall To Hide)
12. Warning Track (Varsity Sampler [A two-song CD with Andrew Bird])
Encore:
1. State Trooper (Halloween, Alaska)
2. You’re It (Halloween, Alaska)
Location Info:
First Avenue
Artist Info: Fitzgerald, Haley Bonar, Halloween, Alaska
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