I just want to point out first of all that I'm not really familiar with either of these bands. I've heard a little of HIM - thought they were ok. I'd never heard Aiden. So this is all really first impression.
I had heard that Aiden was "horror rock" and that HIM was goth. So I thought, ok cool, I love horror stuff. Bring it on.
Well, sure their lyrics are full of pain and death and whatever, but the dark show with gothic imagery that I was expecting didn't happen. Oh well.
Other than the lyrics, the only thing "horror" about Aiden was that the singer's face was painted, like he could've been a member of KISS. The rest of the band looked emo. Kinda didn't go together.
That wasn't the only thing disjointed about Aiden. Their performance just didn't mesh. Their movements weren't in sync. Except for the singer (whom I'll get back to in a minute), they just leapt around at random, constantly slinging their guitars around - which by the way is cool...ONCE OR TWICE...it gets old fast. One word: Choreography.
Now, the singer...I liked him. He had a good voice and good stage presence. And balls. He actually walked out onto the audience. No, I don't mean INTO the audience, I mean ONTO the audience. He went up on the barricade, then stepped out and the audience held him up by his feet as he sang. That was pretty cool.
Ok, now HIM: I liked them better than I expected to. The music was good. The guitarist was really good and I like his dreads. I could've done without the keyboard. To me, it did nothing to enhance the music...just made it sound more pop. If they're going to have keyboards, I think it should be eerie wailing melodies. That would add more of a goth sound.
The singer was interesting. With his black cap and ever-present cigarette, he reminded me of nothing more than Johnny Depp. He has a really good voice and we were very impressed by his range. But I thought he needed to project his voice more. It was a little weak. Maybe if he put down the cigarette...
(Did I hear him wrong or did he say he had asthma?!)
Well, those were my first impressions of HIM and Aiden. Now all you HIM fans can jump me!
After the show (well actually we left after HIM's 5th or 6th song), we decided to go see what was going on at Club Kristal. Turned out there was only one band there that night...Terrell something...Terrell Avenue? Their style was quite a mix...rock, metal, rap...one guy did some kind of screaming thing that Lisa said sounded like Donald Duck (it kinda did, lol). We stuck around for a few songs, had a beer, then decided to go see who was playing down at BoozeHounds.
It was Bobby G and the Drive, whom I'd never seen before. They play mostly blues rock covers and were very good. Really good guitar. The bass player did an awesome solo...his right hand was a freakin' blur! (He said he wasn't happy with the solo because it wasn't "heartfelt" but whatever dude, it was a rippin' solo.)
The most impressive thing was the drum solo. This is a little drumset...bass drum, snare, one small tom and one floor tom, high-hats and cymbals. And he tore off one of the best drums solos I have ever witnessed. Beating the hell out of the drums with his hands (ouch). The coolest part was when he jammed on the floor tom, pressing down on the head with one drumstick to change the tune as he played. Perfect precision. It was awesome.
And this is the only band I got pictures of, and I didn't even get any of the drum solo (I know, I was slackin'!).
