One Trick Arsenal/Triptych/Ashlen/Cavalry

Oak Lawn High School
October 1, 2004

Well, I was pretty happy when I heard about this show since it was at my old school and it had two awesome bands playing that night.  Another awesome thing about it was that the sets are twice as long as usual since only four bands were playing at Oak Lawn High School (usually it's like seven bands).

Well, first on the stage was Cavalry.  They were the only band that had a normal length of a set.  I didn't really enjoy them all that much.  The bad thing about it was I got stuck standing in front of these two really annoying preppy whores.  They were screaming like god damn teenie boppers.

Then after Cavalry, things got a bit better since the girls were gone, Ashlen was up next, and I was right up front.  So Ashlen comes on.  Their guitarist, Ryan Schutz, was up there with like a 102 degree fever.  Now that's what I call dedication.  So the first few songs are songs I don't know.  Then Ashlen plays a few more familiar ones like "Strive Against," "The World Against Me," and "Without A Face."  Throughout the show Bud (singer/guitarist) kept coming over by where a few other people and I were standing and was head-banging right over my head.  The band played a bunch more songs that I didn't know after the few familiar ones.  Then the band played "Grievance."  The bassist, Greg Gromek, got a bit more into that song than he did with the others.  Then after that they all left the stage and made it seem like their set was done.  Then Bud came out with his acoustic and played "She Walked Away."  I was extremely happy about that since I love that song and I've been wanting to hear them play that song for a while now.  Toward the end of the song the other members joined in.  Then they stopped playing and Bud was supposed to play a bit more when the crowd starts clapping.  So instead of singing "There's something about the way she walks away" he sings something like "I think you guys should wait 'til I'm done."  So then their set finally ends.

Triptych is next.  I end up missing the first few songs because I ran into a couple of friends, but, man, am I glad I did.  There set was so LONG and BORING.  I was going crazy because I just wanted their set to end. I felt like it was taking forever.  Triptych's music needs to get more exciting.  I was so happy when their set was over.

So then One Trick Arsenal starts getting ready to play.  I heard that they were getting a new member called Jon Clardy.  I knew that Jon did keyboards and everything, but the next thing that happened completely caught me off guard.  I saw Jon with a mic walking around the stage.  I'm just thinking 'What the hell is going on?  Is he doing lead vocals?'  I was freaking out.  So then One Trick Arsenal starts playing some song that I don't know and that isn't their usual first song.  Then my worst fears come true.  Jon starts screaming the whole song.  By that time, I'm pissed because I want to hear Craig sing, not hear Jon scream.  So then they play "My Favorite Wound," which is always their last song, and now they're playing it in the beginning.  Now I'm hoping to God that Jon doesn't do any of Craig's vocals.  They start playing the song and Craig starts singing "The second before anything goes wrong."  I'm just like thanking God.  So Craig does all the singing vocals and Jon does most of the screaming vocals with Brian (guitarist) every once in a while joining in.  So I was really happy about that.  So as the show goes on, I start liking and accepting Jon more and more so by the end, I'm totally fine with him.  Jon's vocals are a lot like Dan's from Break the Silence.  At some point toward the end, a mosh pit started and some asshole cop grabbed some girl by the back of the neck and a bunch of other people and kicked them out.  It was total bullshit.  So after the set I go and get the new One Trick Arsenal demo and an Ashlen shirt.  While I was at the merch table, Ashlen's merch guy was telling everyone that OTA shirts give people rashes.  It was quite funny.

So the show is finally over and I am pretty happy since I got to see two of my favorite local bands and see a bunch of my friends.  Ashlen and One Trick Arsenal are bands that you definitely want to look out for in the future.

XROXX Concert Rating: XXX-/ (3.5 X's out of the possible 5 X's)

Kersten Peterson
kersten.peterson@XROXX.com