Our Last Night (OLN) played Zumiez Couch Tour 2008 on June 22, 2008 in the parking lot of Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, NJ. They opened for Alkaline Trio and played a short 30 minute set. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the headliner. The only thing I've heard about OLN was the hype about their 14-year old singer, Trevor. I listened to several of their songs before the gig to get a taste of their style. I was curious to see how they fared on stage.
The parking lot setup was basically a simplified version of Bamboozle with tents surrounding the perimeter and a portable skate park that was constructed to the right of the medium-sized stage. When I arrived, I went over to the ramps to watch the skaters for a little bit since there wasn't much else to do. It wasn't too impressive. I also expected a little more out of the Flip Skate Team as they performed their "demo." I don't think that falling down every 10 seconds is much of a demo.
Anyway, the real reason for this blog is to briefly give my opinion on OLN. I'll start with the positive. For a young group of guys, their stage presence was fairly decent. If you play screamo / post-hardcore, you need to move on stage, and they did. The bassist stole the show with his slightly borrowed antics of twirling his bass around his back and flipping it up over his head. Trevor had tons of energy and if head banging was an Olympic Sport, he'd get a 9.2. Although, his main move seemed to be standing up on the monitor and holding his arms out, seemingly commanding the audience to thrash.
With this genre of music - at least for me - there needs to be some element that perpetuates the song besides moshing and screaming. I loved the technical playing in their guitar work, but I still need some sort of musical dopamine to hook me into the song. This can be achieved with melody, a memorable rhythmic pattern, anthemic lyrics, or even a gimmicky hook. Something. I felt like this was missing to some degree. If I'm going to suffer some sun poisoning, it better be worth it!
One huge negative aspect for me was how Trevor wasn't really the lead vocalist. Much of the melodic lines were sung by the guitarist while Trevor growled and provided some reinforcement in spots. This confusion I think is most detrimental. I know many would argue this point and even provide examples of how it can work, but I think that it would be more effective for a band to have a solid identity with a focal point for vocals. Other negatives for the set include a weakness for pitch control in the melodic sections and (to be blunt) saying dumb things between songs.
Overall, I think these guys have potential and with being so young, they have plenty of time to mature. The odds are against them, but if they have longevity, I'd love to hear what they sound like in 5 years.
~Robert
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