Red Hands Black Feet, a band touring from Boise, Idaho, perform for the crowd with their unique ambient sound at The Trunk Space in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014. (Photo by Carly Traxler)While the popularity of fully-instrumental concerts has reasonably declined since the mid-19th century, downtown Phoenix’s Trunk Space chose to defy the norm by hosting a night of ambient post-rock, featuring bands Deadfoxx, Ghost Island, Ursus Colossus and Red Hands Black Feet on the night of Sept. 10.
Local band Ghost Island tipped off a night of pure instrumentals, beginning the set with a slow, beat-driven start. The noise fluctuated to and from an intense roar of electric drum and guitar riffs. Matched with one of the song’s radio-telegram voiceovers, this build-up created a recognizable Mogwai sound throughout the set, despite the band’s hesitant alliance with the post-rock genre.
“I consider ourselves to be an ambient band, but we’re going to be labeled as post-rock, because we don’t have a singer, and we’re all instrumental,” said drummer John Romero, who created Ghost Island as a one-piece two years ago until the band’s eventual progression into a three-piece last January.
Although the newly-developed band’s interaction with the audience was extremely limited, Ghost Island provided a proper opening for the rest of the post-rock night.
The next set featured Ghost Island’s guitarist, philosophy senior Roddy Nikpour, in his own band known as Ursus Colossus, which gave the night a more progressive instrumental sound as the three-piece played bits of their two albums and newest LP.
This band has an undeniable talent for creating an emotional sound without vocal components. Throughout the set, Ursus Colossus was able to gradually develop the complexity of its instruments, which created for a set of intervaled intensity.
The members of Ursus Colossus are unsure of the band’s future since all three members, bassist and theater senior Thomas Bross, guitarist Nikpour and drummer and creative writing senior Austin Reeves, will be graduating.
“We’ll always be a band, and there’s no point in stopping that, but we have to wait to see if we’ll end up in the same city after we graduate,” Nikpour said.
Changing locations, however, has been a constant for the night’s headlining band, Red Hands Black Feet, which has been on tour from its locale in Boise, Idaho since Sept. 6. For RHBF's first visit to the Southwest, members excitedly played a brand of post-rock with sledge metal influences during the show. A friend who lives downtown planned the show.
“When you book your tour and you know a place to stay in a town, you’ll take anything,” said Eric Larson, the band's guitarist.
Beginning with a steady drum beat, RHBF gave no warning before suddenly bursting with energy and sound. Prior to the band’s playing, a mere 12 people had been bobbing their heads, yet, once this set began, another small group of locals entered the room. Only stopping to share experiences in the Arizona heat as well as what Larson and fellow guitarist Joe Myers agree is Phoenix’s “general attractiveness,” the band played what seemed to be two continuous songs.
Although the set maintained a healthy level of intricacy reminiscent of its opener Ursus Colossus, RHBF’s sound had unfortunately been botched by the location’s acoustics. Had the volume of the drums and guitars been lowered only slightly, members of the audience would have been able to enjoy the band’s talent without plugging their ears. Multiple listeners claimed to hear a harsh ringing after the show.
This minor deterrence was quickly forgotten, however, as the Tempe-based band, Deadfoxx, took the floor.
The band's self-proclaimed "funktastic" sound had originally been planned to open the night, but the show had to be pushed back to the 10:15 p.m. time slot when the drummer had a late afternoon shift at work. When the band did get its chance to play, the three-piece rocked its angsty vocality and raw funk with the remaining audience, though the genre seemed out of place within the context of the previously all-instrumental night.
Despite the show’s minor flaws, each band that contributed to the Trunk Space’s show was worth seeing as a tribute to modern music’s surprising instrumental talent.
Reach the reporter at aplante@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @aimeenplante
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