Hot and humid nights are built for rock concerts – a decree that local Tempe band “Something Like December” clearly adheres too after performing its crash course in tight shows at the outdoor Fall Madness Concert in downtown Phoenix’s Civic Space Park.
Fresh off the release of their debut EP “Convalescent,” Something Like December exerted an energy uncanny of a band performing only its fourth show, which was hosted by the ASU Programming and Activities Board. There’s already a fervent chemistry between them.
The band was drenched in sweat during the show, but none of it stemmed from anxiety. Lead singer and guitarist Austin Jones commanded the audience with a powerful vocal performance and stage presence.
Each of them seemed prepared for audiences of thousands – the confidence they exude is contagious and apparent. Guitarist Vincent Gilbert churned and twisted amongst the crowd, Chris Crimmins stood tall with his bass, and drummer Donovan Ryan never broke tempo against the pressures of playing live.
“I’ve been lead to believe this generation doesn’t appreciate rock music – please prove me wrong,” Jones said before the band’s opening song. Those attending worked their hardest to do just that.
Before the show, "Something Like December" sat down to chat about the pitfalls and glories that come along with being a local band trying to survive and the intricacies of doing it.
What would you call your niche or genre?
Jones: Norwegian Death Metal. Just kidding.
Gilbert: We’re just a rock band. We’ve thought about how we can describe our genre and we think a lot of music fits into certain genres depending on the song, but it varies. We write music that we want to play. We don’t like to pigeonhole ourselves into a genre.
But, when I listened to your music on Soundcloud those two songs really resembled pop-punk. Is that representative of your entire 7-song EP “Convalescent?”
Gilbert: Before we put (our record) out, we played it for probably under ten people. Just people that are close to us – our musician friends. One of them said to me, “I love your record. Everything sounds really good, but it just sounds like every song is written by a different band. Just pick a sound and go with it.” That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. We’re aiming for not having those walls confining us.
You just traveled to
Nevada for a festival show, how’d that go?
Gilbert: Nevada was one of the coolest shows that I’ve ever played and I’ve played all over the country. We got there late, we had all these problems with traveling. It was a nightmare. The second song in there were kids up front who just really were into it and were stoked.
Before we could even put our instruments down there were kids running up to us, giving us hugs and asking to take pictures. It was one of those shows – and I don’t toss this around lightly – it was just one of those magical shows.
Do you guys ever feel trampled by the huge hardcore and metal scenes in Arizona?
Crimmins: We embrace that. Our music is not hardcore at all, but we definitely enjoy our fair share of hard rock music and there are definitely no rehearsals that go without us playing some kind of hardcore song. It’s definitely an “in-your-face-scene,” but we’ve all partaken in that scene.
Do those strong
followings get in the way? Or do you think your band can have a part in
transitioning what the local scene wants?
Gilbert: I think a lot of the local bands are starting to transition more into pop and we’re kind of holding it down as just a rock band. But, I really think a lot of the scene is starting to break away from [hardcore] because it’s been going on for a good five to ten years.
It seems like most of the bands that are gonna do something big, have already done it. I wouldn’t say it’s a dying scene, but it’s kind of stale at this point.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that it was the Planning and Activities Board that put on this show. That is the incorrect name for this organization. The group's name is the Programming and Activities Board. A correction has been made.
Contact the reporter at nlatona@asu.edu or follow @Bigtonemeaty on Twitter.
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