The Glorious Vapors / Ronny's

AUGUST 1, 2008 - Any rock show at Ronny's is a tragedy. What used to be a cute neighborhood hole-in-the-wall filled with Latino gayboys and the bolder strands of the initial Logan Square artist invasion dancing cheek-to-cheek (think lower) to Los Fabulosos Cadillacs on the jukebox and swigging canned beer 'til the wee hours of the morning has become just another shitty rock dive. But we'll save my self-exempting rant on gentrification for another day.

For a band whose members obviously have a bit of experience performing, The Glorious Vapors should certainly know better than to open their set with a seven-minute ambient jam. Whether this was an orchestrated "piece" or a bunch of otherwise adequate musicians attempting improvisational "noise art" I'll never know, but it was an offensive and exhausting introduction to a show that didn't end up being much better. Maybe they were giving the crowd a chance to escape, who knows.

The band's second song was exponentially more promising, with a defined beat and melody - who could have guessed these things would make music more palatable? The drummer, equipped with a set of brushes and a receding widow's peak, initially reminded me of a young Victor DeLorenzo. That is, until he picked up a set of sticks for their next number. One has to wonder how a percussionist capable of playing with such dramatic dynamics on one tune has no perception of when he is playing too loud. In a cement room. On every other song.

The guitarist and lead vocalist actually has a unique timbre to his voice which could be quite appealing if he had any control over it. Attention, male singers: vocal lessons don't mean you're not rock & roll, it just means that you don't want to sound like a pubescent Eddie Vedder that just took a hit to his hairless groin.

The bassist came prepared with an upright and the obligatory white-upright-player's mohawk. Despite his predictable taste in hairstyles, he was probably the most competent player of the foursome. There were a few wrong notes here and there, but that's nothing a little practice and a new band won't fix.

I'd like to comment on the other guitarist/vocalist, but I can't remember much about the guy. Perhaps that's the comment in itself. His harmonies were in tune, but otherwise he was invisible.

I consider myself to be pretty open-minded when it comes to genres, but I just couldn't get into a full set of songs that aspire to be left off the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. It's possible that I missed the trend, but I can't imagine "noise folk" to ever become a profitable or worthwhile style of music.

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