Sunday Night At The Catalyst: Bless The Fall & Finch

Headlining Band: Bless The Fall
Support Bands: Finch; Drop Dead Gorgeous; Of Mice & Men; Let’s Get It
Venue: The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Date: November 15th, 2009
Rating: 3/5

Walking into the Bless The Fall and Finch show at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz was just like walking into any other building on a Sunday, it was empty and low on energy. Only about 60 kids occupied the giant hall, many sitting on the sides much of the time.

Of Mice and Men, Austin Carlile’s (ex-lead singer of Attack Attack!) new band is along the same lines as Attack Attack!. Every part of their songs is catchy, and propelled by Carlile’s one-of-a-kind screams. Their opening sample of Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli’ set the hyphy-esque mood that seemed to be lacking from the room up to that point. Carlile ditched the 5 foot stage and instead stood eye-level with the crowd for the last half of the set, making OM&M’s performance that much more personal. Carlile himself is a great performer, and the whole band seemed to be having a lot of fun. OM&M is fairly new to the scene, but proved they are ready to do big things.

The disappointment of the evening came in the form of Drop Dead, Gorgeous’s set. From the beginning the band seemed insincere in their performance, bored and tired. Lead Singer Danny Stillman seemed sarcastic in his comments to the crowd; and I couldn’t tell if he was drunk, putting on an act, or just a little weird. The set was interesting to say the least, but nobody, including the band, seemed to be into it.

Finch was completely professional while playing. The songs were solid, and even after all these years they still love what they’re doing; and the fans did too. Lights and ambigous visuals flooded the back drop of the stage, and the band was passionate, but not overly enthusiastic during their 45 minute set.

Bless The Fall came out with every ounce of energy that seemed to be lacking throughout the night. Opening with ‘2.0’ from their new album ‘Witness’, they then followed with a barrage of songs that everyone seemed to know. For the first time of the night the crowd actually got active, and had fun as a whole; the mob of moving bodies seemed to double the mass of the audience. BTF played many songs from their new album, and a couple from their older ones. On the songs that Craig Mabbit recorded, their new singer Beau Bokan held his own and delivered a very solid performance, as the group did as a whole. During the whole performance the energy and movement of the crowd was greater than it was at any other point of the night, even though hours had passed.

The show as a whole was average, some acts weighed out others, and in the end everyone had fun.