Girl at the Rock Shows

I was in a bit of shock when I saw the announcement that A Skylit Drive was going to be playing The 7th Street Entry on Sunday night. Although I hadn’t heard this band’s name lately, they were a powerhouse of a band back in the mid-2000s and into the 2010s. I know we are years beyond that, but still, it was a bit shocking to see a name that had been so big at one time playing a venue that is so intimate compared to other venues in the cities. Part of me wondered if this was just a continuation of this band’s career, which has been plagued with drama and a bit of a fall from grace. However, the other part of me was just so excited to have the opportunity to see this band in such an intimate space.

Local metalcore band Odds of an Afterthought was the only opening act on the bill. Although I have seen this band a million and twelve times (okay, that’s being a bit dramatic, but you get it), I think that this is the first time I’ve actually written a review of them. I may call them metalcore, but that doesn’t do their sound justice. These local rockers have such an incredible blend of everything from modern metal to standard rock and all the way to nu-metal in their sound that is overshadowed by a metalcore intensity. It’s a cool sound brought to life by a group of guys who genuinely know how to put on a heck of a show.

I’ll be honest, the sound on Sunday night at the legendary 7th Street Entry in downtown Minneapolis wasn’t great and I feel like it was absolutely detrimental to Odds of an Afterthought’s set. The tracks were a bit too loud, with the vocals buried in the mix, but that didn’t stop these boys from giving the surprisingly small audience everything they had. They pushed through the issues and made sure to at least give the audience an endless stream of energy, if nothing else. Had the sound been on point, this would have been an absolutely jaw-dropping set. I feel bad saying that, but I have to be honest. I mean, I’m here to review the show, right? Not just fluff up local bands that I thoroughly enjoy, like Odds of an Afterthought.

With that in mind, let’s talk about A Skylit Drive’s performance on Sunday. It didn’t start off on the right foot for me. Right off the bat, guitarist Louie Caycoya had me completely turned off after throwing a hissy fit that his microphone wasn’t plugged in as the band took the stage to dramatic entrance music. I get it; it was a mistake on someone’s part, and definitely, a bad one, but the fact that this man let the audience hear and see him have a literal child-like tantrum was just not the way to start off the set for me. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and an almost awkward feeling seemed to radiate from the stage from that moment on, and either the band or I just could not shake it.

Let’s take that little moment out of the set. Unfortunately, the sound problems that plagued Odds of an Afterthought’s set persisted into that of A Skylit Drive, making some of their more memorable and classic songs almost unrecognizable. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to hear a classic early 2000s screamo sound that I feel people don’t do anymore. However, I just wish it would have hit me a bit harder and given me a chance to go down that nostalgic road that I love so much. Still, I feel like I spent most of A Skylit’s Drive trying to recenter after the tantrum thrown at the beginning. It just never happened, and, unfortunately, it completely ruined the set for me, especially when combined with the questionable sound.

There’s a lot of drama about this band that goes far beyond the tragic death of original vocalist Jordan Blake. There seems to be a constantly revolving door of musicians within this band, but that’s nothing new in this scene. Most of the drama comes from things like supposedly stealing artwork and even legal battles between the current singer and old members of this band. Long story short, the more I dig into A Skylit Drive this morning, the more I realize that I should have done some more research on this band before just getting lost in the thrill of nostalgia-seeking as I typically do.

Usually, I can find something nice to say about a show, but, honestly, outside of the local opening act Odds of an Afterthought, there was really nothing extraordinary about Sunday night at The 7th Street Entry. I hate that I have to write that, but you came here for the truth, right? The truth is that me being the nostalgia-seeker that I am finally bit me in the butt with this show.

Line Up:

Odds of an Afterthought

A Skylit Drive

Venue: 7th Street Entry

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 23

Crowd Surfers- None

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 2 out of 10

Broken Bones- None Spotted

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None Witnessed

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 0

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

Odds of an Afterthought – Seriously, zero clue

A Skylit Drive – 3 or 4 back in the day

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score – 6.5 out of 10

Show on Deck —Brother Ali / Ant / Dee-1 / MaLLy

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