FORGIVE DURDEN
Introduces Chain Reaction To "RAZIA'S SHADOW"
Tyler Davidson
Issue date: 6/2/09 Section: Entertainment
Friday night was unusually cloudy for Orange County. Amidst the overcast weather, a modest crowd populated Anaheim's Chain Reaction as a short green bus sat parked out front. In the driver's seat sat Thomas Dutton, vocalist, guitarist and the sole creative member of Seattle's Forgive Durden.
Mock Playbills floated around, passed hand-to-hand, advertising "Razia's Shadow: A Musical", their front pages bearing the cover art of Forgive Durden's latest release, a full-on musical inspired by films like "Moulin Rouge!" and "Aladdin", featuring guest appearances from members of some of today's most popular acts, including Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco and Say Anything's Max Bemis.
Beginning with April's Bamboozle Left in Irvine, CA, Dutton and a group of touring musicians have been performing "Razia's Shadow" in its entirety, an idea continued on this tour.
Kicking off the night was The Sequence, a four-piece powerpop outfit out of Cypress, CA. After tracks like "Out in California" had a startling amount of concertgoers singing and clapping along, vocalist Travis Van Hoff spoke with the audience.
"Since everyone else is doing covers, we figured we would as well," said a sweaty Van Hoff before the band delved into a guitar-heavy version of Rihanna's "Disturbia", a song recently covered by The Cab for Fearless Records' "Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 2".
In between bands, restless fans heckled sound engineers.
"Hey sound guy! I like the way you carry those wires!" yelled a female in attendance, met only with a shy grin from the dreadlocked sound guy in question.
Once the brief respite was over with, La Habra's Close But Not Quite hit the stage, fronted by the boyish, yet undoubtedly well-received Wes Smith. Offering a style of pop-rock infused with often hip-hop inspired vocals, the band will draw countless comparisons to "emo hip-hop" act Gym Class Heroes. Smith shares GCH frontman Travis McCoy's appeal to the female demographic, as one point in the set saw a neon pink bra tossed up on stage, which Smith promptly hung around his neck for the next song.
Mock Playbills floated around, passed hand-to-hand, advertising "Razia's Shadow: A Musical", their front pages bearing the cover art of Forgive Durden's latest release, a full-on musical inspired by films like "Moulin Rouge!" and "Aladdin", featuring guest appearances from members of some of today's most popular acts, including Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco and Say Anything's Max Bemis.
Beginning with April's Bamboozle Left in Irvine, CA, Dutton and a group of touring musicians have been performing "Razia's Shadow" in its entirety, an idea continued on this tour.
Kicking off the night was The Sequence, a four-piece powerpop outfit out of Cypress, CA. After tracks like "Out in California" had a startling amount of concertgoers singing and clapping along, vocalist Travis Van Hoff spoke with the audience.
"Since everyone else is doing covers, we figured we would as well," said a sweaty Van Hoff before the band delved into a guitar-heavy version of Rihanna's "Disturbia", a song recently covered by The Cab for Fearless Records' "Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 2".
In between bands, restless fans heckled sound engineers.
"Hey sound guy! I like the way you carry those wires!" yelled a female in attendance, met only with a shy grin from the dreadlocked sound guy in question.
Once the brief respite was over with, La Habra's Close But Not Quite hit the stage, fronted by the boyish, yet undoubtedly well-received Wes Smith. Offering a style of pop-rock infused with often hip-hop inspired vocals, the band will draw countless comparisons to "emo hip-hop" act Gym Class Heroes. Smith shares GCH frontman Travis McCoy's appeal to the female demographic, as one point in the set saw a neon pink bra tossed up on stage, which Smith promptly hung around his neck for the next song.
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