Published on Aug 29, 2003
I think an indication of any alleged music reviewer’s merit is
in his or her ability to admit when they’re wrong, or take back
criticism leveled at an artist… In reviewing Bane’s 1999
album
It All Comes Down To This I was quick to be harsh, and
called their attempts at statement-making and idealism childish,
cliché, and hackneyed.
Bane (which features members of Converge) are an acquired taste
for sure, but when you (or I) finally realize that the singer comes
with the house, and that’s the way it is, then you look past the
distinct limitations of his approach. You observe the, uh,
uniqueness of his vocal technique.
Their musicianship here is akin to an angrier, grittier
Lagwagon. That group always had the chops for days, but were so
glued to the Descendents bozack that I couldn’t take much more than
four or five songs before I reached for the “real” thing (in this
case “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”).
Everyone who has ever slogged through the local music circuit
has either been in, or at least heard of a group called Free Beer.
They’re in every town, and are usually the designation someone
gives a band who sincerely sucks, and can gleefully assassinate
“Baby, It’s You” at the Oak Tree Lounge, or any other gross
white-trash bar on a Friday night without seeming to ask themselves
why they’re there in the first place.
I was in a Free Beer in San Bernardino, California in the early
1990’s, and we were probably the most horrendous version of that
appellation in the entire city. It really was down to our singer, a
boisterously tone-deaf gentleman with paint-peeling armpits and a
haircut that I swore was a wig until I pulled on it when his back
was turned.
I’m mentioning them because Bane vocalist Aaron Bedard is a
dead-ringer for this guy in the crooning department, but, again,
Bane’s songs did grow on me this time. Maybe I’ll borrow that copy
of
It All Comes Down To This again.