https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Live Review: Devil to Pay at Ace of Clubs, NYC, 11.13.09

Popular legend has it that in other regions of this US of A, folks stick around for the whole show. They hang out, make a night of it, drink themselves silly and maybe discover some new music. Needless to say, that shit don’t fly in New York.

This is cooler than the other side of the flier.The coolest guy in the room is the one who shows up right before the band goes on. That’s the dude with the inside track. He must know the band. He probably called them on that $400 cell phone and asked when they’d hit stage. They probably told him because he’s important. Wow, look at him stand there blank faced and look like he could give a rat’s ass. When I grow up that’s who I want to be.

And so forth.

The thing about a Manhattan crowd is a Manhattan crowd has seen everything, and if they were going to like your band, they’d already like your band by now. Expose them to something new? Good luck, man. They were into your band’s influences before you ever heard of them. That’s just how it goes in New York — at least for the most part.

I’m guilty too. I did the same thing this past Friday when I went to see Devil to Pay at Ace of Clubs — which is, by the way, the only club in Manhattan that still puts on underground heavy rock shows worth seeing and commendable for that. I was in there just as they got on, and when they left, so did I. No interest in seeing the next band, knew nothing about the acts on before, was content with that ignorance; just wanted to catch Devil to Pay and split.

So that was my experience. I was driving, so drinking was out. I’d eaten a cheeseburger at the Acme restaurant upstairs and was too full for beer anyway. Hey Devil to Pay, kick my ass and send me on my way. They’re not the best in the world at what they do, but they do it well enough that it was a good set, and that’s pretty much how it went.

I picked up their last two records, 2006’s Cash is King and the new Heavily Ever After, which is mostly what they This pic isn't from Ace of Clubs and I didn't take it. (Photo by Bridget Christian)played from, “Megistotherium” sounding especially like C.O.C. but being nonetheless pleasant. I have their Thirty Pieces of Silver debut from 2004, but hadn’t broken it out in a while, so I was pretty fresh when it came to hearing their typically riffy, ballsy metal. Unlike their live set, Heavily Ever After finds itself in a position where all the elements are there, they’re just carried across a little too flatly for their own good. The tones carry over — guitars, bass heavy, vocals natural, drums at a good place in the mix — but the energy of the live show isn’t present. It happens all the time and is more the producer or engineer’s fault than the band’s.

They didn’t play long, maybe 45 minutes or so, but there was a decent amount of people there for them, both members of the NYC stoner rock faithful and others who seemed to be wandering by. One guy I talked to said he had no idea there was a show tonight and who was this playing again? Devil to Pay. Ah cool man. …That must be a nice life.

They hit Krug’s Place in Maryland the next night with Lo Pan, Admiral Browning and Lord (shit that’s a good bill), but to catch them in Manhattan was like being in on a secret the world outside the venue didn’t know and wouldn’t understand. No regrets, even if I was just there for them and then left like a prick as soon as they were done.

Tags: , , ,

Leave a Reply