Show: Pinback
Date: January 17, 2013
Venue: El Rey Theatre
City: Los Angeles, CA
Pinback
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Dan Sinclair
Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow may differ greatly on many things, such as hair length, choice of beard, body size, and the lengths of their names, but when it comes to making harmonizing, melodic, indie-progressive music madness, the super talented multi-instrumentalists do it better than most. They formed Pinback in San Diego, CA back in 1998 and now here in 2013, they stand proudly (and five albums deeper into their careers) on the El Rey Theatre’s stage here on Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile, and hundreds of loyal fans have packed in to see them perform live.
Pinback is hopeful to start the show right away, but hit an early snag. Rob explains that Amistead just “bought a new pedal” that apparently causes Rob’s bass to send a delayed track stuck in repetition. Rob keeps talking while his buddy makes an adjustment, making sure to thank all the fans for coming out and giving props to the opening act Judgment Day. He jokes, “Don’t tell anyone but they’re standing right behind me.”
Armistead makes up for the delay by taking lead vocals on “Victorious D,” and seriously, what better way to start a show but with the opening lyrics, “On our way to death.” The mellow opener gets a loud round of applause but “True North” off their 2012 release Information Retrieved gets even more. Rob takes over lead vocals on this one, but Armistead harmonizes perfectly with him per the band’s trademark sound. And though the crowd yell out other song titles (none of which I can decipher), they are happy to hear “Tripoli” next.
“Non Photo Blue,” the opening track off of 2004’s Summer in Abbadon, gets the loudest cheers thus far. It’s seemingly steady, but the slow building rhythm gets everybody swaying back and forth as they sing along.
After playing “His Phase,” Armistead moves over to the keyboard to play very jazzy “Diminished.” As he sits there in front of the keys, he switches back to bass for those parts as well. Did I mention that these guys were talented? He sticks there for the faster, more electronic “Sender.” It’s a nice change of pace from the mellow song played prior.
And since the crowd has been shouting for it all night, Pinback rewards them with “Penelope,” and even though it’s a relatively slower-paced song, it’s played so on-point and loud here live at the El Rey, one can’t help but rock along to it. The drum kick-in gets everyone moving and shaking. With that, let us take a moment to recognize the forgotten man of the night, drummer Chris Prescott. He’s been the driving force behind all this harmonizing, hypnotizing craziness here tonight, but can get overlooked behind the two frontmen who are literally up in front of him, leading the way.
For a brief moment Rob plays guitar with his mouth on “Boo,” which makes one wonder if it “Tastes like saltwater inside [his] mouth.” He puts the guitar away and instead mans a beer to sing “Fortress.” He also starts to do some jumping jacks and a not-so-great version of the robot much to the crowd’s delight. He then takes on some lazy break dancing before jumping into the crowd to sing the “Stop, it’s too late” part.
Armistead thought “He was going to be down there forever,” but Rob returns to the stage for “Good to Sea.” But he’s not as prepared as he thought, as he had to make guitar noises because he forgot to pick his instrument up before the song started—d’oh! But he retrieves it quickly thereafter as the video for the song plays behind them. It’s easily the best song of the night and the crowd eats it up.
The party keeps going on with favorites such as “Sherman,” “Bouquet,” and “Syracuse” before Rob ends the last song with a “Thank you so fucking much!” as soon as the music stops. But as I look around the crowd of giant smiles and loud cheering, I figure it is the audience who should be thankful for Pinback on this night (so fucking much).