After having breached many speed regulations due to our tardy arrival through the bustling city centre of Leeds, we were finally greeted by tour manager Andy and taken to the grimy back room of the Metropolitan University’s gig venue.
Alkaline Trio’s singer and guitarist Dan was the only one polite enough to even acknowledge our presence, and half-heartedly answer our questions, whilst other band members remained preoccupied and demeaning of our purpose. In all fairness, we are not your average Alkaline trio fans, but we remained enthusiastic.
Once entering the small venue we were surrounded by mohawks, ear plugs and a lot of black clothing. The only positive from the evening was the strong vocal performance by lead singer Matt Skiba, though this was let down by the poor generic songs which held no individuality or originality.
His interaction with the crowd was engaging, but in a way that pinpointed individuals and made stereotypical judgements about their appearance, in a way that made it seem he was using his power on stage to perhaps elevate the deflated egos of their former fame.
This became apparent as we were recognised as being perhaps sore thumbs in the crowd but also the interviewers from earlier. He continued to mock us, for reasons we are unsure of which led to the whole three hundred members of the audience loudly booing and hysterically laughing at us for a considerable period of time.
We realised that this humiliating ordeal was not at all meant light-heartedly and we found it slightly inappropriate and a bit uneasy. After a few monotonous acoustic tracks, the sight of the drummer coming more to the fore came as a relief to the crowd as the ambiance of the evening began to pick up.
Their sustained musical career undoubtedly reflects their determination and passion for music, yet we cannot help but call into question their relevance in today’s ever-changing and widening music industry.
Great objectivity in this article…
And you say Matt Skiba stereotyped – “average Alkaline trio fans…”we were surrounded by mohawks, ear plugs and a lot of black clothing”. Are you kidding?
I’d be annoyed too if I had two stereotyping girls with bad music taste interviewing me, who have clearly taken no time to research the band or listen to their music prior to the gig.
Giving them a bad review because they pointed you out in the crowd is very mature – shame this won’t affect the band, or “today’s ever-changing and widening music industry,” in the slightest.
Dan is the bassist and singer by the way.
P.S. If you didn’t know the bass is the one with four strings (- thought I’d better help you out with that one)…
The rockstar had a big ego and didnt take you seriously, what a surprise! Good luck going anywhere in journalism if you are going to write stroppy articles about anyone who is an ass to you. ”Celebrities” tend to be horrible people, deal with it or write about something important.
bahahahaha glad you got mocked- the writers here are the only ones with ego. ‘the drummer’- look up his name at least jeez! Derek Grant- one of the best punk rock drummers in the US scene, and an altogether great underground Chicago band. Worked tirelessly for at least eight albums, and continually putting out great work. Hilarious that you got mocked in front of the entire crowd, maybe because you don’t know a single one of their songs??? Do some research next time, and arrive on time, and you might get a better response…
(follow up)
and yeah lol ‘call into question their relevance in today’s ever-changing and widening music industry.’- what does that even mean??? What does ‘relevance’ mean??? Music isn’t an exact science, it’s an articulation of emotion and feeling; a form of expressionism. Take your Wild Beasts and alt-J and come back around when you know how to write about music..
Matt + Dan never once mentioned “the interviewers” once it was Dave Hause the support act who mentioned you once… and that was for asking questions which could’ve been answered by Alk3’s wikipedia page.