CONCERT REVIEW: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU

Possibly wanting to displace blame, partIally due to not properly preparing for the show I was covering, and still am, writing this, waiting for the full band, THIS WILL DESTROY YOU to take the stage. This is how it went down tonight, Friday November 22, 2019 and why my blame shifting is an important piece to this review. 

Rolling up on the sidewalk on my new(ish) scooter to Deep Ellum Art Co.’s door, the sign was turned to “closed” which immediately created the panic-prone internal horn, blare like I was sitting on train tracks with a train headed right for me, as the conductor honked the horn warning of its approach. Although, I honestly heard, “is this the right night? The right venue, what time is it, where am I? WTF is happening!!!”, translate within its horrid honk, it was yelling. Just to make sure you’re all aware that this train horn and me understanding what it meant, was all in my head and all within like .239 seconds. 

Peering in the door, I could see people. And obeying the “closed” sign, I started mouthing to the dude standing in the door, “are y’all open? Is this a private event?”, I didn’t just open the “closed” door. Because the sign said “closed” I wasn’t about do something that might get me banned to this venue before ever going in it! I would be mortified if I had opened the uninviting door. So instead, I stand there talking to air. Ya. 

The dude with the beard that had been standing there, opened the door finally, and so I asked if this was This Will Destroy You. The invisible Captain Obvious swooped down and made it clear to me that it was, because the sign said it on the wall to my right just as bearded man reached back to point at said sign. About that time, my hearing had returned as the anxiety storm exited my neck and throat, deflating back from whence it came and wasn’t causing the pounding and swooshing of gases, and I realized that it was really quiet inside the venue. And before I let that anxiety storm start billowing up because I didn’t now if I had been louder than I should have been, I rounded the corner and went and put my bag on the bar, so I could get myself under control. I mean, for the love of God that first three minutes just entering the venue was enough, already!

It’s uncomfortable to bust into a place that one might think would be loud, and it not be. At all. 

Silence from an audience watching a live show is eerie, not to mention it’s unkind to those that have overactive thoughts. I’ll have to say that in shooting Christopher TignorS performance, amongst the silent crowd was unnerving and intriguing. Although my shutter firing off seemed to be comparable to ball bearings on a hollow plastic floor. I went to grab a soda at the bar and felt like whispering was even too evasive, so I left my small talk with the barkeep’s tip and walked out to the back yard like area, have a smoke, sit and look through the first set’s pictures.
Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that I was not at a typical show that I normally cover. If you are familiar with THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, then you have probably already chalked my above montage up to being one of those “Unaware” of TWDY people. Similarly to Deplorables, maybe - nah, just kidding, but seriously. I would venture we are pretty easy to spot, right?

Having watched the majority of Christopher Tignor’s set before going outside, I found myself swiping up whilst reading about THIS WILL DESTROY YOU. Reading their bio and putting two and two together from the very elegant one-man-band of MR. TIGNOR'S set prior to, I felt like I was going to be in for a real treat when it was time for TWDY to saddle up.

I titled this review “This Will Destroy You - Someone Should Warn You” for two reasons. Captain Obvious will again make an appearance and state that if you aren’t familiar with this band and have an opportunity to go see them, well, someone should warn you (in this case, that’s me, right now). Not because the band is bad or for any other negative reason, but solely because sometimes expectations are nasty bitches and ruin things for the unexpected. 

Brisk night air was somewhat strange for this time of year in Dallas. It is normally cool before Thanksgiving, but not cold enough to have to wear gloves and a scarf with my jacket. Even though I did scoot over to the venue that sits three streets over from our loft, it felt good to have that cold air dry out the back of my throat which made the Coke taste even better! Sitting on the wooden picnic table tapping letters into my phone’s Note app, I could hear two people talking about their cats to my right and to my left two people were talking about party favors and magic mushrooms. Someone else was standing very close to the gas heater, holding up their hands to warm them but never realized it wasn’t on. 

My nose was cold and before it started running, I decided to go in and get ready for the set. It’s funny what being out of your element can do to heighten your awareness to what’s happening around you; like remembering the air and soda on my tonsils. Not to mention the way the two talked about their cats. 

As I made my way through the people standing amidst the fog that was trying to over take the room like a bay in Maine to find a good spot to snap some pics, it was still oddly quiet in the room even with piped in music. This isn’t to say that odd is bad because sometimes, silence is golden. Now this isn’t saying that it was dead silent, not at all.

What I need to explain about the music of THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, isn’t going to give you much of an idea of what the show sounded like. If you go listen to the music of THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, you might have a better idea of how the atmosphere is just as important to the review as the music, I think. It’s not a rock show per se, it’s not a concert either. THIS WILL DESTROY YOU is more like a theatrical performance of music. 

It’s not a visual performance of music unless you want to count the ambiance that the lighting and fog added to the music. Their show tunes into your psyche and to the patterns of whatever vibrations you are flowing with at that moment. The music is going to attach itself to places within you whilst listening that you might not even recognize as a part of you - now this kinda sounds like I’ve been smoking the funny cigarettes, and I assure you I am not nor have not. It may not make any sense if you’re not familiar with watching a play or watching a performance. The music itself is played by musicians that experience the vibrations that I associate with ethereal patterns or sounds one might experience in the astral plane.

And I’m not being hoaky or weird here. If you didn’t know, there are other ways to rock out, you know? What I loved about this show was the band’s branch on the modern music tree is on the same tree that all of the bands I cover in the massive genre of rock. And while their sound is not “rock”, it comes from the same seed. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have seen a lot of familiar faces that I see at other traditional rock shows. 

I want to mention here that THIS WILL DESTROY YOU is not a band that capitalizes on the hipster movement in music, even if the band is from a city in Texas where hipsters either spawn from or travel to; and that little piece of paradise is none other than Austin. Yes, there are trees to hug there but collectively the butter on this town’s bread is spread liberally with a bit of Texas attitude mixed in. Kinda like unsalted butter only with Hymalain pink salt gingerly added, just enough to make it not qualify as salted butter. THIS WILL DESTROY YOU fall more in line with the city’s slogan of “Keep Austin Weird” than a band I would associate with anything as cynical as a hipster DNA marker, you know? 

Why I dug this show a lot is that I was literally tossed into a completely unknown scenario, even though it was totally my own doing. However, I’m really glad that I didn’t listen or research them prior to the show. Now, some may think that is totally bad form for a rock journalist. I respect that and answer back that had I poked around the interwebs to find out more info about them, I would not have had one part of the experience I had from the jump. Literally, not one thing would have stuck out as being important or something I needed to take note of. I would have probably turned on autopilot and would not have discovered much of anything that night. 

TWDY takes a huge step in their approach to the transient, atmospheric music that bring them closer to truly being able to connect with fans via their instruments on several different levels. So the next time THEY WILL DESTROY YOU is touring make sure you encounter them if they’re coming into your purview and go see them. 

Watch for more on THIS WILL DESTROY YOU on www.CherriBird.com and enjoy the show pics!

Til Next Time - MRML - Cherri

“Lie In The Light” from THIS WILL DESTROY YOU



TWDY IS: 
Jeremy Galindo
Christopher Royal King
Jesse Kees
Robi Gonzalez

More About TWDY: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU released their captivating New Others Part One and Two companion full-lengths last year via Dark Operative. Captured by Grammy award-winning producer John Congleton, the records feature core members Jeremy Galindo and Christopher King with the addition of drummer Robi Gonzalez and continue to reap critical accolades globally. Stereogum lauded, "...a heavy sprawl with some moments of outright beauty and others of gut-churn heaviness." Noisey championed, "another seismic record, building to the dissociative ambient track 'New Promise Land Inc.' and the eleven-minute closer, 'Provoke,'" while MetalSucks hailed "Another transcendental experience from a band that specializes in cinematic, shoegaze-inflected instrumental post-rock," crowning THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, "one of modern music's most unforgettably transportive bands."

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Tags:  THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, CHRISTOPHER TIGNOR, DEEP ELLUM ART CO, DEEP ELLUM, CHERRI BIRD

Cherri Bird    December 02, 2019