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Monday, July 19, 2010
Live Reviews / News Live review: Ocoai
Posted By Chris Triplett on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Ocoai
Snug Harbor
July 17, 2010
The Deal: Instrumental rockers Ocoai played out Snug Harbor with Gruppe 36 and Machete.
The Good: A down-home, good ol’ boy rock band from Johnson City, Tenn., that just got tired of lyrics. That is Ocoai, and they were surprisingly good for a band that specializes in 13-minute rock epics in a time where 3-minute radio-friendly pop songs rule the medium.
As a fan of 80’s thrash metal, I was pleased with the banging of heads and swinging of guitars in unison. But it wasn’t something that could easily be parodied like a Cinderella video. What was impressive to me was their chemistry between each other on stage. They read each other’s mannerisms well and fed off of them to produce a well-oiled rock machine that stayed glued together for the length of the show.
To do what they do takes patience—to stay focused on the build-up of the song. They started out with “Niveus Hills, beginning with soft chimes from organ and cello player Cody Ledford, then breaking the silence and some eardrums with the pulsating chords from guitarists Travis Kammeyer and Joe Armstrong (who look likes Michael Cera).
Ledford again starred in a beautifully played cello solo opening the song “Grimper”. Most songs start off mellow — with some eerie organ or guitar chord that they play on for some time just to build up the vibe and the crowd — and then soar into a jam session that they are all in tune on.
They finished with a 20-minute coup de gras of “Demon Sur la Colline (Demon on the hill)”.Drummer Joey Metcalf initiated the piece with a marching drum number and Kammeyer picked a few sad notes which lent a dramatic effect to it all. The first part was sub-titled “the waiting” which we did for about 10 minutes until they decided to break into the second part appropriately entitled “the attack” including a series of heavy guitar riffs highlighted with a distorted bass and cello. They would intricately slow back down to a crawl to finish.
This band performs music in layers and it takes time. Their patience makes it happen. They have a nice musical flow as well.
The Bad: Gruppe 36. Incomprehensible rubbish. Maybe some people liked it, but it was just too loud and obnoxious for me to get much out of it. Left before Machete came on — had had
enough.
The Verdict: There’s not much of a market for epic instrumentalists, and these guys are definitely a niche band. It may be hard for them to find an outlet to stardom and maybe that’s not what they want, but they were rock solid none-the-less.
Setlist
Niveus Hills
La Main Electrique
Grimper
Demon Sur la Colline (the waiting)
Demon Sur la Colline (the attack)
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