The Living Head Ends A Genre-Spanning Tuesday Night Of Music Exploration At The Empty Bottle
Photos and review by: Christalyn Barker
A literal below-freezing day could not stop the Empty Bottle from gathering an audience for the eclectic lineup featuring William Covert, Flail, Weaklung, and The Living Head.
The night opened with saxophone-heavy voiceless jams by William Covert and Bruce Lamont, awarding stank faces and head bops all around as people staggered in. Patrons walking in mid-set were greeted with the most dance-erupting Mario Kart-adjacent music meets arena-level screaming guitars by crowd-favorite Flail.
In the corner by the sticker-plastered walls was a group lightly moshing, kicksteps included, while the majority of the crowd gave their best headbops. The vibes loosened after each performer until it came to a head during the second-to-last set by the cool punk rock of Weaklung.
Proceeds from the show went to the Midwest Immigration Fund, a fund to help those detained in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Weaklung, the most vocal about this, featured an amp with the words “IT MIGHT HAPPEN TODAY,” and ended their set with a rowdy call to action, “This Face Kills Machines,” condemning AI and promoting real artists doing real art.
Headliners The Living Head, who played a show recently at local DIY venue Bookclub on April 1st, filled the main room with good noise to end the night. Think Geese meets Turnstile, a band that’s made to mosh.
The Living Head packed the stage with a full band, the usual drums, bass, guitar, another guitar, and synths. The use of synths was strong and had an almost vocal element of its own.
The band held a stoic presence on the dimly lit stage as the singer’s wails kept the crowd’s energy surging. The tempo never waned, and the kick drum kept thumping in a 4/4 beat through the eight-song set. The standout moment was Jailer Moon, their most recent release, where the insistent guitars punched parts of the brain as the synths in their repeating scale ran circles around it. All that was accompanied by the singer’s raspy yelling.
The bar started to empty near the end of Weaklung into The Living Head, but with a Tuesday night show that ends at midnight, it’s doubtful the artist’s fault. People have work in the morning, but the crowd was enjoying their time, drinks in hand.
A rare, almost phone-free night full of people talking to strangers, introducing themselves; a true hub for community.
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Links:
Bandcamp: https://thelivinghead.bandcamp.com/music
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelivinghead/
