“Everyone gets more guitars” proudly declared Joseph D’Agostino after the second song of the evening, “Finally” off their fantastic new album Pretty Years being released this Friday. The crowd was already hot and sweaty, hanging on every word and note coming from Cymbals Eat Guitars and were ready for a long night. Joseph’s guitar playing only intensified after this declaration for the rest of the evening and even led to him changing a string towards the end of one song to make sure it wouldn’t break during the next one.
CEG
Cymbals Eat Guitars
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
The band played seven out of the ten tracks for the Albany crowd and were excited to be showcasing the new material. Joseph and the band are clearly in love with the new material, with “Wish” and “Well” bring two of the biggest highlights of the night. Joseph’s vocals go back and forth between a beautiful singing voice and a deep scream that comes from the bottom of his body. Brian Hamilton complimented Joseph with some great backing vocals and intricate keyboard work all evening, while the low end was held down on bass by Matt Whipple. Andrew Dole kept the band on task with a constant flurry of his arms on the drums.
Cymbals Eat Guitars
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
Cymbals Eat Guitars
CEG
The in your face rock and roll displayed most of the evening won over the crowd, but the quieter numbers really showed what Cymbals can do with a song. The great lyrics and melodies that were on display for those songs were fantastic and showed a side of the band that was far more experimental than just full on rock. Shifting back and forth between their two sides of music was really amazing to witness. With a full tour behind this record taking up the fall expect the shows to only get better from here as this was only the third date of the tour.
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
CEG
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Article: Bryan Lasky
John Prusinski
What, not even a mention for Hill Haints, the other killer band on the bill? How about review the show, not just one band… Just sayin’
Shayne Hanley
We try to cover all bands on a bill, sometimes it just doesn’t work out due to time, and or restrictions.
Gretchen Rose
What kind of restrictions make for not even mentioning who else played the show though? Seams to be unfair to the other band that put their all into their part of the show, don’t you think?
Josef Ballin
I mean they aren’t even mentioned so….
Olivia Isenhart
Guys, respectfully, this is an editorial piece – and a brief one, at that. If a writer wants to focus on one specific band that appealed to them, that is at their own discretion in this format. Aside from the very common issues that can arise with timing/restrictions, I myself have elected not to mention certain bands if they’re having an off night, in an effort to spare them from negative coverage. I realize this can be frustrating as the writer’s intentions may not always be clear at first glance, but feel it’s worth calling out that in many scenarios (including, of course, us simply not getting great notes/shots – we have our off nights too!), omission is in service of the musicians, not against them.
Josef Ballin
Didn’t other bands play too? We’re you busy then