Hollywood Undead - 9/27 @ Masquerade
It's an interesting phenomenon. I like Rock. I like Rap. But I don't like Rap/Rock, with two notable exceptions - the Judgment Night soundtrack and the DMX & Ozzy song from the South Park Chef Aid album. Other than that, I'm not a fan of the genre at all. And I pretty much thought Rap/Rock was over anyway, other than Linkin Park per se, and then I heard about Hollywood Undead.
Hollywood Undead is one of those bands that have millions of friends on the MySpace. They're a Rap/Rock band. They wear masks. And they do songs about big pimpin' or angst...it's an odd dichotomy. I was really curious if people actually cared about them or just needed to beef up their friend list. Well apparently they go nuts over Hollywood Undead. This was their first tour through Atlanta and the guys almost sold out Hell in Masquerade (about an 800 or so capacity). And then they got this screaming reception before they got onstage like they were the Beatles playing at Shea Stadium. Seriously, check out this nearly TWO MINUTE clip off YouTube of the crowd going apeshit before the band takes the stage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiZ8S-qF54M), Crazy, isn't it? So yeah, I guess Hollywood Undead is kind of a big deal in certain circles. Granted, none of the circles I socialize in, but I'm in my late 30's and not part of what I'll now call Mallcore.
Anyways, I was watching the band perform and two things kept running through my mind. 1) They're actually a lot better live than I expected. Mostly because I think their CD sucks ass. And 2) How the hell did they get this rabid following? Huh? Was it the masks? I know bands like Slipknot do well with the masks. But these guys actually took off their masks pretty early in the show. And even without the "mystique," the audience was still going berserk. So I don't know, I can't explain it. But there you go. And by necessity or design, they wear a lot of their own merch too. Not sure what that has to do with their popularity, but they sure sold a shit ton of hats after their set. Well played.
In the middle of the show, Kim texted me because she happened to be at Masquerade as well to see a show upstairs in Heaven. She found me easily, as I was one of the only people over the age of 25 downstairs. And when I was questioning how could this band get this kind of crowd reaction, she simply said - "everybody's gotta have their something." Kim...Zen Master.
Thankfully it was an early show and ended fairly quickly. The reason being that they had to clear out all the kids from downstairs to set up for an afterparty from the show going on upstairs. And so to cleanse my palate a little from the Rap/Rock extravaganza, I made my way upstairs to find Kim. I thought I was catching a bit of Cut/Copy, the headling act, but I found out later that it was actually one of the openers, The Presets. Same difference to me I suppose. More of that hipster electronic stuff that I don't really listen to all that much, but it sounded a lot better than what I just witnessed. And they also had an impressive stage set up with a huge light rig that took over the entire back of the stage..very trippy. So after they finished, hung out with Kim for a bit until it was actually time for Cut/Copy to perform. Then I decided to take off, as I've seen enough music for the night and I didn't want to get mistaken for one of the many bears that were trolling around the show upstairs.
Hollywood Undead is one of those bands that have millions of friends on the MySpace. They're a Rap/Rock band. They wear masks. And they do songs about big pimpin' or angst...it's an odd dichotomy. I was really curious if people actually cared about them or just needed to beef up their friend list. Well apparently they go nuts over Hollywood Undead. This was their first tour through Atlanta and the guys almost sold out Hell in Masquerade (about an 800 or so capacity). And then they got this screaming reception before they got onstage like they were the Beatles playing at Shea Stadium. Seriously, check out this nearly TWO MINUTE clip off YouTube of the crowd going apeshit before the band takes the stage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiZ8S-qF54M), Crazy, isn't it? So yeah, I guess Hollywood Undead is kind of a big deal in certain circles. Granted, none of the circles I socialize in, but I'm in my late 30's and not part of what I'll now call Mallcore.
Anyways, I was watching the band perform and two things kept running through my mind. 1) They're actually a lot better live than I expected. Mostly because I think their CD sucks ass. And 2) How the hell did they get this rabid following? Huh? Was it the masks? I know bands like Slipknot do well with the masks. But these guys actually took off their masks pretty early in the show. And even without the "mystique," the audience was still going berserk. So I don't know, I can't explain it. But there you go. And by necessity or design, they wear a lot of their own merch too. Not sure what that has to do with their popularity, but they sure sold a shit ton of hats after their set. Well played.
In the middle of the show, Kim texted me because she happened to be at Masquerade as well to see a show upstairs in Heaven. She found me easily, as I was one of the only people over the age of 25 downstairs. And when I was questioning how could this band get this kind of crowd reaction, she simply said - "everybody's gotta have their something." Kim...Zen Master.
Thankfully it was an early show and ended fairly quickly. The reason being that they had to clear out all the kids from downstairs to set up for an afterparty from the show going on upstairs. And so to cleanse my palate a little from the Rap/Rock extravaganza, I made my way upstairs to find Kim. I thought I was catching a bit of Cut/Copy, the headling act, but I found out later that it was actually one of the openers, The Presets. Same difference to me I suppose. More of that hipster electronic stuff that I don't really listen to all that much, but it sounded a lot better than what I just witnessed. And they also had an impressive stage set up with a huge light rig that took over the entire back of the stage..very trippy. So after they finished, hung out with Kim for a bit until it was actually time for Cut/Copy to perform. Then I decided to take off, as I've seen enough music for the night and I didn't want to get mistaken for one of the many bears that were trolling around the show upstairs.