Author: Primož Novak
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Gorizia / Ex -Mercato All'ingrosso / Italy
Concert date: 05.08.2016
Attendance: 300
Ticket price: €20.00 (presale) / €23.00 (day of show)
Plenty of bands with confirmed slots at European festivals over the summer don’t play only festivals. Some decide to hit the clubs too, so they don’t get seen as something you can only catch at certain festivals. Animals as Leaders went the club route as well, as they’re in the late stage of promoting their current album »The Joy of Motion«, released back in 2014. They were joined by Canada’s Intervals and Australia’s Plini. So the show was bound to draw mostly the crowd that’s into more modern instrumental music, where rhythm stands out right alongside the virtuoso soloing. The gig was set up at the Gorizia market. Sadly, by showtime there was no more fruit and veg to be had, just a fast-food stand and abnormally expensive beer. But if you somehow tune out the baffling prices, it was an interesting, charming spot for a show. And expectations were high.
First up on stage was Australian musician Plini with his backing band. On rhythm guitar he had Aaron Marshall, otherwise the frontman of Intervals. At first it seemed like Plini wouldn’t show anything all that special, as he opened with a track whose mellow vibe was reminiscent of something by Joe Satriani. But with the very next song Plini loosened up, and on his »headless« Strandberg guitar he pulled out a whole bag of tricks, and above all he could boast spot-on playing, which proved he’s not a musician who only sounds convincing on records. The rhythm section didn’t lag behind either. The bassist kept filling out the band’s sound with his lines and solo bits, and the drummer proved no rhythm is foreign to him. The only real problem was Aaron Marshall, who had cut his finger deeply while slicing bread before the show. Marshall tried to keep up with Plini the whole time, but the injury cost him a few mistakes. Luckily he managed to get through the short set, and Plini showed much greater potential live than he has with the EPs and singles released so far, so the outlook for the announced album is definitely good.
The band took a short break, with only the drummer swapped out, and this time guitarist Aaron Marshall was in the lead role, tasked with presenting the music of Intervals. Intervals have been through some serious lineup changes over the past two years. The band started out as instrumental, but the first album A Voice Within (2014) still had vocals on it. The album earned quite a bit of success, but Marshall wasn’t happy with the vocal version, so he decided to disband the lineup and start over with instrumental music. He recorded the album The Shape of Colour, which he tried to play in full with the live Intervals lineup, but sadly the pain in his finger didn’t let him get through the whole set, so after four songs he had to leave the stage and call it a night. In their short set, Intervals did show that they’re interesting instrumentally too, with a bit more emphasis on melody than Plini, but the current state of things somehow doesn’t reach the might of Intervals back when the vocals were still around.
That left just the main act, Animals As Leaders, made up of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka. It probably seems a bit odd at first that the band has no bassist, but the skepticism is quickly squashed once you see that one of the guitarists is actually playing the bass lines. Usually that was Reyes, because Abasi was pretty busy soloing. Luckily, AAL didn’t come across as Abasi’s band, even though he’s nowadays recognized as one of the most interesting modern guitarists. Reyes got his moment to shine too, and was given the role of lead guitarist as well. Both guitarists worked together brilliantly with drummer Garstka all night, whose complex playing gives AAL further confirmation that this is a unique band, a hybrid of modern technical metal and jazz fusion. On one hand you could hear heavily distorted, punchy sections typical of rhythmically complex bands in the vein of Meshuggah, and on the other, inventive jazz bits were mixed in, showing up mostly in the lines backed by slapping. The Abasi/Reyes guitar duo showed off how well-versed they are, with a command of the style of renowned jazz fusion bassists like Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten. AAL undoubtedly showed they work as one entity, even though most eyes were glued to the surgically precise Abasi, who proved his indescribable imagination with every new song. He also proved that he remains one of the few guitarists who makes use of all eight strings on the guitar. No wonder, then, that Abasi even took part in the G4 tour of renowned guitarists last year. In about an hour AAL delivered enough that there wasn’t a disappointed face in sight. The rain did play a prank at one point, but it didn’t spoil the overall impression. The only thing missing was a track or two from the second album Weightless, probably thanks to the rain, which also made the set a bit shorter. Either way, we can look forward to even more from the band, as a new album is in the works.
Despite the shaky weather, Animals as Leaders, Intervals and Plini delivered an unforgettable gig for anyone who’s into innovative instrumental music that doesn’t stick to just one style. These are definitely bands that, with their innovative playing, show there’s huge potential in young bands too.
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