Copeland

The Appleseed Cast
Acute

El Rey - November 22, 2006

Live Review by Alexis Roberts

The week before this show, I was driving home from the El Rey and had a sudden craving to listen to The Appleseed Cast (who had reentered my life last summer when Peregrine was released). Of course, after listening to them, I wanted to see them live again. Lucky for me, I got an e-mail three days later informing me that they were playing a show back at The El Rey with Copeland; I’m also a longtime fan of Copeland, so of course I decided to go. I’m pretty sure I’m psychic by this point.

I came in during Owen’s set, which was cut short because Mike Kinsella broke a string. They literally shut the curtains on him which made me feel kind of bad; they might as well have just yanked him off the damn stage with a hook. It’s hard enough opening, but it’s even worse when you have a mishap like that that’s out of your hands.

Acute played next. They’re newer on the scene, they gave out some balloons, and they are totally proud of the fact that they jacked Ozma’s drummer. You know what’s cool? How their drummer smokes a cigarette and drums at the same time. But when did it become legal to smoke indoors in California? Their music was emo-pop, but the girls in the audience—average age: 16—seemed to be into it. I personally only cared about the rocking horse they had up on stage with them (the singer told the crowd that he’d found it at Rite-Aid). He was actually kind of funny, which was awesome because I’m sick of being embarrassed for someone when they make a joke and nobody finds it funny—so props to him, yo. Their set was pretty short, too, but they didn’t get the hook.

Then of course The Appleseed Cast came out and wowed us all because they are The Appleseed Cast and that is just the way they roll. The last time I saw them they did not talk at all and they played sound clips in between songs instead. Well, this time they was all sorts of talk, as they graced the crowd with some humorous banter and plugs for Lawrence, KA and all it has to offer (good weather, some snow, and great golf). Aaron Pillar is still playing that guitar—if you have ever seen them live, you know which one I am talking about, the one with the paint chipping off that’s being held together by duct tape and stickers, this guitar has more personality than any other that I’ve seen in my life. Their set was definitely not long enough because they only got to play about eight songs and I was kind of depressed because they didn’t play “February,” but it’s not all about me, so I dealt with it. They played so well that it didn’t even matter what songs they were playing; they were into it, I was into it, everyone was into it.

Copeland came out dressed like they were going to a job interview: button downs, slacks, ties, a v-neck sweater. They have this new CD out called Eat, Sleep, Repeat and they played some songs off of it and that was pretty sweet. Aaron Marsh has a voice that is really strong live. It sounds exactly like it does on their recordings; great tone, clean with a little bit of a rasp to it, and some might say downright sexy—but I don’t think I can take it that far because V-neck sweaters just don’t exude sex appeal (sorry, Aaron). They also played some older songs off In Motion, opening with “No One Really Wins” from that album. Copeland is known for doing really fantastic cover songs and to my disappointment they didn’t play any covers. On The Militia Group’s Police tribute album, Policia!, Copeland covered “Every Breath You Take,” and I was hoping to hear them play that live, but no dice. Throughout the set, Marsh bounced around from guitar to piano, making sure to thank the crowd after every single song. His stage presence is so coy yet unbelievably loveable because you can’t dislike a dude who makes it a point to tell the crowd that he’s thankful for each and every person in the room, and responds to all of the emo girls in the front row yelling “I love you” by telling them he loves them back. They finished their set and came back out for a three song encore, sealing the deal with “Pin Your Wings.” Right here and now I am coining the phrase “gummy bear rock” and I’m crowning Copeland as the kings. They can make you happy and sad all at the same time, like eating gummy bears. Their songs are sweet and soft, with raw emotion clearly showing through their lyrical content, but you still feel kind of sad when you are eating them because they are just so damn cute.