Filter live at the 9:30 Club

In 1993, Richard Patrick (brother of actor Robert Patrick) left the touring group for Nine Inch Nails to form Filter. Their first album was Short Bus (released in 1995) and featured the hit "Hey Man Nice Shot". After that record, Filter contributed great soundtrack songs to Songs in the Key of X: Music From and Inspired By The X-Files, The Crow: City of Angels, and Spawn.

1999 saw the release of Title of Record, which is likely their most successful record. It featured "Take a Picture", "Welcome to the Fold" and "Captain Bligh". The Amalgamut was released in 2002 and it is definitely my favorite. I feel it is truly their most consistent album.

After that album, the band broke up and Richard Patrick joined the DeLeo brothers from Stone Temple Pilots to form the group Army of Anyone. They recorded one album that was released in 2006.

2008 brings a brand new Filter record and tour. The record is called Anthems for the Damned and it is a decent return for the band. It doesn't outplay any of the other records that they have released, but it is good to hear Richard Patrick recording under the Filter banner again.

I had the chance to see the current incarnation of Filter at the 9:30 Club in DC last week. I was very impressed with their performance, even in a half-filled club. They played a nice cross section of their albums, including two of their soundtrack recordings. My favorite tracks of the night were "Hey Man Nice Shot" and "(Can You) Trip Like I Do". Here is the entire setlist:

Welcome To The Fold
American Cliche
Soldiers of Misfortune
Dose
The Take
Where Do We Go From Here?
(Can You) Trip Like I Do (from Spawn)
It's Gonna Kill Me
Jurassitol (from The Crow: City of Angels)
Cancer
Captain Bligh
Skinny
Het Man Nice Shot

Take a Picture

Tally Hall live in Denver

Last Sunday night, I was in Denver and went to go see Tally Hall at a club in Englewood, CO. I recently discovered this band which formed a few years ago at the University of Michigan. Their debut album, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum released last year, is a great Power Pop treat. They have the obvious influences (Beatles, Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, ELO), but their music is much deeper than that. There is as much Queen, XTC, Jellyfish, Beck, Beastie Boys and even Harry Belafonte on the album. I was most curious how they would pull off the vocals on their record which at times are very daring. I have to say that I was very impressed.

They come out dressed in white dress shirts, black dress pants and a variety of colored ties. As soon as they came out on stage, they tore into a 10 minute, spot on version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird". It is almost as if they wanted to avoid the inevitable stereotype encore request and they just got it out of the way at the front. Being that it was completely different than their normal material and it was so perfectly executed, it really spoke for how talented this band really is. After they finished that, they started playing the highlights from their new album. Their most popular songs were great ("Good Day", "Banana Man", "Two Wuv") but some of the less recognizable songs really stood out, as well. I particularly liked the very melodic "Greener" and "Welcome to Tally Hall" that was sung by a group of guys that beat the band in a bowling match earlier in the day. Tally Hall - where Rock Star dreams come true. They wrapped up the whole show with an uptempo version of Manfred Mann's "Blinded By the Light". This song was originally written and later performed by Bruce Springsteen, but Tally Hall's version was more M.M. than B.S. Great show. You should check them out if you get the chance.

Here is the setlist:

Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
The Bidding
Greener
Taken for a Ride
Welcome to Tally Hall (featuring the winning bowlers)
Two Wuv
Good Day
Just Apathy
Spring and a Storm
Banana Man
Misery Fell
Ruler of Everything

Turn the Lights Off
Blinded by the Light (Manfred Mann cover)


Here are a couple of videos by the band.

"Good Day"

"Banana Man"