GHOSTS OF EDEN – Mercury Lounge, NY – 8th July 2011

I reviewed Ghosts of Eden (GoE) a few months ago (http://scoaustin.blogspot.com/2011/04/ghosts-of-eden-klub-45-room-ny-22nd.html) when they played an unfamiliar and slightly peculiar venue near Times Square called, Klub 45. Despite that venue being okay, GoE are far better than that. Over the past year or so, the band has been pushing their music and is probably one of the hardest working bands around. There were weekends when GoE would play a couple of live shows in PA on the Friday night before trekking back to NY and playing shows at various venues on the Saturday and Sunday…no easy task when the band members have jobs to hold down as well as WAGS and family members to devote time to. While recording their new album, they took something of a break from the live performances and on this showing, it has only benefited them.

My choice venue for live music in New York is, Mercury Lounge, so I was absolutely thrilled to hear that GoE had secured the venue for their record launch of, ‘Something Kinetic’…and they sold it out. Having released a four song EP, ‘Ignorance and Lies’ early last year, GoE had a two tier approach to this show playing the oldies first before delighting the crowd with the sounds of their new album.

As the clock neared midnight, lead man, Pino strolled on from stage left on his lonesome, strapped on his guitar and started with an unruffled solo before other band members, Rich (lead), Benny (drums), and Miles (bass) accompanied. An area where, Pino has improved markedly over the past few years is definitely his strength and depth in vocals. They were simply majestic on this opener, ‘Heartbreak Crutch’.

 

It wasn’t until the second track that I realized something was missing from GoE…Benny was not adorned in his signature NY Yankees this evening (fine by me as I prefer the NY Mets). The beat rolled on though and in, ‘Capsize’ a Tommy gun beat with crunching guitar alongside works very well indeed. Pino undertook some crowd control on this one asking each side of the room to accompany on the “woah woah oh woah-oh oh" chorus promising gifts for the winners. He played the politician in the end by throwing GoE t-shirts and copies of the new album to both sides of the audience and explained that given that the band are still unsigned, they can't piss people off.

The third track of the evening was, Eliot Ness which for my money is the best song on, ‘Ignorance and Lies’. From the well composed opening riff from, Rich to the tender and beautifully delivered lyrics from, Pino, this song is on the more chilled side, but incredibly enjoyable. When I looked over to Mrs. ScoAustin, I found her singing her little heart out...to my surprise and great delight, she knows every word. ‘Even Violence’ continues with a slightly calmer, but still energetic of the GoE repertoire, and the performance was on its way to being the bands best yet with the fervent late night crowd in raptures.

The next track, The Black (which doesn’t appear on either the EP or the new album) was dedicated to drummer, Benny who “changed the face of the band” in the words of the lead man, Pino. The track has an almost Latin guitar theme and drumbeat. It sounded a little bit Led Zeppelin in the live arena and one I really enjoyed in the set (and the acoustic version I later found - below).

 

We then switch to the new stuff at the heart of this GoE record launch. In the same order as the tracks appear on the album, ‘K.M.A.’ gets us started with a dark and heavy sound that reminds me of, Foo Fighters, QOTSA and Them Crooked Vultures. Some great bass and lead guitar on this track and the consistency of Benny on drums and Tom on vocals is a joy to behold.

‘Halo’ is possibly my favourite track from, ‘Something Kinetic’. It is a pure rock song with anger and aggression at the fore, “she likes to get around, she likes to get around” and a “more, more, more” from, Pino that puts me in mind of one of my early rock Gods (that I’m willing to admit and share), Billy Idol. This really is down my street.

I have always been fond of, ‘Dear Mary’ which begins with a really great riff by lead guitar, Rich. As I said in the last review, this riff has me casting my mind back to Fleetwood Mac’s, ‘The Chain’ and Rolling Stones, ‘Gimme Shelter’. Pino with the aid of a harmonizing, Benny delivers a wonderful chorus culminating in “stones are way too hard”. ‘Sell My Skin’ is next up with a booming bass from, Miles and hosting the smart, catchy guitar riffs that have become somewhat synonymous with GoE. It’s easy to fathom that bands like, ‘Smashing Pumpkins’ and ‘Pearl Jam’ are among the bands influences. 

‘Unraveled’ is another very solid rock song with a ballad like feel in the middle, “as days go by, I feel so tired, not good enough for you, I sink my teeth right in to you”. This one is delivered with raw emotion and again, the Mercury Lounge crowd is showing their appreciation. The frenetic and fabulous live performance comes to a close with, ‘In Motion’which explodes to life with vigor and loud guitar from the trio of guitarists. It’s effervescent and again has the audience in ecstasy.

'Ghosts of Eden' do not need to prove that they have solid songs, but I think they were keen to show a music Mecca that is, Mercury Lounge that they are up to the challenge. This was by far the best GoE performance I have seen and the band looked more than comfortable in everything they did and played. They are confident in their talents and so they should be. The Mercury Lounge can be an unforgiving place if performances are not deemed up to par, but GoE left a buzz in the place and people left with a smile on their face and ‘Something Kinetic’ in their pocket. Do yourself a favour and go and buy this hard working rock bands well produced 6 track album…you will not be disappointed. Rating 8.5/10

Again, the band was kind enough to give me some words on their experience of the Mercury Lounge record launch:

“First off, it was surreal hearing over 250 people chant "GoE". There was definitely a sense of accomplishment because we have worked so hard over the past few months getting our record done and working on our live show. Many of our fans who have seen us several times before told us it was our best show. That kind of feedback definitely makes us feel like we're on the right track. We always knew we had strong songs but never had enough down time to build upon our performance and make it more of an experience for the crowd. We took a few months off from playing shows while making the new record so that we could do just that and I think it showed on Friday night. We're extremely humbled by the turnout…although we knew that we were close to selling the show beforehand, we didn't concern ourselves with that. To find out we had sold out the Mercury Lounge afterwards was incredible. We're just glad everyone had fun and that fans, especially new fans, wanted our music. Hopefully this is just the beginning.”

Set List:

Heartbreak Crutch

Capsize

Eliot Ness

Even Violence

The Black

K.M.A.

Dear Mary

Halo

Sell My Skin

Unraveled

In Motion

* hear more on their website - http://ghostsofeden.com/songs