I Just Read About That…

My Brother-in-law, Ben told me about Animals as Leaders and I was rather shocked that I had never heard of Tosin Abasi.

Tosin is from Washington D.C. (his parents are from Nigeria).  He is self taught and has been playing since about 2000.  He plays primarily the 8-string electric guitar and his fingers (on both hands) are all over the fretboard.  Basically, he’s a guy you want to watch closely.

He started the all-instrumental Animals as Leaders in 2009.  The band is a hybrid of many different genres: heavy metal, prog, jazz, classical.  Or as he put it: “Thanks for listening to our weird ass music for the last ten years.”

I was also intrigued that right after talking about them I saw that they were coming into Philly a few weeks later.  So I immediately grabbed a ticket.

Indeed, this tour was celebrating the tenth anniversary of the debut, self-titled album.  I assumed that that meant they’d be playing the whole album but they didn’t.  They played about half of the debut and about half of their newest release (from way back in 2016).

I feel about this show that it was the most disappointing experience of an amazing show that I’ve had in a long time.

After The Contortionist, I was pushed much further back than I wanted to be.  This was a bad start because I was there to watch Tosin do his thing.  I didn’t even really know their music all that well–I just wanted to see him play.  But there were so many tall fans and I was a good twenty people back.

Then, it turned out that Animals as Leaders uses astonishingly dark lighting for their shows.  It may have been TLA, but given how precise the lights were, I assume the stage setup was all planned by Animals as Leaders, which made it all the more puzzling.  I thought that we all were there to watch Tosin and other guitarist Javier Reyes play.  But many people were there to slam and surf.  So between the dark lights and the pushy crowd, I rarely got to see much of anything.

This was complicated by the astonishingly tall fellow (at least a foot taller than me, possibly more) who was suddenly nearby.   And of course, by the time the crowd surged around he wound up in front of me to the left, meaning he blocked all of Javier and much of drummer Matt Garstka.

From what I could hear (and from when I could see) the music was awesome.  I didn’t expect the band to rock quite so hard (well, yes I did, but not so chunky–turns out Animals as Leaders are part of the whole djent scene).  And that meant–especially in Philly–lots and lots of slam dancing.

What’s really impressive about this band is how good they sound for a trio.  I know many trios sound big and full, but I don’t think that Tosin is doing anything other than playing guitar–I don’t think he’s got any kind of foot pedals.  So that means that Javier Reyes who also plays the 8 string guitar is keeping the staggeringly complex melody going while Tosin solos.

They played all kinds of music, as well.  From heavy slamming songs, to pieces that were gentle and almost jazzy to a beautiful classical piece.  The classical piece featured both Reyes and Tosin playing acoustic guitars.  I joked that this song was easy because Tosin’s guitar only had six six-strings.  At the end of the song he said that someone else had written it, although I didn’t hear who (and the album credits all say the songs are by the band).

Even though I was there to see some amazing guitar work, drummer Matt Garstka was equally as amazing.  To be able to play shockingly heavy songs but also to bring it down for the quieter songs was really great.  He didn’t just play simple hi-hat and drums during the quiet parts either–his drum patterns were equally as complex.

For a short time the very tall man left and it was very nice being able to see the whole stage.  It was also great to be able to get a clear view of Tosin playing, like when he used some nifty fingertapping techniques.  Then the tall man came back and found the exact spot he was in last time and my vision was limited once again.

I was enjoying the show but was also irritated by the show so I was keeping an eye on the setlist to see how much more was left in the show.   I don’t often do this, especially since I didn’t know song titles, but when he introduced the song “CAFO,” I knew it was the last song before the encore.

That’s when he thanked us for listening to his weird-ass music.  He also said this was one of the craziest Philly shows they had played–so maybe it wasn’t just me.

After “CAFO” I fled my spot and went to the back of the room by the mixing console.  It was elevated and I could see the whole band pretty well, which was nice, although unbelievably there was a similarity tall guy in front of me here too.

I enjoyed the final song “Physical Education” quite a but even if two guys behind me decided to talk loudly during some of it–that’s my fault for standing in, basically, the doorway.  But it also gave me the chance to slip out as soon as it was done.  As I left I heard a guy say: “Think they’ll do another?”  Dude two: “Nah, they always end wit Physical Education.”  So I felt comfortable heading out right away.

The show was ultimately a lot of fun, with some cool crowd surfing and a great atmosphere.  Everybody was very friendly even when the dancers slammed into us.  We all enjoyed the delightful chaos of Tosin’s music.

But I’d like to see them again–maybe in a seated environment next time–just to watch them all play.

 

SETLIST (This is from the night before, but I assume it was the same).

1. Espera (tape) ∞
2. Wave of Babies @
3. Tempting Time @
4. Thoroughly at Home @
5. Arithmophobia ϖ
6. Cognitive Contortions ϖ
7. Nephele ♥
8. The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing / Behaving Badly @
9. Para Mexer ♥
10. The Brain Dance ϖ
11. Ectogenesis ϖ
12. Inner Assassins ϖ
13. The Woven Wed ♥
14. CAFO @
    encore
15. Physical Education ♥

ϖ = The Madness of Many (2016)
♥ = The Joy of Motion (2014)
∞ = Weightless (2011)
@ = Animals as Leaders (2009)