MUSIC: Misery loves company at the House of Blues
Of course Matt Skiba wears his sunglasses at night, like any self-respecting rock and roll vampire should.
Sure, the Alkaline Trio frontman and his bandmates may have toned down some of the more overt goth-isms of their past -- they no longer slather on the mascara until its thicker than asphalt -- but their tunes still come covered in more dark clouds than a Seattle winter.
But the thing is, you’d hardly ever know it by watching the band live, where they practically turn melancholy into a keg party.
Taking the stage in cheap white plastic shades and a grin so insistent his jaw must have been aching by the end of the night, Skiba led a sweltering, stuffed House of Blues in a loud, sweat-drenched celebration of bruised hearts, lonely nights and losing streaks.
The crowd was clapping with their hands over their heads before the band even played a note, singing along in exultant fashion as vultures circled around Skiba’s peace of mind from one song to the next.
“God bless catastrophe,” Skiba sang during the chorus of “Mercy Me,” sounding like a man who treats misery like some old college drinking buddy.
But this is no bunch of dour sad sacks, instead, they revel in dejection as a means of bidding it adieu, commemorating all the sour times that they’ve withstood with ceaselessly buoyant jams and hooks so outsized, it makes you wonder how hacks like Nickleback and Three Doors Down dominate the airwaves instead of these dudes.
At the House of Blues, they aired tunes from their latest disc, “Agony & Irony,” for the first time here in town, and though the album doesn’t always match the peaks of some of the band’s previous efforts, tunes like the dancey “I Found Away” and the massive sounding “Help Me” benefited from a little extra mustard live, especially from drummer Derek Grant, who swung his fists like they were chipped from concrete.
The band came with a cavalcade of anti-hits (“Time to Waste,” “Warbrain,” “Radio”) that rank among pop punk’s most cathartic moments, songs that sound even better with a roomful of true believers screaming them in your ear.
“I’m making the most of a bad time,” Skiba sang at show’s end, his marching orders successfully fulfilled.
