Recap: The Comas

It always keeps surprising me how often The Comas mix up their live lineups. The first time I saw them, they were a three-piece. The last time (which was a few years later) was a few months ago and they were... ugh... something... I probably can't remember because they were so effing loud then. But memory makes me want to say a four-piece. Cannot immediately recall. Well, last Wednesday, they were a five-piece... and probably the best I've seen 'em.

I got to the Drunken Unicorn a little early (as is the customary standard for shows when I'm flying 'em solo), downed a few beers, and got ready to be met with... something. The main draw for the night was New York band Asobi Seksu, with The Comas bookended by 1986, a band from Austin (by way of New York). I was not familiar with Asobi Seksu, only the fact that I've seen their name thrown around the blogosphere and there was never anything negative about them. And I never even knew of 1986 until they got on stage. Apparently they've had some arrangement problems because 1986 only appeared as a duo. According to the singer, some of their members were from Mexico and couldn't make the trip...? Don't know how legit that is, but that is what was said. Regardless, whether they were more than what they appeared to be on stage, they sure as hell rocked the place out and I certainly didn't expect it. You can only do so much with two band members, and they made the most of it, basically opening up the Unicorn and causing it to overflow with pure rock.

The Comas quickly set up and were on a mission to really win over the audience. When they last came around, I remember the set being really punctuated, crazy loud, and completely dominated by tracks off Conductor. Thankfully that wasn't the case this time as they mixed up the set and provided some great added elements to the older tunes.



The tandem of "Employment" into "Hologram" opened the gig and led into the always-charming "Tiger in a Tower". The set featured a couple of newies and they seemed alright, but it's hard to really invest anything into such tunes when you've only heard 'em once and that was it. "Sweet Sweet 69" featured Andy doing the vocals through a megaphone and that really made the live rendition come off rather true to it's album version. They bought the rock back, kicking everyone's ass with a red-hot "Wicked Elm" and ended with some more new material and then they were done. With the incorporation of those new tracks into the set, that lends hope to the idea that maybe a new record is on its way. Fingers crossed for that one.

And I did stick around for Asobi Seksu's set. Some of what I heard, I liked... other things I heard, I really didn't understand. It's apparent that most of their sound derives from the shoegaze type of rock, but other than that, I found that probably a lot of the appeal is that there's an Asian girl fronting the band and that sometimes she sings in Japanese. We all love us some Asians, and, granted, she was cute, but other than that and the crazy guitar work going on, I really couldn't find much to their act that I really appreciated. Maybe if I was more familiar with their material, I would've liked the show some more. And maybe I should've done my homework with regard to them. But if they were expecting to win over some new fans from the show who would've been "BLOWN AWAY" by 'em, I really couldn't say that. And maybe there were some people there who instantly became a fan of their thing. I wasn't one of 'em. Depending on who they are playing with the next time they come to town, I might get a better understanding of what they do.

Fortunately, the main draw of the show for me was great.