Thought Industry
at The Rat
by Austin Nash
I started out at home with a few light ones, low impact, but delicately paced. Then at the Rat, I moved onto a few heavier ones. After missing the first band, I wagged my tongue around in one darker than the butt crack of the Norge’s repairman… what?… I’m not supposed to be reviewing beer? Right! Let me start over.
The first band took too long to set up, and then played too long. The second band took too long to set up, and then played too long. Everybody was drunk except the guys in Solid Frog. Most smelled bad. Hardly anybody came to see Thought Industry, not to discredit a die-hard sporting the band’s current suit motif who was going to the NY show the next night, bought all the merchandise, and was later observed absconding with a broken splash cymbal autographed by Mr. Jared Bryant himself after it broke in the second song. The cymbal breaking brought on frustration (grave for men of no money) and drove them to play fast and some things were a little, well, I don’t know… forced? I’ve seen TI play some brilliant shows. I guess where there are no losers, there can be no winners.
On the upside, the moments when they were actually playing felt like the warmth of home and showered down surprises like “Date Rape Cookbook” from the Assassins, Toads, and Gods Flesh album, and a spectacular metal mix of “Watercolor Gray” from the new release, Outer Space Is Just A Martini Away (Metal Blade). All members of the band ran the show down as a poor performance and got drunk until 4:45 a.m., promising a much better time when they pass by again in a few months. I’ll be there.