20121116

Concert review: Pinback @ Terminal West in Atlanta

I went to my second concert of the year last night, seeing Pinback at a great new venue (well, at least new to me) called Terminal West. Living an hour an 1:15 minutes away from the heart of Atlanta and being married with 3 kids means very few concert experiences. But my wife let me pick a show for my birthday, and this is the one I chose (primarily over David Bazan playing Pedro the Lion's Control on Nov. 24).
 

 Pinback is a collaboration between Rob Crow and Zach Smith, and is by far the best project either of them have ever worked on. Seriously, save yourself the time and don't even worry about checking out the other dozen bands they have been, solo projects, etc. All of it is average at best and pales in comparison to Pinback. Rob and Zach were meant to play music together, and their varying styles and personalities mesh perfectly to create a distinct, unique vibe. Here is a good interview with Rob published two days ago by Vinyl Mag. I took a few photos and also shot one video of the song "Penelope", one of my all-time favorites:



 The highlight of Pinback by far is Zach's bass playing. I always liked it, but never truly appreciated it until I saw him playing. Since I had never seen Pinback in my 10 years of being a fan, I never really knew who was singing when. Their vocals are very similar recorded, a little more distinct in person. Honestly Rob sounded very nasal to me and different. Rob sings more, but they both sing a lot. Vocally the most fun parts are when they are singing different things at the same time.

I would have never been able to recall the set-list as Pinback's song titles are very difficult to remember. However, this setlist from last week is almost exactly the same as what I experienced.

UPDATE (10/27/13): I had someone else who was at the show contact me, and they sent me a photo of the actual setlist!

(I could have sworn they played "Victorious D"!)

I have always debated between the LP's Blue Screen Life and Summer in Abaddon as my favorite Pinback album. Last night though I realized Pinback's best work is actually the Offcell EP. All 5 songs are terrific and probably the best intro you could get to the band.

Pinback's newest album Information Retrieved will be in my top-5 of 2012, and you can check out two songs from the album and buy the gorgeous blue vinyl here.