Immigrant is living the band dream life. They just released their debut album, yet they’ve already opened for Muse and The Killers. I caught a short set of their’s at BFD as I had been hearing such good things about them, and was intrigued but reserving full approval until I was able to hear a full set.
Immigrant is quite the package- they’re making rock music in a rock-starved world, and it’s good, too. They’ve got a great aesthetic- something that is either entirely overlooked by new bands, or becomes more of a focus than the music. You gotta have both, kids.
The sound is Zeppelin meets Maiden. The aesthetic is Wild West meets CBGB. They’re definitely not a parity band- they do their own thing, and do it well.
This show was #3 of a 3 show residency at Rickshaw to honor their record release, Novakinesis. Despite some equipment issues that were attributed to their prior night’s performance at The Viper Room and the ghost of River Phoenix, it was a great set. When I go see new bands that I like, I always feel like the sets are so short- forgetting that they don’t have much material to work with. Time flies when you’re having fun.
Immigrant works well as a band because there’s no weak link. I didn’t get bored watching any of the 5 members- they each brought something to the table. It’s not a Graham show (lead singer), and it’s not a ‘mustache man’ show, either (guitarist/keyboardist, Lee). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they really are all immigrants- it’s a band mantra that they’re all a part of.
The Rickshaw is always a funny scene- the club gets great gigs because it’s always filled with ‘influencers’- fashion forward talkers who, while they spread the word about the music, they’re really there for the scene. They’d rather stare at each other in the audience than focus on the stage, yet they go home and squawk about where they were last night and who was playing. It’s mutually beneficial in the long term, but nonetheless, a strange audience situation.
So, now it’s official- I’ll join the SF music critics in saying that Immigrant shows a lot of promise.
Idiot Smile
[audio:04 Idiot Smile.mp3]
Duske
[audio:06 Duske.mp3]
Wrecking Ball
[audio:03 Wrecking Ball.mp3]
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