Black Nail Polish Required
My roommate plays [The Birthday Massacre] from time to time, so when I saw they were playing live at the Highline Ballroom last Thursday, we decided to go check them out. Not knowing a lot about this group going in, I didnt know what type of crowd to expect. It turns out that, if youre a fan, then you also love the color black. All the clichés were there: striped shirts, useless armbands, multi-colored hair, zippers that go nowhere, suspenders that arent suspending. It was your typical goth scene, and I stood out like a complete idiot in my khakis and T-shirt.
Despite being self-conscious about my own appearance, I enjoyed the show. The sound quality was perhaps the most impressive component; it wasnt too loud (Im looking at you Mars Volta!) and none of instruments or vocals drowned each other out, either. They played mostly songs from their latest album, Walking with Strangers, but they all sounded the same to me.
The lead singer is a woman named Chibi (yeah, I dont know either). Her girly-girl antics on stage made me puke a little in my mouth, but she worked the crowd really well and all the teenybopper, high-school goth girls went insane. Id much rather see her on [Suicide Girls] than wailing on-stage. In the meantime, I just need to get Kill Me tattooed on the inside of my lower lip so I can fit in better at the next show.
Photo by John Reilly