Thursday, June 13, 2013

Concert Review: Kissing Candice


In preparing for the show, in my mind I grouped Farewell, My Love and Chomp Chomp Attack! together, as the bands whom I already had some loyalty to, because they followed me on Twitter. Therefore, I grouped Kissing Candice together with Snow White's Poison Bite, as the bands who were completely new to me.
With Snow White's Poison Bite, there were reasons to associate them with The Misfits, from the skull makeup to the participation of Michale Graves on one track. Without that, I don't know that I would have made a Misfits connection with Kissing Candice, but one way or another I did, mainly on the basis of movies.
First of all, every track on their debut, Murder, seems to have at least one movie sample worked in. They are not all strictly traditional horror movies. If I have it correct, movies referenced are The Great Outdoors, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Gummo, Scream 2, and Hellraiser.
Actually, based on the Kissing Candice Facebook page, one of Joey Simpson's specific goals when forming Kissing Candice was to do something more theatrical. Formerly of Dr. Acula, where Simpson played keyboards, his skill at sampling can definitely be heard in the new creations.
While Joey does lead vocals here, one of the band's strengths is using the voices of the other members, so there may be harmonies offsetting Simpson's growl or shout. There is more of an industrial sound in many of the songs, possibly achieved by sampling, but at the same time there is often a basic rat-a-tat-tat attack to it, reminiscent of Metallica. While it is often driving and powerful, it is also thoughtful and perhaps contemplative.
There was also a fair amount of stagecraft to their presentation. They were the only band to use smoke, which especially makes sense with "Rampage", and while all the bands had some form of makeup going on, most of it was in the more gothic or supernatural vein. Kissing Candice members looked like they had been mauled by a bear, or perhaps something less specific but still catastrophic (possibly involving bath salts).
I have to say, they were also the band that looked the most grown up. I had mentioned in their review how young Farewell, My Love seems, and that is even more true with Chomp Chomp Attack! (With Snow White's Poison Bite, the makeup leaves me with no guesses on age.) I don't think the members of Kissing Candice are necessarily that much older, but they do seem more seasoned, and maybe more buff. And everyone was putting on really good shows, but I would guess that Kissing Candice has more experience.
I did talk to Joey and one of the guitarists briefly at the merch table, and everyone was affable. They did not have any CDs available, but they had the best shirts. If I ever wore band t-shirts, I would have gotten one of theirs (probably the Marshmallow Man one). Only a small selection of that is available online, but there are some at http://merchnow.com/catalogs/kissing-candice.
The negative thing I will say is that I did not like the existing video for "Rampage". The production is decent, but there is a sort of nasty vibe to it that seems like it should make sense, but I do not get that vibe listening to the band or watching them perform, so it strikes me wrong. It may be personal taste. At any rate, I only get that from the video.
Murder is supposed to be available via iTunes but I could not find it. It is definitely on Amazon. A teaser on the Youtube page looks like there might be new material coming out.

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