Again, with the delayed reviews. Damn, I’m doing a lot of massive failing lately. I can’t help it, I’m all stressed, and working, and trying to find a new apartment–you try walking in my shoes for awhile.

Okay, get outta my shoes.

This Black Gold thing was some major crazy. I was supposed to review them back in November. Well, I didn’t realize they were playing first, so showing up 15 minutes late meant catching a whopping song and a half. Not worth a review. I was disappointed, but happy that another opportunity arose when I got word of them coming back around, and touring with Lydia, no less! Lydia’s cool-friend of a friend plays guitar for them and they’ve littered my living room floor on occasion.

They were supposed to play an all-ages show at this gallery/venue in Near-West Side called Av-Aerie, that I’d never heard of. Well, Av-Aerie had apparently been busted the previous night for, among other things, selling booze sans liquor license. So the events of the day were supposed to go like this: After work, go home, change and get ready, go to venue, party. But then my roommate gets a call from adorable skinny-boy guitar player saying their show got cancelled. Hm, okay. So plan changed to: Leave work, get groceries, go home clean/make dinner for Lydia, party with Lydia. I was cool with that. But then I started to think I’d better make absolute sure that the show was for sure kaput. After about half a dozen phone calls, I started to piece together that the initial venue had gotten shut down, and they were going to move it to The Empty Bottle (a bar, thus it turned into a 21+ show), and would be a couple hours earlier. Plan then changed to meet roommate after work, then fly to the venue to make it in time to catch Black Gold”s set. Stress.

We did make it there in time, although I was starting to feel some otherworldly power was seriously intervening to prevent me from seeing Black Gold. The crowd was understandably sparse, I’m actually amazed that that many people figured out the venue/time change. There were some youngins outside The Empty Bottle, who were hoping that since the show was all-ages at Av-Aerie, that they could get in. They were wrong, poor dudes. I used to be them, everyone’s gotta pay tribute to that irritating rite of passage.

Much to my delight, Black Gold was incredible. I have to say, that they filled that half-empty room like it was over packed. I was a bit worried it’d be a drag, because in my experience, a band’s energy is parallel to the energy they get from a crowd. This proves to be a problem when the turnout is less than expected. But to Black Gold’s credit, you’d never know there were so few in the crowd if you didn’t look around.

They started things off with “Idols”, one of their catchier, poppier songs. It was clear that the energy level was way above expectation and the audience responded. Actually, the energy level kinda blew me away, it’s like they were playing different songs. They all had a very intense energy to them, and I’m sure the visual of Erik Ronick (vocals and keys) writhing on his chair (okay, in my head he was writhing) and Than Luu pounding the drums so hard his glasses flew off increased the intensity. For example, the recorded version of “Breakdown” has a subdued, almost ominous tone to it-Erik’s vocals have a sort of calm intensity that reminds me of Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. They played it much heavier live, it was a darker sound and feel and Erik wailed (literally and figuratively) on that chorus.  Just look at Erik’s hypnotic powers over those defenseless chicks in the first picture! I can only hope he continues to use his magic powers for good and not evil.

Their sound had a really nice mix between the piano rock and disco/pop keys and yet Luu’s drum beats reminding me that I was still at a rock show. I only refer to them as ‘pop’ by default. Bonus: Their bass player was a total Santino Rice doppleganger.

It was a lot of fun despite the chaos, and they’re a band I def wanna see again-I can only imagine the magic that happens when they play to a packed house.Attempting to wrangle all of Lydia up after the show prevented me from getting to talk with anyone, besides a shared cig with Santino before we left. But I did get the chance to interview them via email. Enjoy!

AvantTrash: Black Gold-did you guys have careers as miners before the music thing? How’d you two come together?

Black Gold: We def toiled in the darkness, selling our lives, ourselves. Then bg saved us. The mighty Jacob brought us together, so he is our de facto savior. Bless.

AT: I wasn’t expecting to hear you used a guitarist and bassist live-why that over backing tracks, like other duos?

BG: We like the excitement and unpredictability of flying without nets. Every night is different, every moment is real. Rock n’ roll karoake is not for us. Plus, Alistair and Shiben are so much cuter than backing trax boxes.

AT: The kids of Lydia have slept on my floor-what’s it like touring with them?

BG: Speaking of cute, Lydia can’t be beat.  They are incredible people. Viva Lydia.

AT: How has the reception to the “Illuminate Your City” contest been?

BG: Ill, dude, ill..

AT: Is it difficult separating yourself from the songs you write for others and the music you make for yourselves?

BG: It’s pretty much impossible since we put ourselves in every note. What you hear is the true sound of us irrespective of who we are rocking with.

AT: Do you have a favorite city/venue to play?

BG: On this tour, Madison and Denver have been our faves but tomorrow never knows…

Tags: Av-Aerie, Black & Gold, Filter Magazine, Lydia, The Empty Bottle

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 at 9:59 am and is filed under Chicago, Interviews, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.