Nevertheless, Colour Revolt did their business well during their 45 minute set. The band’s three-guitar attack worked even better live than it did on their record, “Plunder, Beg, and Curse,” and to their credit, they came off like a Southern-y, poor man’s version of Built to Spill. They noodled around quite a bit, taking the songs to a better place.

Lead singer and guitarist Jesse Coppenbarger stayed glued to his microphone for the majority of his set, but there was an intensity in his performance that was matched by the rest of the band. Their noodling and strong interplay gave songs space to breathe, and songs like “Naked and Red” and “Moses of the South” sounded fantastic. Meanwhile, the rhythm section of Patrick Addison and Len Clark also kept a steady groove going as well, and they were loose but interlocked the whole time.

Unfortunately, not all of Colour Revolt’s songs are as strong as the aforementioned ones. Their performance was strong, and the record is no doubt good as a whole, with some songs being quite exceptional. Still, not all of them reach the high levels of their highs.

I am convinced, however, that the band is on a good path and will really flourish if given the chance. They come off as a career band, and I wish them the best of luck. I just hope other people wish them luck as well as they continue to tour, because they deserve an audience larger than 10 people.

The same, however, cannot be said for opener Robots Counterfeiting Money. The band consisted of Patrick Mangan and his acoustic guitar, but the music was played in the style of post-hardcore bands such as At the Drive-In and Fugazi. The songs just were not there though, and unfortunately Mangan came off as, well, annoying. He’s a good guitar player, and may be a good singer, but Robots Counterfeiting Money did not cut it.

DeKalb band Light Pollution fared better, with a good mix of smart songs and eclectic instruments (violin, mandolin, trombone and accordion, more than one often used in the same song). Finally, Javelins provided an energetic set full on propulsive drumbeats and yelp-y vocals. The songs weren’t there though, and I didn’t find myself humming any of their tunes after their set was over.

Truer words could not be said. Colour Revolt has been away from home for quite a while now, and will get even farther away as they turn up at The Highdive in Champaign Thursday night. The Oxford, Mississippi rock band is currently on tour supporting their debut record “Plunder, Beg, and Curse” (any relation between the city and the Oxford comma in the album title?), released in April on Fat Possum Records.

The record is a dark affair, with many religious and biblical references scattered in the lyrics. The music is at some points bombastic, other points slow and brooding. The band’s interplay on the record suggests that something greater can be achieved live, and Thursday will test that hypothesis.

Bassist Patrick Addison said that with this record, the band tried to sound more organic, after the DIY approach of recording their self-titled EP.

“We just wanted our live sound to translate into the studio,” Addison said. “It helped with the chemistry we have.”

The results have proven successful. While “Plunder, Beg, and Curse” is by no means a sterile recording. The instruments are clear and defined, and there is a level of bombast that can only be produced by playing live in a room with a band. No amount of studio wizardry can fake what this band creates together on songs like “Swamp” and “Naked and Red,” and that is to their credit.

As for the religious undertones, lead singer Jesse Coppenbarger said he did not realize how much they did end up coming through in the lyrics.

“It wasn’t meant to be in every song,” he said. “It came out more than I realized and people picked up on it.”

Despite all of this, Addison said they achieved what they set out to do in the studio.

“We wanted to translate our stage show, and we thought we pulled it off,” he said. “We couldn’t be happier.”

Now, Colour Revolt is doing the opposite, and trying to make a live-sounding record sound good live. Still, Addison said he and the band have grown accustomed to playing in their basement, so it is not that much different. An audience helps though.

“I’m still there listening to the other people’s parts,” he said. “Looking out and seeing people singing along just adds to it.”

Fortunately, touring is still something they can do. While other bands (and industries overall) fall prey to the $4 a gallon gas prices, Colour Revolt is still able to go on. It is something they are aware of though.

“We’ve been coming home for money,” Addison said. “It’s good for us on the road, but it definitely could be better.”

Addison said the band is enjoying it nonetheless, and it is still exciting for them.

“I’m into what everyone else is doing,” he said. “I’d rather be playing live than in my basement.”

Colour Revolt will be playing Thursday night at The Highdive, 51 E. Main St., Champaign, with Robots Counterfeiting Money, Light Pollution and Javelins opening. Show starts at 9 p.m. Ticket Fusion, The Highdive’s online ticketing service, is not currently selling tickets but says “Plenty of Tickets at the Door.” Show is 19+.

Elsinore: “The General EP,” ***1/2

Elsinore has undergone quite a change since their debut album “Nothing for Design.” The Champaign band’s rootsy, acoustic-based sound has morphed into a more powerful, electric style, while still retaining a lot of the Americana sense.

It seems like the transition has not been without its growing pains though. The band’s second full-length, still unreleased at this point, has been promised to be put out a number of times, and I guess it will happen when it happens. In the meantime, Elsinore has put out the three-song “The General EP” to help tide fans over and to make new ones as they head out on tour.

The EP starts out with what may be their best song to date, “The General.” The guitar riff, while a bit simplistic, is powerful, and the rest of the band’s playing creates a rather unique groove that is propulsive as well as agile. From there comes lead singer and guitarist Ryan Groff’s voice (one of Elsinore’s strongest suits) kicks in, and the song just takes off. In the past, the rest of the band has, at times, come off as a simply good backing band for Groff, and while his vocals are fantastic, the band (which includes bassist Chris Eitel, keyboardist Mark Woolwine and drummer Dave Pride) is gelling and becoming more of a unit (complete with a harmony-laden interlude in the middle). It is a gem, and one can only hope the band is chasing whatever they found for it. Kudos.

Elsinore is going to be hard pressed to find songs as good as “The General” though. Both of the other songs, while still very good (”Antonymity” is a very good link between the band of old and the band of new, and a stripped down “Wooden Houses” is held up by a simple piano and Groff’s once-again great vocals), cannot live up to the title track. The 3.5 star rating is a testament to how good the title track is, but the band needs to work hard if they are going to craft a 12-song album as good as this. Best of luck.

I saw them by chance yesterday at the Do Division street festival in Chicago. I went to see Tally Hall, who were pretty awesome as usual, and stuck around to check out the next band, who were doing their soundcheck in full uniform.

Mucca Pazza perform at the Do Division street festival yesterday. Photo by my brother, Danny Collins.

I’d like to know where Mucca Pazza do their shopping because they’ve got some great vintage band gear. Their attire fits their sound, I’d say they fall somewhere in the marching band gypsy punk genre. Watching a band like this play isn’t something you see every day, even if you go to a lot of shows.

When they started it was obvious there were a lot of people in the band, but it was hard to tell how many. Some of them started in the crowd and some were ducking down on stage while they weren’t playing their instruments. With so many people on stage, members who weren’t playing at the time were often ducking down during the set to draw attention to the people who were playing.

When cheerleaders jumped up in the middle of the stage during the first song, I knew I was seeing something I’d never seen before. My explanation of Mucca Pazza can only convey so much of the experience of actually watching them play. You have to see the movement, the facial expressions and the reactions from the crowd.

The songs are instrumental, aside from occasional interjections and cheers. Trombones, trumpets, a sousaphone, a mandolin and clarinets are just some of the instruments involved.

Moral of the story:

Listen to “Alarm” on their MySpace page.

Go to their CD release show on June 19 at The Mansion, 2408 N. Kedzie in Chicago (All ages, $12 or $6 if you are under 18).

First off, I don’t want to ever belittle the importance of bloggers. That was not my intention, and I think blogging is one of the best things to come around in the last five years. Blogs are important, if only to be able to hear the viewpoint of the person writing. There are a lot of fantastic blogs that I frequent to find out new things.

However, what I was referring to in that post was not that the bloggers out there were bad, it was more referring to use of the pit between the audience barrier and the stage. I do, and I stand by this, think that area is/was reserved for the media to use in a professional way. If it is instead used to hang around because you can, it is like a slap in the face to the thousands of other people who would love to be in that pit. That’s what I am referring to as the privilege. Getting the press pass is all well and good, and nothing except for that pit really sets you apart from the audience. I still believe that when you are in that pit, you have to act, for lack of a better term, professional, because otherwise you are just an audience member using the pass in the wrong way.

In addition, I want to say that I was not in that pit for the majority of the festival. I was in the audience, taking in the experience. That is what a good reporter does, take in the experience. I was trying to take in as much as I can, good and bad, and taking in as much as I can does not involve being in the pit for the entire time.

Looking back, I’m not sure if the term “real media” was the right one, so I apologize for trying to marginalize with that.

I know I took a lot of grief for that post, and I’m sure more is coming. But I wanted to at least clarify what I meant. That was not meant as an attack toward any specific person (the “you” in this post was not directed at anybody at all), and I have even talked to a blogger or two about what I meant by it. It was not me trying to start anything, it was merely stating a frustrated opinion.

Take care.

Sidenote: If you have problems navigating through the previous posts, click on the dates from the last weekend on the calendar to the right.

More Soon…

Edit@ 7:00 pm on Tuesday May 27, 2008: I am done for now. After looking through and editing some 5,000 odd photos (don’t low ball me, Heis. ha), I am finished. Here are a couple outtakes from the weekend.

One Love.

I got a couple good shots of the band and of the audience, which had grown significantly, yet was more subdued. Everyone seemed at the end of their rope, and moe. asked them to go for that final lap with them.

The band sounded good playing a cover of The Police’s “Synchronicity II” as I was walking to the car. It was a good ending to a tiring but rewarding weekend.

Still, the band was on for most of the set. They opened their set with “All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth” from their latest album, Challengers, and from there they just kept going. Between songs, the band continually goofed around, playing snippets of The Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun,” Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused.”

That was the problem though. For about a third of the show, the band was just not playing the show like it needed to be: big. The songs were played well, but they were unfocused. Lead singer/guitarist Carl Newman would continually flub lyrics or parts, and would laugh it off. He didn’t seem like he was concentrating, and was just goofing off. That’s all well and good, but for that reason, something didn’t click for a while.

The band did pick it up though, and versions of Twin Cinema’s “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “The Bleeding Heart Show” were played to reach across the three-fourths empty field. They played as if it was full, which was exactly the kick in the pants they had to have if the set wasn’t going to peter out.

The New Pornos closed their set with a cover of ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down” and left the stage. They came back for one encore, a very fast, very energetic “Letters from an Occupant,” sang by keyboardist Kathryn Calder. They left the small audience wanting more, but they closed the set 10 minutes early, presumably to allow the audience to get over to the Moonshine Stage to watch moe.’s final set of the night. Good show though.