Julien-K and Combichrist Live
June 16th, 2009
Glasshouse, Pomona, CA.
On the eve of the Lakers championship parade, the kids of Los Angeles County came out in droves for a completely different reason- to see the gods of industrial rock, Julien-K and Combichrist perform at the Glasshouse in Pomona.
The Arts District lived up to its name with young kids wearing a colorful array of costumes and makeup. There were juvenile delinquents with Mohawks and fish nets, and even one Goth girl wore a skirt that lit up like Christmas lights. Apparently, Halloween came early this year. It was like Hot Topic cover models ran rampant inside the Glasshouse. If you ever wondered to yourself, “do pheromones really work” witnessing this event would answer your question indefinitely. Enough talk of the scenery- the live music captured the most attention throughout the night.
Before Julien-K and Combichrist performed their sets, Dismantled and Aesthetic Perfection did their thing. While the crowd started filing in towards the end of the evening, Julien-K definitely kept them in their place with charismatic lead singer, Ryan Shuck and his statuesque body that transformed the ladies into happy, screaming campers. It also did not hurt that the energetic, pulse-racing music of the electro band added to the sensuality that was in the air.
The performance of “Systeme de Sexe” demonstrated this sexual tension very well- almost a little too much- but for the females it was nothing to complain about in grand scheme of things. Shuck even announced to the crowd that the song was about sex, so the band could not have made it more perfectly clear. Hands down the most memorable moment during the song was when the kinky front man seduced the crowd while he sang the lyrics “So hard” while simultaneously caressing his crotch. It definitely won over the ladies and even one girl yelled, “Take it off!” at one point during the night. Fun was had by all with working pheromones and Shuck clearly had his sex appeal on overdrive.
If “engines” were not already revved up, Julien-K’s intense opening number shook the floor. “Death to Analog,” the title track to their album, hit a good nerve with everyone. They brought so much to the table: sex appeal, stage presence and musicianship. Everything was fired up on all cylinders and while their songs alone have such a captivating quality to them, they do not compare to the live show. For instance, “Someday Soon” embodies the futuristic and techno-savvy direction of music and the live performance made it even more special. The vocoder or the voice manipulation effect shined and it really set the band apart from the traditional set-up of musicians playing their instruments on stage. The arsenal that Julien-K came with gave the audience a little something more to look forward to and they were a force to be reckoned with. Amir Derakh and Brandon Belsky worked those keyboards and the artistry behind them left audience members stunned and appreciative of the detail.
From the first smash of the drums, their first single, “Kick the Bass” got the crowd pumped. The former Orgy guitarist and now front man stepped up to the title of lead singer. Shuck worked the entire stage and poured his heart out into singing this introspective song. His band mates followed: drumsticks flew in the air, Derakh leaned dangerously forward on the keyboards, and Belsky banged the hell out of a massive drum. Shuck had some chops on him- as well as nice abs. He proved himself to be so much more than just a sight for sore eyes. In fact, Shuck embodied stage presence perfection and he entertained the crowd at a ridiculously high level.
Shuck and company reached their peak on their last song of the night “Technical Difficulties” (you may remember this song during the end credits to the first Transformers film). Shuck really sank into that robotic mode with the microphone and the overall performance. The song itself is jarring, but to really appreciate it one has to hear it live because the energy sucks a person in like a hurricane out of nowhere. The Julien-K storm was something to be embraced rather than avoided because they delivered an amazing and spectacular set that earned the applause and adulation of the audience.
A stuffy hand clap would not have sufficed in this venue and this was made clear once the headliners stormed up on stage. Once Combichrist performed their first song, the mood shifted ridiculously and the atmosphere erupted into a frenzy of crowd surfing maniacs. One Goth girl in bright pink hair danced to the beat in her own emo way towards the back of the room. It was a sight to see the audience bounce along to ear-deafening music and in every clichéd way, it was “on.”
The Glasshouse turned into a house of fun with very energetic and crowd-pleasing bands like Julien-K and Combichrist who gave it their all on stage with added intensity and game faces to match. Somebody over at the Staples Center give these boys championship rings of their own because they earned it with their incredible performances.
–Gail Navarro