Helio Sequence will be at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix again. A bunch of us went to the last show they had at the Rhythm Room and I think my hearing should be fully restored by the time this next show comes up on June 11th. I won’t forget my ear plugs this time. I’m no sissy, but my face was about a foot away from the dude’s crash symbal.

Then 8 days later Death Cab for Cutie will be playing at the Mesa Amphitheatre. I finally get a chance to see Death Cab, just never worked out before. From what I hear the Mesa Amphitheatre is one of the best, if not the best, venues in AZ. As an added bonus after I got the tickets I see that Rogue Wave is opening, nice!

As always I’ll be reporting from the front lines of music and give you my full review after the shows.

Helio Sequence headlined a show at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix last Tuesday (Mar 18th). Our Rising Sound band attended and was tasked with a homework assignment. Observe, enjoy, taken in the experience but more importantly assess. See what we as a church can receive, what can be redeemed and what we must reject. I’ll try and summarize the observations of ORS and inject some of my own.

It was absolutely one of the best small venue shows I’ve ever attended. Helio just destroyed the place, they were flawless and they left many of us from ORS inspired. Those of you in religious bondage may be asking, “How could you possibly be inspired by a secular band”. I’ll get into the redemptive aspects of the show, but first lets take a look at what we can out right receive as the church.

Receive:

• arrangement philosophy – Helio plays to pre-recorded tracks as you may know, so their arrangement is pretty much set in stone. Usually a live show is the band’s opportunity to mix things up, I usually find it a mistake and wish they stuck to the record. So I was looking forward to hearing what I like. Josh noticed he was fearful or getting stuck in arrangements in worship. But upon seeing Helio realized that an expected arrangement can actually be liberating. Too much mucking about with the arrangement can be really distracting for a congregation even though it might be exciting for the band. Find an arrangement that serves the song well and stand by it.
• musicianship – both members of the band, Brandon Summer (vocals, guitar) and Benjamin Weikel (drums, synth work), are incredible musicians. The creativity they display is unbelievable but it always, always serves the song. Very rarely do you hear something out of left field that seems indulgent. Brandon’s guitar work is so unique and he’s certainly carved out a signature sound. I thought for sure with the amount of delay and reverb he plays with it would muddy up the room, but he’s able to cut through and knows how to manage it, let’s it get crazy sometimes but mostly does a lot of single string work. Benjamin’s drumming is phenomenal. His drum patterns are so uniquely crafted and memorable, they become almost melodic. His time is perfect and with the patterns he plays it’s even more impressive how spot on he is.

Redeem:

• passion – Nearly everyone on ORS responded noticing the band’s passion. They were 100% devoted to their music, having a blast, being creative. You could tell there wasn’t anyplace else they wanted to be, it’s what they’d given their life to, given the best of themselves to, their first fruits. Passion can be a huge problem in church bands in a number of areas but it usually comes down to a single reason. Being passionately in love with God and doing what you’re called to do. One without the other leaves us a shell of a musician who feels his presence is required not desired. I can’t stand seeing 5 robots lead worship, completely stiff and completely unmoved by the presence of God. If we are ushering in the presence of the Almighty, I’d think we should make sure our bodies recognize that and respond accordingly. God can redeem the passion in this concert for music, fame, and turn our hearts to passion for Christ.
• worshipful presence – Kendra noticed the worshipful presence in the place and how people there were enthralled, consumed, in awe of the music being played. Everyone was certainly focused and in a certain meditative state. It is a real simple view of how the enemy is crafty in not having creation reject it’s purpose, but just distorting it enough to have us forsake the true purpose and replace it with a selfish one. The arts have always been a battleground in this because it’s the outpouring of ourselves we can’t just turn that off. Since we are a fallen people, our art is fallen as well. Praise be to God that by his grace he can redeem that and purpose, hope, love can be restored in that. This band who gauges their success on the worship they receive could be redeemed and success given to God based on Kingdom effectiveness

Reject:

• pride – plenty of this to go around and I don’t mean this just in relation to the band and venue. Certainly plenty of pride in the church to deal with. The only authority I feel I have in this is knowing just how screwed up I am in pride and how desperately I need Jesus.

This was a fantastic learning experience for me and for ORS. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but not many local ones. It was a great chance to see what kind of music the community is into, what the local scene is and start getting plugged into it. As the worship leader I have to know what is moving the community musically. Otherwise I shouldn’t be surprised when the community is disconnected, uninterested and dispassionate for the music in the church. I think we’ve made some good strides in this area. We have a big concert coming up and I look forward to continuing to press into the local community more and more musically.

Many of us have already bought our tickets to the Helio concert here in Phoenix. Here’s a taste of what we’ll see. Does it get any better than Ben on drums? I don’t think so.

As you know by now I’m a huge Helio Sequence fan. They just released a their new album “Keep Your Eyes Ahead“. It’s absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend picking it up. This record actually has some killer acoustic tunes on it, something I haven’t heard them do before. I cordially invite you all to join me at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix March 18th to see Helio Sequence along with Grand Archives. It’s an all ages show too so all you wacky youngsters should come too.

Last Thursday evening Minus the Bear was playing a show at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe AZ. My brother and myself are big Minus the Bear fans so we weren’t going to miss this show. They were touring with a band called Helio Sequence, a fellow Northwest band. I’d never heard of them but I hear a tune on their myspace page and was quite impressed. It was shaping up to be one heck of a show.

The opening band was pretty terrible. They had 3 acoustic guitar players, one of which sat down behind a piano, which would have been cool had he played a single note on the piano. As it stands I have no idea why the piano was up there or why he was sitting behind it. The third acoustic guitar player was obviously one of their dear friends and they didn’t have the heart to tell him they don’t need him anymore. They did a lot of folksy counter melodies, and it sound cool the first couple songs. But eventually they lost steam and their harmonies were not in key and the wheels started to come off. Also there was just so many harmonies all the time it got less interesting each song and just annoying, no space at all.

Then Helio Sequence stepped on stage. They consist of a drummer(Benjamin Weikel) who looks like he had to take a day of at Microsoft to be here and a very unassuming, understated lead singer/guitar player(Brandon Summers). Certainly not a pair you’d see on the street and think, musicians. They begin the first song as they did most all their songs, drummer coming in right on time with a synth track. Drummer is absolutely nails, dude has near perfect time (playing to a click is not easy) and he lays down just amazing rhythms. Benjamin used to be the drummer for Modest Mouse. Very unorthodox playing style, you can tell he is having a blast, I was having a blast just watching him play. Brandon has an amazing voice, reminds me a lot of John Lennon, especially when he does half yell/growl. He used a ton of reverb on his voice with some delay and at first I was hesitant that it was called for. But it really worked over the entire set. He’s an amazing song writer, vocalist, guitar player. I was blown away how good they sounded, I thought for sure there would be empty spots with just 2 guys up there, but I never got that sense. They completely rocked and it made me want to go buy all their music. To me that’s a successful show.

The same can’t be said for Minus the Bear, whom I love. Their mix was terrible first off. None of the cool guitar parts cut through, it was just a wall of mush. Their set lacked a story as well, meaning it didn’t take you on any journey. I just wish their was a little more unexpectedness to it, some pauses for us to catch our breath. But it was just fast fast fast, loud loud loud. I like fast and loud, but there has to be some dynamic. So I came in expecting to see Minus the Bear rock and nothing else, what I got was Helio Sequence stealing the show, making me a huge fan and Minus the Bear leaving me wanting.

Go buy their latest album Love and Distance, thank me later. Here’s a video for “Don’t Look Away” that Fred Armisen (SNL) directed for Helio Sequence.