Yr. (Late) Weekend, Pt. 2: Eisley + For The Community V + Queensryche + Sunrise and Ammunition + Will Play For Food + More

Yes, we’re pretty well on into Saturday, June 8th, I’m afraid — seeing as last weekend was fully devoted to FPSF, yours truly had to spend yesterday & today doing family-type stuff. What can I say? Sometimes you’ve gotta step back from the music, at least briefly.

At any rate, I’ve missed quite a few cool things today, sadly, but if you haven’t yet gotten out & about, well, there’s still stuff to do. Here we go:

Say Anything/Eisley/HRVRD/Northern Faces @ Fitzgerald’s
I cringe to admit that I have yet to hear Eisley‘s brand-new album, Currents; it’s sitting in my to-be-reviewed pile, which has grown because I’ve had to focus on non-review-related stuff of late. Even not hearing the new music, though, I still truly love those sweet-hearted, fey-voiced kids from Tyler, and I keep coming back to listen to ’em again & again.

Then there’s Say Anything, who I’ve had a love-hate relationship with over the years — 2004’s …Is a Real Boy still blows me away with its snarling, self-aware skewering of the whole indie-pop-punk genre, but 2012’s Anarchy, My Dear mostly made me shrug & want to move on to listen to other things…

Visionary Noise & The Houston Free Thinkers Present: For The Community V, featuring Nikkhoo, TheMotherFuckingWind, Nine Minutes, Eddie Conner/P.L.X.T.X, EnSane, Darwin’s Finches, Justice Allah, Stephen Farris, Elyse, “Downer,” Decathect, Modern Explorations, Dame, Arkitek, The Early Transcendentals, In Pursuit, Keno Sims, & Elixir Kid @ The Compound (2305 Wheeler; free!)
Tonight’s also Part 2 of the For The Community V show that I talked some about yesterday, and there’re some very, very cool people playing, particularly strange coastal dwellers Darwin’s Finches, ex(?)-{Ghost Mountain} member & electro-manipulator {Stephen Farris}, and Bradley Muñoz‘s digital hardcore project, {P.L.X.T.X}. The latter is especially mind-blowing, both literally and figuratively — it’s loud as fuck and totally, utterly insane, like somebody setting off an explosive jackhammer in your skull.

Queensryche @ The Concert Pub North (2470 FM 1960)
Ah, Queensryche. This band’s been popping back up lately due to one particular friend, who ironically wasn’t a fan of the band ’til recently but has become totally obsessed with the band’s recent infighting.

To give just a brief overview, apparently now-former singer Geoff Tate went full-on pretentious weirdo, dragging the band on some sort of crazy “cabaret” tour (which sounds really bizarre), after which the rest of the band decided to fire his ass. He sued, claiming he’d written all the songs (not true, from what I remember back in the day; as I recall, ex-guitarist Chris DeGarmo wrote most of the band’s classic songs), and formed his own “Queensryche.” The band countersued, and the judge decided not to shut down either band. So there’re two different Queensryches currently touring and releasing new music. Whoa.

Happily — at least to me — tonight’s the non-Tate version of the band, and I’m told they’ll be playing all the old-old-old stuff that Tate’s distanced himself from in recent years. Which is very cool by me, because there’s still a special place in my heart for The Warning, Rage for Order, Operation: Mindcrime, and yes, even 1990’s Empire.

Sunrise and Ammunition/Notlando/Skyline FiftyFour/Salesman @ Notsuoh
Cool, cool, cool. After hearing last year’s Tesseract, I’m seriously psyched to see Sunrise and Ammunition playing out again. This trio is honestly one of the most ridiculously talented groups of musicians I’ve seen in years, of any genre. Granted, if you’re not into quasi-jazzy prog-rock, they may not be your cup of tea, but damn, even somebody who hates anything jazz or prog will have a hard time not being impressed by the musicianship. Best of all, the band’s good at crafting the music they play, coming up with these intense, busy, nimble compositions that bounce from the aforementioned jazz and prog over into shoegazer-y rock, doom-y metal thunder, and straight-up Chicago post-rock.

Will Play For Food, Vol. Two: Benefitting the Houston Food Bank, featuring Recovery Room, Mama Tried, Saturate, Abolition Formula, The Holdouts, In Altum, The Grizzly Band, Dykes on Bykes, Oceans of Slumber, Cassette Tape, Chris J. Hardy, & Gaby Veray @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake; $5/$10)
Not sure when this runs ’til, but it seems like a neat lineup for a damn good cause — the Houston Food Bank does a lot of very good work for the needy in this city, and I wholeheartedly applaud everybody playing tonight. Make sure you check out {Mama Tried}, {Oceans of Slumber}, and {Cassette Tape}, in particular.

Runners-Up:
The Flamin’ Hellcats/Poor Dumb Bastards @ Big Star Bar
Bus Stop Stallions/Journey Agents/Yello Echo @ The Continental Club
USA Rugby vs. Ireland After-Party, featuring Blaggards @ Warehouse Live
Tokyo Go Go 4, featuring Terravita, DJ Shwann, Electro Enforcers, Moonstruck Red, Mr. Peabody, Wes Walz, El-Nino, Bart Black, K-Nine, Darth Fader, Matty-P, Deja Vu, Sinik, Mad Mike, Bey0ndZr0, Cataklysmic Kontact, Tosh, Sweetest Taboo, Bee, Dousey, Trvp Lordz, Splatterhaus Malibu, Courtney Shay, Davizm, Nathaniel Red, Jason Alan, & Wiseman @ 8801 Airline
Kleos/Anova Skyway/Oceans of Slumber/Miles to Glory @ Walter’s
Cynergy 67/Ctrl/Provision/DJ Dead @ Dean’s
Hounds of Jezebel/A Midnight in Chicago/VerseCity/The Sound of Kinetic/Rainchild @ House of Blues