On October 16th I travelled over to The Electric Factory to see the first show of Julian Casablancas + the Voidz tour in support of their CD “Tyranny”.  This is a new group featuring the lead singer of The Strokes. I had given their debut album a few spins already and knew this was going to be a very unique and different show. And it was certainly was. One I really enjoyed, one that I will remember for a while as well, as this band had a very original sound that leaves a lasting imprint.

Julian Casablancas + the Voidz are traveling what I imagine in some ways to be a tough road. They share the same singer, and as a result probably the same basic fan base as The Strokes. However they are very different. Although there is a certain “Strokes” style to the songwriting and melodies, due I’m sure to both having the same songwriter, the presentation of the songs and the bands instrumentation is very divergent. If you love The Strokes, you may indeed find the Voidz strange and intolerable. On the morning of the show, I listened to a few of the Voidz’ tunes, then put on a song from Is This It? Honestly, “Someday” jumped out as super commercial, and very light. Like standing on the beach in California, on a boardwalk with beautiful people all around me among Coca-Cola billboards. And truthfully, I do love Is This It? It just sounded so pop, after listening to “Tyranny”, the Voidz debut CD. I think a lot of fans may have a hard time making the jump over the grand canyon.

But stylistic jump is something I really respect and enjoy. I am usually changing my own style of music every few years, and always have had a hard time understanding those who find their place and then just stay there. Some of my favorite artists have all done this, such as Miles Davis and Bjork. Sometimes this results in some albums I enjoy more, some less, but it’s real. Julian has done The Strokes thing for at least 13 years now, and he obviously has other territory to explore. That’s just the creative mind. For those that don’t want to follow him into the new places, well, there are 5 albums to sit back and enjoy – that’s a lot of tunes.

The Voidz cover a lot of sonic ground on one album. I wasn’t sure how it would work live. Could they could deliver all that sound live? There are moments I hear as metal, punk, 80’s new wave, Industrial, pop, and those moments can all be within one song, even existing at the same moment, on different instruments. Oh, and throw in a little humor. Some of those transitions and drum fills just make me laugh – In a good way, like they were supposed to make me laugh. The album and show are full of dense layers of unusual tones, lots of weird electronic instruments and synthesizers, constantly changing guitar sounds and drum effects, probably the result of drum triggers hooked up to samples, or customized eq’s and effects. A lot to take in and digest. That is the real greatness of the band and this show. It was engaging for the mind. A trip for the ears. Love one second, hate the next, don’t worry it’s about to change again. Impressively, I felt that all of the sounds were actually performed by the band on stage. I didn’t feel that there were back-up tracks being used, as so often is the case these days.

Julian Casablancas did all the vocals. So far, he doesn’t seem to be one to employ backups in his music. However, this time out he was using a lot of effects besides just distortion. At times his mic or sometimes his two mics, were hooked up to harmonizers, and they yielded a result that was interestingly robotic in nature. Always nicely in tune, with a lot of range, including a lot of falsetto. As usual, there were almost no moments of pure clean vocal tone. It looked like he may have been using two different amps for his vocal sound, as right behind him were two guitar amps – a Marshall and a vintage Ampeg. Two amps that have classic distortion, although not usually used for vocals. And there was a lot of vocal distortion. Most of the time, the vocals were a bit buried by the music. You aren’t going to catch a lot of the lyrics at this show. I’m sure it’s the level they wanted though. In case you were wondering though, a few lines were nice and loud, sort of saying, “yeah, we could turn it up, if that’s what we wanted”. It’s a bit weird to hear the vocals as more of an instrument with a melody rather than audible lyric, but that’s what you get. The tone however is cool to my ears. If you want the lyrics and song meaning, I guess you head over to A-Z Lyrics on the internet.

Both guitarist in the band played some leads. There was even a solo in harmony. They used unusual guitars, no Les Pauls or Stratocasters to be found. Lot’s of Flying V’s and odd shaped guitars I didn’t recognize. All over the map sounds. The bassist played bass, but also a lot of keyboard bass. The keyboardist used synthesizers, not electric pianos and other classic type sounds. Actually there were a lot of synthesizers, played by almost everyone in the band, with the exception of Julian and the drummer. The drummer was very dynamic and powerful. He used a large variety of styles of keeping time, sometimes on the toms, sometimes broken up beats with cymbal crashes, all the time varying the tones of the kit. All the sounds melded together in a stew of layers. For much of the time it was heard to distinguish exactly what each instrument was playing on it’s own. Sometimes bands do this with reverbs and delays or echo. Here it was just a lot of layers that all stayed low in the mix. Instruments and vocals just blended into sounds.

It seemed that the band was really enjoying taking this new style and sound to the stage. There were a lot of big smiles, and some nice rapport from Julian to the audience. He seemed appreciative of the audience and just seemed to be happy up there doing his thing. That’s really what it was: his thing. A new band, a new sound. I loved it. Bring an open mind to this show, don’t expect The Strokes, and you just may love it too.