Dust For Life review of 7/10/04 show in Alma, Ark.!
 

Hey, everybody. I got to see one of my favorite bands...DUST FOR LIFE, this weekend at a benefit show in Alma, Ark. It was for a girl who needs an organ transplant. The turnout was a little sparse, which was a bummer, but the show kicked ass. I had an awesome time, and it was my first time seeing them!

The venue was like a school auditorium, but a lot nicer. The stage was really big and the seating was theater-style, with two levels and very comfortable seats, but, heh, I didn't spend much time in the seats :D.

The guys claimed to be a tad rusty, but I'll tell ya, I would never have guessed. They sounded GREAT. They played a good mix of new (from the Degrees of Black EP) and old, starting off with Dirt Into Dust and then a rousing rendition of Seed (one of my personal favorites!!!, Heh, they all are). The guitar playing was top notch and the vocals were awesome. Chris Gavin sounds as good live as he does on the CDs, and Josh Weil did a great job on backing vocals! I stood right in the front in between Jason Hughes and Chris and got to watch them up close. I can't tell you how psyched I was to FINALLY catch them live. It was well worth the trip from Philly!

Other songs they played included Degrees of Black, Comedown (great solo by Chris), Dragonfly, Nightbreed (the intro is kick-ass live!), For You, Poison (another good and loud freakin bad-ass song live), Where the Freaks Go (more cool acoustic from Chris and the very cool electric parts from Jason) and one of the top moments for me: The End! This is one beautiful acoustic piece. It's just Chris and his guitar. I cried, it was just so beautiful. That song gets me every time. And Chris did not miss a note on the acoustic. Unreal. He plays wicked fast on this song. Another highlight was a bitchin' bass solo by Josh and a bad-ass drum solo.

The small but spirited crowd also did some onstage dancing. Chris invited a few of the females on stage, but I can't remember which song it wasa for. They were having fun, though.

Cradlescythe from Ozark, Ark., did a great job as well and I'll be looking forward to getting that CD! Jared, the drummer (and a member at the Dust For Life board) had some technical difficulties with his kit, but he handled it all quite well, with a good dose of humor, too. He has a really good stage presence. He's only 20, too!

The other opener was a band from Houston, I think, called Broken. SETH, I was thinking about the name of your band when they said who they were, LOL. They were OK, but I don't know if was their equipment or what, but the guitar sounded a little too muted and the drums could have been louder. The bass also didn't have a very full sound. I'm not sure about the technical aspects of things, but it just sounded tinny or something. They had a female drummer, and she played pretty well, I thought. Again, it would have been better if they had been a little bit louder.


DFL are playing again in a couple of weeks. They are shopping for a label, so they are doing things on their own right now, so the shows are few and mostly in the Ark/Tenn. area right now. Catch them if you can. They are great live.

Here's some info on the next show on July 24.

QuakeFest 2004, Union City, TN

QuakeFestIt is the annual outdoor radio concert hosted by 105.7 The Quake (WQAK-FM), located in Union City, TN (100 miles North of Memphis, on the TN/KY state line).

Bands playing: One Less Reason (Universal), Dust For Life, Horizontal Orange, Battery Horse and others.

And best of all, General Admission is free.

For more info: Visit The Quake's website at www.thequakerocks.com/qfest.htm

DFL is set to go on at 8:30 p.m. on the Main Stage.
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cool sounds good yeah their guitarist is preddy good....

Dust for Life is pretty good, i got a few o their songs...
one question, tho.
where the fuck is Alma, Arkansas?

Hahahaha, BearFan, that's what I said when I saw the name...It's in western Arkansas, not too far from the Oklahoma border, and it was a very small town. That's why I was surprised at the venue. It was really nice and a good size.

Just FYI for all you who don't know, they put out an independent EP, 7 or 8 songs, I believe, last fall, and it's really good. You can still order it online at
www.dustforlifemusic.com. With shipping, the whole thing costs 8 bucks. The single from that disc, Comedown, is getting some pretty decent airplay around the country, including XM radio. It's a sweet tune. Lead singer Chris Gavin also did an interview last week with XM radio, and hopefully, they will put it up on the web site.

what exactly happened with wind-up?

Well, this is what is posted at the web site under their bio. I know they don't like talking about it now, but basically, it sounds as if they got f*cked out of some money that was supposed to help them finance part of the tour...

"Then, in May of 2001, the wheels came off. The band found out that all of
its "untouchable" publishing money had been spent frivolously by the
involved parties.They came out publicly with what happened and why they
were off tour in the middle of the record cycle in what Chris and Jason
would later call "the smartest dumb move we ever made." The band promptly
released Hanson MGMT, Flood Bumstead, McCready and McCarthy, and The Agency Group from their roster."

A little update for all you DFL fans...Five unreleased tunes have been put on the official web site (dustforlifemusic.com) for download courtesy of one of the board members. Apparently they were available on the old web site and he sent them to the web master, who promptly got them up on the site. I had never heard these tunes and I just listened to them today. They rock! Also, there are some new pics up of the benefit show in Alma, Arkansas, that took place July 10.