HUMAN WASTE PROJECT
FAR
MAN WILL SURRENDER
Troubadour, Los Angeles
Friday, January 16th 1998

4/5

MAN WILL Surrender, while in possession of a major-label deal in the US (with Revolution), are still a mostly unknown quantity even in their hometown of Los Angeles. But blond dreadlocked singer Lance Webber (who wears a cast on his arm tonight, keeping him from playing guitar) has an appealingly earnest croon, and the bands heavy, Quicksand-like delivery offers songs that frantically search for sogns of life in this last decade of a dead century.

   Despite a complete dearth of press attention, Far have developed a rabid following; the cheers for this clean-cut Sacramento band are huge. Singer Jonah Sonz Matranga looks utterly gobsmacked, and though Far's songs require steely poise and composure, the singer cracks wide smiles when he notices fans singing along with his impassioned cries.

   Performing a set consisting mostly of songs from the forthcoming 'Water & Solutions' album, Far demonstrate why they've become such favourites of the likes of the Deftones. As with Chino Moreno's crew, Far's music is of delicate silences and crashing fury: there are moments in 'Man Overboard' and 'Waiting For Sunday' where Matranga's little-boy-lost persona looks too fragile to compete with guitarist Shaun Lopez's blistering riffing, yet his voice soars mightily inside the Troubadour's tight confines. When you notice fans joining in on songs from an album that isn't actually available yet, you know that Far will be going, er, places.

   Oddly for someone who's admitted to Kerrang! that she gets really bad hangovers, Human Waste Project's Aimee Echo comes onstage swigging lustfully from a bottle of wine. As eerie black-and-white fright-night movies are projected onto a screen behind the band, they tear into 'Shine' like a hungry zombie before a fresh, steaming plate of brains.

   You're probably aware of the Project sound by now: jangly, ear-plaeasing new wave hooks are grafted ono a raw, Sabbath-y throb, with Echo's airy singing a stark contrast to the downtuned and dense grind of Mike Tempesta's effects-drenched guitars.

   Echo's presence tonight is totally unhinged, and she's more frenzied than usual. Maybe it's the drink - or maybe there's something else going on behind the scenes. "If you guys don't buy this record, we might be homeless soon," she says, addressing the enthusiastic audience during a break in the action, before adding with a laugh, "I'm seriuos!"

   But with so many smiling onlookers - and a crowd of young women jostling for space down the front - this is not a night for despair, and Echo realises this. She swigs the vino again in a gleeful farewell toast: "To all my friends!"

   One great album, months of shows, and still they're being hassled by The Man? Such a Waste...

MOST ROCKING MOMENT: Far's entire set.
LEAST ROCKING MOMENT: The awkward moments of silence during Man Will Surrender's set.
BEST ONSTAGE QUOTE: "I saw 'Titanic', and I learned how to spit like a man!" - Aimee Echo, proceeding to hock another saliva discharge.
VERDICT: Emo-core defeats horror-core, by Far.

JOSHUA SINDELL