LIVE REVIEW: Little Image and Colony House at The Jones Assembly in Oklahoma City, OK on March 26, 2023
Photos and Review by: Daniel Merlino
Author’s Instagram: merlinofotografia
Lineup: Little Image, Colony House
Date: March 26, 2023
Location: The Jones Assembly, Oklahoma City, OK
Little Image
WITH PRECISION AND power, Dallas based—three-piece band—Little Image stormed the stage and immersed the crowd with immediate unification. Everyone seemed intensely enthralled while I scrounged a couple moments in the media pit to capture photos of the crowd. Singing at the top of their lungs and dancing with outstretched arms.
LI left nothing in reserve, it’s easy to tell they give everything they have upon every stage. They executed a perfect blend of genuine vocals from Jackson Simmons with tasteful bass playing and textures of synthesis from Brandon Walters. This can be a difficult balance that easily encroaches upon vocal melodies and frequencies. Troy Bruner’s percussive rhythms with well-selected tempos inspired dancing and movement with every song. At times, he utilized a linear style of drumming where no strike hits simultaneously, which added a subtle drum-machine-like influence during specific moments.
Listening through LI’s available music, the emotion and message in recordings all line up to the live performance. There are, at times, creative decisions and production added to a track or album that may be difficult to pull off live. I mean nothing against the production and recording process or quality, the tracks sound wonderful. But I must say that the creative choices on what to bring over, or how to fold the recorded music into a live show designed for a tour, was nothing short of excellent. It can be extremely difficult to accomplish, especially with only three people. But their sound was full, lush, and energetic. It somehow emoted their personality individually and as a whole.
After photographing the first three songs from the media pit, I continued to watch LI’s set and something in their lyrics started a reflection of my early music interests. I remember standing in crowds numbering beyond the venue’s legal limit, without reprieve from soaring temperatures of people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder and heel-to-toe; everyone enduring just to experience music that resonates with our hearts. The entire crowd moving, jumping, and dancing. Mosh pits erupting all around me with an intriguing likeness to ideal gas particles during state changes; circle pits swarming in seemingly anarchic motions, but are in-fact not random or chaotic (Silverburg, et al., 2013). Witnessing bands like Pantera, Fear Factory, Bad Religion, The Offspring, Pennywise, Against Me, and Rage Against the Machine helped mold my ideas of politics and society. Punk rock taught me to question authority and find my own way.
Without directly comparing Little Image to the aforementioned bands, their message and lyrical topics ring as true now as they would back when I was younger. Their songs carry tones of love, self-reflection, and managing your way through today’s societal climate. Although not the same genre or sound, the message is strong, positive, and necessary. And in my book, that is punk rock. Strike that—that is Little Image.
Check out Little Image’s new album, SELF TITLED, available for pre-order now and will be released on 05.12.2023. Their current tour will continue through 05.13.2023 ending in Dallas, TX.
Colony House
Colony House closed the evening with a brilliant set from start to finish. Pure energy with an essence of Tennessee tone. Originally from Franklin, TN, the band started playing together in high school. They currently have three EP’s and four full length albums available. CH’s stage presence literally WOW’d the crowd when vocalist Caleb Chapman stood upon the barricade while singing, extending the microphone to the crowd for assistance. He ended up jumping over the barricade and into the audience to continue singing the song with the entire crowd.
Colony House is currently on tour for their newest album, The Cannonballers, continuing from the United States overseas to the United Kingdom, Austria, and concluding in Virginia. Catch them on tour and check out The Cannonballers.
Citation:
Silverberg, J. L., Bierbaum, M., Sethna, J. P., & Cohen, I. (2013). Collective motion of humans in mosh and circle pits at heavy metal concerts. Cornell.edu. https://sethna.lassp.cornell.edu/pubPDF/MoshPits.pdf
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