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Preview Sat Aug 09 2014
Preview: United Nations are Serious Business
When Thursday broke up a few years ago, it was jarring and unexpected. From riding my bike back to high school while listening to "Understanding in a Car Crash" at top volume on my CD player to their cathartic farewell show at Bottom Lounge, this was a band that I grew up and matured along with.
Since the dissolution of Thursday, Geoff Rickly has kept himself busy with a number of side projects. He started the record label, Collect Records, shortly before the band broke up mainly to release EPs by Touche Amore. Since the breakup, this has changed and the label has expanded with plans to release music from other bands as well as be an outlet for Rickly's growing body of work. Geoff also released two mixtapes of solo work in which he ripped up his sound and started experimenting with genres such as post-Weeknd and How to Dress Well alternative R&B. His cover of Usher's "Climax" is a slow burner, probably one of the better Thursday songs that Thursday never recorded.
Right now, Geoff Rickly is the vocalist in two very different bands. The first is No Devotion which features the remaining members of Lostprophets. Judging from singles such "Wake up" and "Eyeshadow," its quite polished as they seem to be channeling the large scale of bands such as Arcade Fire and Joshua Tree-era U2 and appear eager to pick up where those dancing silhouette iPod commercials of the early 2000s left off.
The other other band Geoff Rickly fronts is in town tonight playing at Township, United Nations. After getting in a legal scuffle with the real United Nations who warned the band to cease and desist use of the name, the band kept the name anyways and are currently on tour supporting their new album, The Next Four Years. United Nations create gloriously hard metal. This is unsurprising as the band is clearly inspired by bands such as Refused and Converge and currently features members of The Lovekill, Pianos Become the Teeth, and Acid Tiger.
Check out a stream of the single "Serious Business" below.
United Nations plays tonight, August 9th, at Township (2200 N. California Ave.) Droughts, Black Clouds, and Frameworks all open. This is an all ages show. Doors at 6pm. Tickets can be grabbed here.
