photo credit: weworemasks

Does anyone ever wonder how thin Chino Moreno truly spreads himself when it comes to making music? In the last three years, he’s released a new Deftones album (Koi No Yokan), joined forces with Far and Chuck Doom for ††† (Crosses), reunited with Zach Hill for a new Team Sleep outing, and of course, collaborated with former legendary post-metal outfit ISIS on Palms, whose debut LP dropped last year. Being the Moreno diehard that I am, I couldn’t miss Palms’ first visit to Houston, despite it being quite a ways outside of Houston at Clear Lake’s Scout Bar.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly


photo credit: weworemasks

Scout Bar is typically home to the bookings of bands who are far past their prime popularity (murals of Papa Roach, Authority Zero and Creed line the walls). So suffice it to say, it was a little unnerving having to see the brain child of former ISIS members and Chino Moreno perform a headlining set here, especially after Chino’s last stop here with the Deftones was one of the most memorable Free Press Summer Fest sets. That being said, a full crowd of twenty somethings packed the club from wall to wall, despite the band having only one album to their name.

Chino was all smiles, but all business as well. It’s nice to see ISIS back in action as well, as the band disbanded in 2010, only to have their name muddied by recent current events in the middle east. Not sure they mind being in the backseat here, as ISIS never had vocals be a focal point of their band. Chino was classic Chino, filling the frontman duties with the finesse and ease of having been one since the 90s. Moreno’s been known to pick up a guitar or two during Deftones sets, but for Palms, it was a permanent fixture, aside from “Shortwave Radio.” The band careened through songs off of their self-titled debut, leaving no room in their hour long set for anything else.

The moodiness of the muddled shoegaze fared well for a Monday night crowd, who was probably easing into their respective work weeks. The members of ISIS have gone on to say that this is the most “pop-oriented” music they’ve made, and while that’s hard to disagree with – is a bit misleading. It’s still plenty heavy, especially when you have Aaron Harris and Jeff Caxide controlling your rhythm section. An extended jam session played us off of the main set, which eventually saw the band return for and encore their most well known track, “Patagonia,” capping off what most folks in the crowd assumed was a rarity of a Palms appearance in Houston, Texas.