by Steven King
*Cover art and photo from Entrance's MySpace Profile

I spent a recent Friday night driving to The Glasshouse in Pomona, California via a Los Angeles freeway during rush hour (imagine a 1 car garage with 3 cars trying to get in at the same time) to hear the band Entrance who were opening for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. I single out "band" due to the fact that you may have heard the name Entrance before. It was the same name of the new amalgamation that leader singer / guitarist, Guy Blakeslee, has been performing under as a solo artist since his first release "The Kingdom of Heaven Must be Taken by Storm" in 2003. This Friday evening though would be all about the band.

The Glasshouse is not the best venue that I have ever been to, the last time being for The Pixies pre-2005 Coachella performance, and along with sitting in bumper to bumper traffic to hear a band that I originally received an unsolicited release for left me with little to no hope for the remainder of the evening. Not to mention they no longer serve beer at The Glasshouse. Which had little to with the beer and more to do with the current "safety first / always wear your bike helmet" paradigm of music showing itself as disappointment that it is. A side point indeed but this is music right? The same influence of life that coined the phrase "sex, drugs and rock n' roll"?

After driving 3 hours to move just 30 miles I finally make my way inside The Glasshouse a little after 8:00 p.m. expecting the find the band that I was supposed to interview before their set either playing their last song or already off stage and packing the van up. Suddenly, walking through the door I hear this amazing guitar riff.



It was one of those riffs that I have only heard on records. A riff that seemed to encompass all those feelings that I have towards the music's past and with my attention fixed and a vision of a MySpace profile in my head I knew that the band delivering the riff was the same band that had inspired me to make the trek in the first place.

I guess that you could say that I was lucky that this riff came during a Blakeslee solo in their opening song "Silence on a Crowded Train" meaning I hadn't missed a thing. As I stood in the unusually frigid air of southern California, that seemed to force its way through every crevice of this small town venue, I heard song after song from Entrance's new album "Prayer of Death" being delivered from either three visionaries or three modern day versions of hippies (depending on your perspective) with a passion for music that I have not had the ability to hear live anywhere else.

Watching Guy, Paz, and Derek on stage made me believe that their might truly be some hope for the future of the music industry. This was the first time that I saw a band with truly no pretensions, no onstage gimmicks, just music captivating a crowd that was mostly there to see someone else.

I don't want to seem over the top with praise as there were some problems with the vocals (engineer, venue, simply too many variables to pinpoint). However, as the band delivered their final song of the night, the title track "Prayer of Death", the true appreciation for them came due to the fact that they not only completely surprised me, but almost every aspiring Pomona hipster in the place.

After getting home, listening to the album, and even taking the time to read some other reviews of the new album from Pitchfork and the like, which have coincidentally garnered a similar positive response, I would recommend that anyone who is looking for something different, something to be inspired by to give this band a chance. Pioneers aren't always perfect, but Entrance is definitely onto something.

Labels: Entrance, Live Reviews