mewithoutYou. June 12. Omaha

Music

This might already be old news, but it’s news to me. I was just perusing the latest newsletter from One Percent Productions and saw that mewithoutYou will be playing in Omaha on Sunday, June 12.

IMHO, mewithoutYou is, without a doubt, one of the best things to come out of Tooth & Nail Records in ages. I loved their debut album, [A—>B] Life, and their newest album, Catch For Us The Foxes, has been in pretty heavy rotation here at Opus HQ.

I suppose lazy folks might lump the band in with that whole emo scene, but mewithoutYou’s music is something else entirely. It’s truly passionate, urgent, brutal, emotionally raw, and incredibly spiritual. Musically, I hear strains of early U2 circa Boy and October and the lyrics seem ripped from the pages of the Psalms, Lamentations, and even the Song of Solomon. In a genre where so many bands’ lyrics come off like cheap high school diary entries, mewithoutYou’s lyrics are truly urgent and confessional, revealing intense struggles with sin, lust, and despair.

I caught the band a few years ago at Cornerstone during one of those Tooth & Nail days, and it was absolutely insane. Dressed to the nines in black suits like a group of Russian authors, with flowers strewn about the stage, they were literally playing themselves to death. The singer seemed intent on tearing himself apart and practically verged on self-destruction. Immediately upon finishing their set, the drummer collapsed offstage from heat exhaustion and had to receive some emergency aid.

A lot of bands talk about intensity and emotion, but mewithoutYou is one that certainly delivers those things. And I’m excited to see them again.

7
May 19, 2005, 12:00am

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Comments

EW
May 20, 2005 12:26am

Their new album Catch for Us the Foxes is amazing—just look at the growth they’ve shown, musically and lyrically. [A—>B] Life sounds like an amateurish endeavor in comparison.

It’s also (seems to me) like a very overlooked album. Kind of under-the-radar, for whatever reason…
Micah
May 20, 2005 10:10am

we’re still waiting to find out, but we might be on the bill too. marc is checking with their booking agent. just so you know, sir.
Jason
May 20, 2005 10:50am

Ooh… that would be hottt if you guys did get on. Definitely keep me posted.

EW’s dead on… I’m listening to the new disc right now and it’s so good. “The Soviet” is an absolute monster of a song.
dena
May 20, 2005 1:32pm

where???

Jason, this is exciting because I will be in town then and have been hurting for a good show. Maybe I’ll see you there!
Nicholas
May 20, 2005 1:55pm

That Cornerstone show equaled awesome, and I am pretty sure Mr. Drummer puked all over the back of the stage when the show was over, too… I saw them a few days later at an impromptu show on a Cornerstone hill, and dude definately didn’t wear a suit again.
I think Catch for Us the Foxes also has some strains of U2’s War album (particular War’s first five tracks), along with the Boy and October influences previously stated. And for some reason, it makes me hungry.
jason
May 20, 2005 2:05pm

I’ve only seen mewithoutYou live once, and it was aweseome. Aaron, the lead lyricist, had turned his back on fashion that show, and looked nearly homeless.

The whole band was super nice to everyone who came up to talk.

“Catch for Us the Foxes” has been my soundtrack pretty much ever since it came out.
Jason
May 20, 2005 5:36pm

Dena, the show will be at Sokol Underground.