Live: The Heavy @ Cinespace

ARTICLE BY OSCAR RANGEL

MAY 6 | HOLLYWOOD—After the madness that ensued during last week’s Cinespace, we at The Scenestar are surprised to find it still standing. A little tired maybe, but like clockwork, it was business as usual for Dim Mak at Cinespace Tuesdays. Doing what they do best, they were back with the usual weekly DJ lineup. Instead of celebrity Coachella DJ sets, we got to experience the new bands who tend to make the night so unique. Tonight’s guest was none other than U.K. band The Heavy.

The turnout wasn’t as great as last week’s rager, but a decently calm crowd took to the back area’s booths, waiting to hear what The Heavy had in store. For The Heavy, this performance was a warm-up for tonight’s show at Bordello. At the same time, lead vocalist Swaby wanted to make sure he got the crowd up and moving. It seemed that for a lot of us in the crowd (including myself), it was the first time any of us were seeing The Heavy. Always the exception, there were two girls who were dancing like madwomen as soon as Swaby started their set, singing through what looked like a remote microphone from a megaphone. Reminiscent of the porn rock vibe from Parliament with a Har Mar swagger, The Heavy was doing their best to get our butts out of our booths and dance. Engaging, spitting down beats left and right, they were slowly but surely accomplishing their mission. Most of the material of the night consisted of songs from their album Great Vengeance & Furious Fire.

What looked like a mellow night in the back room of Cinespace escalated into a dance party by the third song. It got to the point where you couldn’t see the stage, so you were forced to get up and dance. It was refreshing to see the band try so hard to win the crowd over with their music. For every song in the set, the band would ask us to howl like wolves. During the set, Swaby was on the dance floor dancing along with us. Not bad for trying to follow last week’s dance madness, The Heavy fit the bill tonight. For those curious to catch them before they return to the U.K., The Heavy will be playing Playboy’s “Rock the Rabbit” event at Bordello tonight. I would advise going to the band’s MySpace to get a taste of their infectious soul dance rock vibes. If you have a taste for it, The Heavy is a band you surely won’t want to miss. Don’t forget to RSVP!