Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Keith Caputo

Details: Written by: Daniela Vorndran; Published: 08 September 2009

Matrix, Bochum, Germany
3rd September 2009
Keith Caputo & Sun Sui

KEITH CAPUTO is most notable for being the distinct voice of New York-based rock outfit LIFE OF AGONY which he founded in 1989 together with his cousin. But after 3 albums with the band he departed from them in 1997 but re-united with his former colleagues and released a fourth album with them in 2005. In the meantime, the guy hasn’t been just hanging around doing nothing and built up a considerable solo career and by now has four albums under his belt. After I had seen him with LIFE OF AGONY a few weeks before I was really curious how his “solo” concert would turn out.

Sun Sui

Cologne based band SUN SUI founded in 2006. They are not signed to any label and only released a 6-track EP simply called ‘Sun Sui EP’ in 2007. There is not much information about the band found in the net and their MySpace page only states that they want “to rock every stage possible with their own songs and sound that will blow you away.” SUN SUI is Marc Versteeg (guitar, vocals), Lars Quiel (drums, vocals) and Dirk Versteeg (bass, vocals). http://www.myspace.com/sunsui / http://www.sun-sui.com/

Music & Performance
It is always exciting for me to see a band live I never heard of before. Sometimes it can be a good surprise, sometimes a disaster. Well, this time it turned out for me to be a positive surprise. The three guys entered the stage (a pretty small one in one of the small rooms of Bochum’s Matrix club) at around 20.15 to start their all acoustic set with ‘Erase you’ which seems to be a previously unreleased song. Sitting just on three chairs behind acoustic guitar and a pretty down-sized drum set consisting only of snare drum, one high hat and a pedal faking the bass drum, created a very intimate atmosphere. During the short, 7 songs consisting set, the band made a few funny comments. I especially loved the “love song” ‘Die for you’ which was very touching and the last song ‘Observe’ with the chant in two voices.

Setlist
01. Erase You
02. Divorce
03. You
04. Die for you
05. Anybody back
06. Never Wanted
07. Observe

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light 4
Total: 7 / 10

Keith Caputo

One of the biggest voices (and smallest bodies) in rock music today belongs to LIFE OF AGONY front man Keith Caputo. Keith started on walking on solo paths in 1997 when leaving (not forever ;) ) his former metal outfit. He released several albums with collaborations of several rock veterans such as Flea of RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS or pianist Zac Rae (i.e. ANNIE LANNOX). Currently he’s touring in support of the latest release ‘A Fondness For Hometown Scars’; the highlight of this tour will be a unique performance on October 15th, with a 15-piece orchestra at the Kulturkirche, in Cologne, Germany. Caputo’s reputation for touching listeners to the very depths of their souls with his poetry and heartrending live performances is well earned - within a single show he is capable of inciting both arena-sized mosh pits and breathless silence. Besides Keith on vocals, his live band, the SAD EYED LADIES, consists of Jochem van Rooijen (drums, percussion), Axel van Oort (bass guitar) and Ryan Oldcastle (rhythm and lead guitars). http://www.keithcaputo.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/keithcaputo

Music & Performance
After the band had entered the stage, finally Keith walked to his microphone wearing a large grey shirt and holding a glass of rose wine in his hand. After a shirt sip, the show started with ‘Honeycomb’ from the ‘Died Laughing’ album followed by ‘Monkey’ from the recent long-player and ‘Upsy Daisy’. Even though there was really not much light in the room, Keith requested to dim it even more after the first few songs… very moody now but also very dark. Then, a song Keith really loves, as he stated, was on the list: the LIFE OF AGONY (LOA) tune ‘Tangerine’. Seems a lot of people loved that one too. After ‘Troubles down’, the guys played one song by guitarist Ryan Oldcastle, called ‘Dove’, where Keith grabbed an acoustic guitar he was using for a few more songs, like ‘Pet K’ or the next LOA track ‘Angry Tree’. Btw, ‘Dove’ was also sing by Ryan mainly with Keith adding only some additional backing vocals. It really sounded great! Following next was ‘Lollipop’, again without acoustic guitar but with Keith being great vocal-wise. Also great was guitarist Ryan playing several solos during the set. Thumbs up for that!

Several more songs followed until ‘Brandy Duval’ where the stage technician was grabbing the acoustic guitar to play with the band. Last song of the main set was the wonderful ‘New York City’ when Keith was sitting down at a stage piano to play the main melody lines. Wonderful! When the band left the stage, first the applause was a little reluctant, but after some animations from drummer Jochem, people were loudly cheering for more. So, the four guys returned for another two songs: ‘Razzberry Mockery’ and ‘Everything under the Sun’ for which Keith took a seat behind the piano again. Very last song was good for some laughs as well. First, the microphone did not work. Finally, the technician fixed it and then, Keith asked anyone in the room if the knew Polish pianist Chopin. Of course, he just played some lines, accompanied with the words “well, it’s no Steinway” thinking of the sound of his stage piano. Furthermore he dedicated the last song to “each and everyone” in the room. Even though the whole set lasted two hours, everybody had the feeling it was much too short! Great evening, indeed!

Setlist
01. Honeycomb
02. Monkey
03. Upsy Daisy
04. Tangerine
05. Troubles Down
06. Dove
07. Pet K
08. Angry Tree (LOA)
09. Lollipop
10. Songbird (Nothing to lose)
11. Son of a Gun
12. Nutshell
13. Brandy Duval
14. New York City
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15. Razzberry Mockery
16. Everything under the Sun

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light 3
Total: 7.8 / 10