On Friday, November 24, we attended a Sugarcult concert at Bogarts in Clifton. The tour is to promote the band’s new album, Lights Out, and ventures across the United States and Japan.

Almost the entire floor was full and everybody in the vicinity was highly anticipating the show before Sugarcult arrived on stage. The time had finally come for the headliners to show their talent. The main lights shut down and the place went wild. Spotlights circled and the band members began to appear. The fans screamed while the music faded in. We were close to the speakers and the bass satisfactorily pounded our eardrums.

The bands from earlier in the show were incredible, and we did not expect to enjoy them as much as we did. The first group of the night, called Meg and Dia, rocked the place. The most amazing parts about this band are the female lead singer who can rip the extra high notes, and the bass player who can play fairly decent lines. The second band, Damone, showed some incredible guitar talent with a good singer. The guitarist seemed to capture the most attention and the bassist kept the crowd pumped up the whole night. The Pink Spiders played third and entertained the crowd with humor. They carelessly knocked over microphone stands, heaved guitars, smoked, and cussed on stage, giving them a more relaxed feel. However, they also entertained the crowd with their catchy punk riffs and a surplus of musical talent. The Pink Spiders are most famous for their new hit song, “Little Razorblade.”

We arrived at Bogarts for the Sugarcult press conference and waited for the bands. The lead guitarist, Marco DeSantis, appeared and joked around with all of us student reporters. The rest of the band arrived and the questions began pouring in. “The chemistry of a good band is when they are all together; they equal more than the sum of their parts,” Marco said. The band is from Los Angeles and got their name from the nickname of a group of lesbians that lived across the hallway of one of the member’s dorm. Their inspirations are The Police’s drummer,(Stewart Copeland) Kurt Cobain, and Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day, which is a band they have opened up for in the past. Sugarcult has created three albums in their twelve years together, including Sound Static, Palmtrees and Powerlines, and their new album, Lights Out. The band has put so much effort into Lights Out and it is paying off with the CD’s tour.

After the press conference, we had the privilege of running into the lead singer, Tim Pagnotta. We walked around Short Vine with him and talked about our involvement in music. It was easy to see that he was just a normal person with a definite talent in music. He did not treat anybody as less important.

As we stood on the main floor watching Sugarcult play their music, with the white light flashing past the lead singer creating a shadow of light outlining his features, I realized just how amazing it is that these people get to travel around, seeing the world while doing something they love. They are living a true dream, and we will not forget this concert, even though we will probably see about twenty more in our lifetime. Jeff and I give the show two thumbs up, even though we were expecting less.