Band Name: Felix Culpa
Album Name: Thought Control EP/DVD
Best Element: Brilliant songwriting and exhaustive DVD.
Genre: Dark, emotive indie-rock.
Website: www.thefelixculpa.com
Label Name: Common Cloud Records (www.commoncloud.com)
Band E-mail: band@thefelixculpa.com
I recently heard that The Felix Culpa won the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands. I wasn’t aware that you could actually win it- I thought it was all some sort of myth, pretty much. But no- The Felix Culpa actually won the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands, making them one of the best bands in America. For that, they deserve immense props.
But then again, they deserve it- they blow everyone else out of the water, and this CD/EP proves it. This band is everything you would expect in one of the best indie bands in the nation- exhilaratingly complex songwriting, beauty and crushing rock intermingling, ear-snagging vocals, jaw-dropping insight in their lyrics, beautiful art, and down-to-earth personalities to boot (any band that puts a section called “home videos” on their DVD with a disclaimer saying “we’re idiots” is pretty down-to-earth).
And they get it all done with three guys. Three guys. No wonder these guys took the crown.
Did I mention the exhilaratingly complex songwriting yet? The Felix Culpa aren’t afraid to do anything- they’ll make crescendoes that lead into sections of near-silence (stand out track “Commitment”), throw down raging sections of stomping rock (“Good Business Moves”), feedback and effects (“Commitment”, again), eerie melodies (the beginning of “Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body”) and anything and everything in between. This what rock music should sound like- diverse, dark, and deep. There’s elements of emo, rock, ambient, pop, and so much more, all piled into one mixture that is The Felix Culpa.
The Felix Culpa pulls from the deepest sections of themselves for inspiration, and it shows: the dual vocals burn with passion, whether yelling or whispering or harmonizing with each other. Both vocalists have great range and tone, making their interactions all the more exciting. Their lyrics graze clichés (“I’ll follow this until my legs give and my heart explodes/a course well run, a job half done”) but they make up for the occasional shortfall with thought-provoking gems like “My dear friend, if it’s really love you’ve found then hold it high and love it more even when it lets you down” (from “Commitment”) and “It’s getting harder to discern art from good business moves/as the poets auction off their best lines” (From “Good Business Moves”).
As if a brilliant EP wasn’t enough, their DVD is simply thrilling- packed with hours of stuff, there’s anything and everything you ever wanted to know about being a band. It’s not all glamour, they want to show: there’s a 3-minute music video that took them six hours to record, there’s footage of being bored on the road, weird places they’ve played, odd situations they got stuck in (Freddy’s Music Lounge is hilarious), and all sorts of stuff you really wanted to know about a band but never really got to know. They go through and do interviews with themselves, further giving insight. They joke around, they make faces at the camera, they play around in hotel rooms, they rock, they show pictures of their families. The Felix Culpa is a rock band that loves life, and they show almost all aspects of their life as a band and as people in their DVD. There’s tons of live footage, too- I’m not a big fan of live footage though. Maybe you are.
If you like rock today at all, you will fall in love with the Felix Culpa. I don’t care if you’re listening to Shinedown, Radiohead, Taking Back Sunday, Bear Vs. Shark, hardcore, acoustic-rock- you will find yourself loving the Felix Culpa. They are the epitome of good rock- the epitome of what IndependentClauses is trying to promote. They simply get it. May everyone else soon ‘get’ The Felix Culpa.
-Stephen Carradini