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The Honorary Title / Gratitude

live in Indiana (2005)
Doghouse Records

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Contributed by: Brian
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on April 8th 2005

Falling ill after an hour and a half of driving to Indiana, PA, for the AP/Vans tour, myself and my show attendee did manage to catch two of the five bands currently swinging through the states.

Gratitude was the first band to take to the stage, and it confirmed several things:

Yes, Jonah Matranga, who has played in a healthy handful of other bands such as Onelinedrawing and Far, has stayed humble and is indeed a swell person.
Yes, he definitely acts out his on-stage persona quite...er...extensively.
Both of the above doesn't change the fact that while Gratitude play "nice, friendly" and at times catchy pop-rock, their music is still rather unassuming and ineffecting (at least, for myself).

In their defense, the outfit played their songs in time, hitting all the notes and right harmonies, so if you enjoy them on record and can relate with Jonah's emotion-baring theatrics, there's no reason you wouldn't appreciate them live. In no particular order, I remember them playing "Drive Away," "Last," "This Is The Part," and "Sadie," among a few others.

Our abrupt finish to the night, the Honorary Title, stepped up and started to tweak their instruments. The mellow, Long Island-based folk-influenced indie rock outfit is situated around singer/songwriter Jarrod Gorbel's hushed pseudo-twang and narrative tales. They played the best tracks off last year's Doghouse-released Anything Else But The Truth, including the most countryish song of the disc ("Points Underneath," which opened the set), the more uptempo, near-galloping track "Bridge & Tunnel," lush album opener "Frame By Frame," and beautiful pity ballad "Everything I Once Had," amongst a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Mr. Gorbel tried relating to the college students in attendance with a laughably perverted renactment of dorm kids in desperate need of lay, even admitting at one point himself he'd taken his act a bit far upon exclaming "I'm so fucking hard!!" The band closed with a song I didn't recognize, likely being from the band's self-titled 2003 EP, wrapping up a tight, nice set of bitter and yet gentle and sincere folk-rock for anyone into the sort of thing.

And so ended a short, quaint night at the University of Indiana, with a mildly enjoyable hour of music.

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Anonymous (April 13, 2005)

I saw the AP/Vans tour in chicago. Minus the Bear made this tour. scores for them

Anonymous (April 10, 2005)

this was my first time seeing gratitude and really enjoyed it. minus the bear was amazing, as was straylight. if you hung around long enough afterward you got to see jonah from gratitude do an acoustic performance, which was good as well. nice guy, great show.

Anonymous (April 10, 2005)

lame

i'm sick of folk-tinged indie rock man fuck that

Anonymous (April 10, 2005)

I wouldn't drive five miles to see the Honorary Title, even if I was guestlisted and being paid to attend. THEY SUCK. Have I made myself clear?

Sally_Field (April 10, 2005)

And lick a dog's ass till it bleeds while you're at it.

Hahahaha.

Most ridiculous reaction to the fact that someone drove to see a show they were guestlisted to?

Yep.

Anonymous (April 9, 2005)

If you drove for hours to see this crap, well, you got what you deserved.

I bet you've driven eight or 10 hours to see Dashboard.

Happy driving, fuckerrzzz.... And lick a dog's ass till it bleeds while you're at it.

kirbypuckett (April 8, 2005)

Thanks for inviting me ass.

Actually I had night class, calm down.

- Kirby

Sally_Field (April 8, 2005)

Score is for people who don't make comments like this.

inagreendase (April 8, 2005)

wait wait wait, you didn't stay for minus the bear?

score is for you

Oh I like Minus The Bear and would've loved to stay for them, but I wasn't the one driving the hour and a half home sick.

Anonymous (April 8, 2005)

wait wait wait, you didn't stay for minus the bear?

score is for you

Anonymous (April 8, 2005)

I know this is probably not a very "punk" thing to say on this site, but that Gratitude record is one of the most solid releases of the past few years. Love it. Absolutely love it.

Score is for Gratitude.

inagreendase (April 8, 2005)

I remember seeing him open for Thursday a few years ago and he was a complete douchebag on stage. I don't know if that is just how he is onstage or if R2 had a probe up his ass, cause he was okay off of it

I meant to say he was humble offstage.

Anonymous (April 8, 2005)

why bother posting this. why bother submitting this. score is for mcgriddle sandwiches at mcdonalds.

Anonymous (April 8, 2005)

He's humble huh? Well, that would be a switch. I remember seeing him open for Thursday a few years ago and he was a complete douchebag on stage. I don't know if that is just how he is onstage or if R2 had a probe up his ass, cause he was okay off of it

vocalyouth (April 8, 2005)

Score is for Indiana, PA.