Shaant Hacikyan of Cute Is What We Aim For performing at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco, CA. October 9, 2016. Photo: Jared Stossel
Cute Is What We Aim For
w/ Callsign, Get Married
Rickshaw Stop
San Francisco, CA
October 10, 2016
The past few years, the world has been getting a slew of ten year anniversary tours. While some bands are naysayers when someone approaches them with the subject, many others are embracing it and bringing forward live performances of some of the most iconic records of the past ten years in the worlds of pop-punk, heavy metal, and alternative rock.
Enter Cute Is What We Aim For. The band announced a ten-year anniversary tour for their debut studio album, The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch, and it was a tour that no one exactly saw coming. While the album was a great debut that managed to sell a few hundred thousand copies over the years, the idea for this tour came out of left field for a number of fans. Their second, and most recent album, Rotation, was released in 2008, the band had broken up, and had only recently reunited with no album announcement in sight. The announcement of the Same Old Blood Rush 10-Year tour was a surprise that delighted fans across the country.
With two fun opening sets from local San Jose artists Get Married and Callsign, the band took the stage to an excited crowd a little after ten o'clock. What I loved about the set was the fact that the band played their songs in half-step down tuning. It's a small change and variation from the original tracks, and most of the time it makes the tracks sound even more incredible. It can add a certain level of depth and maturity to the record that wasn't previously there before.
The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch was an album that was recorded when all of the members of Cute Is What We Aim For were seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, immediately launching them into a full U.S. touring circuit. The material on the album dealt with drama, teen angst, and relationships all of the topics that really clicked with us as teenagers, since the band really weren't much older than the core demographic of fans that were attracted to their music at the start of their career. Those fans and the band themselves are still around the same age, just ten years older. "So....how is adulthood going for everyone?" vocalist Shaant Hacikyan laughs and asks the crowd in the middle of the bridge during "There's A Class For This", the album's second track. It was a sweet moment, and one that truly demonstrated how we've all grown up together, connected by the music, regardless of what occupation we have and where life has taken us.
Additionally, there seemed to be a new energy surrounding the band. Every single member seemed to be having a good time, and everyone was actively participating in the show. The last time I saw Cute Is What We Aim For was in 2007, when they were the first band up opening for Fall Out Boy at the San Jose State Event Center on the "Young Wild Things" Tour. Hacikyan always struck me as a highly charismatic individual, and it was nice to see that his energy has still maintained after all of these years, while also seeing guitarist Jeff Czum and drummer Tom Falcone lose themselves in the live performance.
Set List:
The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch
Newport Living
There's A Class For This
Finger Twist & Split
Risque
Sweat The Battle Before The Battle Sweats You
The Fourth Drink Instinct
Sweet Talk 101
The Curse of Curves
I Put The "Metro" In Metronome
Lyrical Lies
Moan
Teasing To Please (Left Side, Strong Side)
*ENCORE*
Doctor
Practice Makes Perfect
Cute Is What We Aim For
www.cuteiswhatweaimfor.com
www.facebook.com/cuteiswhatweaimfor
@thecutetweet
CALLSIGN
callsign.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/callsignband
@CALLSIGNband
Get Married
getmarried.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/getmarried408
@getmarried408
This has been another Shameless Promotion.