Written by Chris Salvato
The crowd noise is overwhelming. Wave after wave of excitement emanates as the band’s opening music calms the masses. Murmurs float about the heads in the crowd as the anticipation grows. With quick feet, smiles, and waves, the band takes the stage for the first time since December 2017. Dopapod is officially back.
Let’s dig into the vibe of this whole thing. People had come from all over the country from this show. There were near misses, and miracles, first timers, old schoolers, musicians – shout out to Peter from Goose, Adam from Baccano, Ricky from Conscious Pilot, Andy from Treespeak, and Colin Shore (someone find this shredder a band!) – and TONS of industry folks. Between these groups, the sentiment was common; this was a special occasion.
Dopapod and their team had a very specific intention for this show: to reconnect to the meaning of their performance. What may not have been intended, but what was realized, is that the meaning of their performance is much further reaching than to those people on stage. This show meant the connection of people that hadn’t seen each other in years. Sparking of old memories and the creation of new ones – new relationships, new enterprise, all born of the energy inherent to the rejuvenation of Dopapod. What the band did for themselves with the hiatus and reconnection, they did for many through it. That’s fucking special.
Back to the music – this was absolutely a “holy shit” performance through and through. There exists a very delicate balance in Dopapod between composition and improvisation. Like Phish, it is the compositional fortitude that allows for such innovative and explorative improvisation. Such slight musical indications trigger chain reactions in the band’s jams, communicated in such subtle and nuanced musical ways that almost anybody would just hear it as if it were rehearsed. This element is the special sauce that keeps Dopaburgers delicious and makes every show unmissable.
Set 1:
Vol. 3 #86 >
Nuggy Jawson
Mucho
French Bowling* >
Braindead
My Elephant vs. Your Elephant
Trapper Keeper
Set one. Humongous anticipation. Crazy headbanging. Deep jams. Outpouring of emotion from the band. The vibe was at a peak before the music even started – the fact that they were able to amplify the crowd’s energy consistently was a huge accomplishment.
It was around “French Bowling” that I really settled into the jelly. The toms and spacey synth pads created an atmosphere for relaxation – freeing my mind just enough to be taken fully away by the Beethoven esque guitar that leads the way to the full sensory assault of the double bass driven ending.
The crowd didn’t even have a chance to come down before “Braindead” started. The heavy rock riff jostled listeners and set a raucous tone, leading the crowd into a unified headbang. The song continued through rocky, rambling riffs before settling into a cohesive groove with a spicy salsa vibe. The smooth sounds set the platform for a relaunch in to more classical guitar scaling and shredding, followed by a YEM-reminiscent building section. The song is peaked by a truly disgruntled, discordant guitar solo, which carries the emotions behind the mantra of the song “carry these thoughts”.
Dopapod, as their palindrome laden identity implies, has a great sense of balance. The following song choice of “My Elephant vs. Your Elephant” is a great example of this sense of musical balance. Tastefully, the song’s vocalization of an unknown moog verbiage gently rocks the crowd into a unified sway. Simple elegancy sweeps the air as pounding mallets melt the crowd into a collective wet dream. As the music shifts from the atmospheric zen toward a riffing unison, there is a palpable change in the energy of the crowd. Eli’s cascading keys and energetic solos are contagious; and there is visible exchange of energy between him and members of the crowd.
The band’s precision is astounding. The rhythmic interplay between Eli and Rob, and the subtle respect given through space in the bassline is commendable. The true power of Dopapod is in their humility as musicians. The band hits the achievement of being greater than the sum of its parts through their capacity to listen to one another on stage. The way Fro’s hi hats sync with Eli’s rhythmic playing, Chuck’s ability to balance space with groove in context, Rob’s harmonious compliments to the bed of rhythm, all being created in real time – these elements show the band’s musical maturity, and their respect to a sound that cannot be created by any individual mind. This is the crux of improvisational music – the energy implicit to this type of telepathy opens conscious passages to a psychedelic-prone fanbase.
The set was topped with “Trapper Keeper.” Again, a choice that illustrates a great understanding of the relationship between the fanbase, their energy, and the band’s catalogue. They certainly are doing their very best to make this night truly special and memorable. Listen to this extremely impressive monolith here. Umphrey’s McGee would do well to incorporate this tune into their extensive selection of cover songs – if they can pull it off.
https://archive.org/details/dopapod2019-04-27.RodeM5.flacaud/dopapod2019-04-27t08_Trapper_Keeper.flac
Set 2
Numbers Need Humans
FABA
Onionhead
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Super Bowl
Roid Rage
Plaese Haalp
Cloud World
Never Odd Or Even
Bubblebrain
Believe it or not, Dopapod came back to the stage after this incredible first set. The second set started off with the new song, “Numbers Need Humans.” Most impressive aside from the performance itself, was the fact that the crowd knows the song already. It was just released – talk about a loyal fanbase. DopaFam, represent.
To avoid boring you all to death, I will stop my description of the show. Sure, I could go into the Smashing Pumpkins song they completely demolished, the bowel shaking intro and emotional, beautiful lyrics to “Superbowl,” the heinous crimes committed against Neal Evans’s drum kit on “Roid Rage,” but you would probably just be like; meh, I was there, and reading is bleh. So I’m going to stop.
Right after I tell you about “FABA,” that is.
I hear a beautiful, demure, intro. Complex harmonies incite deep emotions, the collective memories that define me are on the tip of my conscious mind’s tongue. But the crowd is too loud – I’m not going to grasp it. It’s going to be felt, shared, and cast out through space and time. Together, our bodies move to this chill groove. It’s SO big (eggplant emoji).
The unity of the crowd is almost sexual. Humanity is just gorgeous when people move together like this. Rob Compa casts his gaze amongst the people in the audience and radiates a huge, white smile. Eli’s playful melodies continue to lure the audience deeper into the groove, while the band falls behind in support of the melody. The band begins to build as the lights turn hypnotic, the rainbow light show captivating my senses fully.
If the rainbow is God’s promise to humanity that the world would never flood again, then Luke Stratton is God’s promise that we will all ride magical armored sea horses through outer space eternally. A cosmic Vermin Supreme, Luke is the front runner in the race for intergalactic mayor of fucking awesome shit. The word spectacular was created with his vision in mind. Luke, seriously, what the fuck planet are you from?
After a long journey down the path laid out by an industrial groove, the recognizable melody comes back, grounding us all in preparation for the rocket ride ahead. The band lays an atmosphere with a guitar feedback loop and tribal, transcendent drums, with a building bassline. These are the moments of preparation, the final breaths of the archer as he aims his arrow toward a dead on, one shot kill, bullseye.
The build is brain splitting. Swirling, shifting keyboard and guitar pads are cut open with the sheer tone of Rob Compa’s guitar. The lights seem to be controlled by Rob’s guitar itself (can you program that, Luke?). The crowd is again completely unified in a headbang as the recognizable guitar riff takes precedent again.
Onward, upward, as the guitar riff takes us back to medieval times, inciting our most dark, animalistic instincts to be unleashed on the song’s ending riffs. The roar of the crowd is beautiful, and so is this band, and this night.
Okay! So now that that’s out of the way, what comes next?
More shows, duh. Dopapod will be coming to a city or festival near you this summer. Get a taste of this bands musical sorcery. Don’t take it from me – I’m just some guy, and I might be paid off, or have some ulterior motive to telling you all this. For all you know, I’m high on weed.
Just today, we got the announcement of three more Dopapod shows at major rager festivals, and the band appears to have plenty more up their sleeves. So far we have:
6/6-9 Disc Jam – Stephentown, New York
7/25-28 Peach Music Festival – Scranton, Pennsylvania
8/1-3 The Werkout Music & Arts Festival – Thornville, Ohio
The Stone Has Been Rolled Away: The Return of Dopapod (Review)
