The Color Fred preview

The Color Fred
Beat Kitchen, Chicago
Friday, March 21, 2008

Fred Mascherino shocked fans when he announced his departure from Taking Back Sunday last fall to embark on a solo project under the moniker The Color Fred. The guitarist/singer didn’t hide the fact relations within the band were tenuous at best and expressed a desire to forge ahead in a decidedly more pop vein — something that elicited a less than gung-ho response from the other members in Taking Back Sunday.

True to his word, Mascherino’s first solo outing, Bend To Break (Equal Vision), wears its pop sensibilities on its sleeve, although the album’s 11 tracks careen towards an emo-landscaped precipice. The sorrowful “It Isn’t Me” is a gorgeous example of emo’s version of hair metal’s sensitive power ballads with the requisite piano-drenched crescendos Meatloaf could turn into chart-topping hits. Of course in Mascherino’s hands, the result is more “indie” and “sensitive” — but make no mistake, an undercurrent of David Foster runs through the tune.

Recorded in Upstate New York with only Alfred Hitchcock’s estate as a neighbor, Bend To Break can call Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High a brother-in-arms, albeit without the latter’s musical-theater element. Opening track “Get Out” employs a fist-pumping rhythm worthy of a large concert hall.

This is an early show opened by Ace Enders. Cameron McGill headlines a separate event at 10 p.m.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly