Bands I Meet On Tour: Procession
You play with a lot of really bad bands on tour. It’s a fact of life that I got pretty used to over the years and I’ve come to expect the openers of our shows to be teenagers playing terrible music through terrible equipment, usually either emulating some awful band on Victory Records, or trying to break the record for the amount of guitar chugs in one song. Sometimes you get lucky and the first band is bearable and doesn’t make you want to hide your face in your hands as mutual embarrassment permeates through the room. And on the rarest of occasions you will see a band that you actually enjoy, that you would actually want to listen again. You genuinely enjoy the songs, their performance and would maybe even go see them on your own when you weren’t obligated to be there.
On the second show of CTP’s last tour, we had the unexpected honor of playing with a band from Michigan called Procession. They had jumped on the show last minute and had to open a bill that they probably felt out out of place on. For me, it couldn’t have been a better surprise. Their jangly and melancholic songs conjur up comparisons to The Cranberries (who they covered), The Pixies or the more modern The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. I’ve been a sucker for this genre for the past couple years, so I was pretty much smitten right from the beginning.
Their EP is available for free on bandcamp and it’s a great listen. Lots of fuzzy guitars and colorful hooks. They’re songs that make you feel nostalgic, even if you don’t know what for. The female vocals can get a little cutesy at times, but never to the point where it’s unbearable. My favorite track is probably Grand Ledge. It’s driving, features lots of flowery instrumentation and uses the occasional synth that almost conjurs up thoughts of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
Thank-you Procession for playing with us. Thank-you for not being a hardcore/ metalcore band. Please come play near me soon.
