I wasn't that familar with Action Action before catching their show at the Knitting Factory last night. I was very impressed -- very few bands can play every song with the passion and intensity that most bands play their encore and pull it off. Action Action pulled it off, sounded great and a very full Knitting Factory main floor loved it.


For those who haven't seen the band before, I would describe their sound as the rythms of PiL or Gang of 4 combined with the goth-synth keyboards and vocals of Joy Division. The band has been playing around New York for the last two years and is touring behind their recently released CD "An Army of Shapes Between Wars", which is out on Victory Records. If the CD sounds anything like the band's live show, this would be a great CD to pick up.

Anyway, back to the beginning of the night...I haven't been to the Knitting Factory in years. I think the last time I was there was for The Chameleons reunion, which shows just many years ago this was. I assumed that an 8:00PM show time meant that the first band would take the stage about 9:00PM. When I got to the club just before 9:00PM, I had already missed the first two bands and Action Action was just about to go on. Who knew that there was a club in this town that actually keeps to the scheduled set times??

I have some additional pictures of the band posted on Flickr. There are also a couple bootleg Action Action video clips up on YouTube that capture the band's live show instensity. While the clip below is very brief, it is one of my favorites.