I am so behind the social music media haps, it’s ridiculous. For starters, I didn’t realize NIN’s front man Trent Reznor was married, let alone a father. Whilst visiting my long time bestie for a relaxing weekend of wine, big ass burritos, and five hours of the Rachel Zoe Project, I found myself in bed at 10pm on a Friday night. Who knew at 35 we’d hit an old person wall, thusly leaving our crazy drinking adventures, long nights of jumping on our beds in horrible laundry day panties, and bad Can’t Buy Me Love dancing on club stages behind us. So unable to sleep, I trolled my Facebook feed and came across a BuzzFeed ‘then and now, Hot 90’s band dudes’ or some such bullshit. So that long rant brings me to the discovery of Reznor’s nuptials and fatherhood of two boys. Buzzfeed had him labeled as a DILF #2(#1 being Gavin Rossdale). Ok, I never found Mr. Reznor tre zesty but I must admit, homeslice has aged and bulked up well, much like a good Irish Chedda. So far behind the times, am I, that I didn’t realize NIN had something like, 82 LP releases after ‘The Fragile’. Oh, how my dusty Industrial Goth boots scold me from their dark resting place in my closet.
So I did a little research about the Mrs. Reznor in question. I must admit, much like a childish jealous ex, I didn’t think much of her and may have even let it slip that “I bet she has no talent and is probably riding on his coat tails of success and love”. I have since found more pictures of her, seen her musical skills, and have been introduced to their side projects “How to Destroy Angels”. Let me issue a formal apology that I know she won’t read or give two shits about. “Mariqueen Maandig, I am very sorry”. I should have known better that Reznor would not fornicate with someone who was not his creative intelligent equal. She’s actually quite a beauty with a great soft voice and musical talent.
Why am I bringing this all up? Because the husband procured tickets to their Regency Ballroom SF show. I reluctantly accepted, being that it was on a Thursday night and I light to apparently be in bed by 10pm. I use to love shows, LURVE them, swear. So I sucked it up, donned my best industrial Goth outfit (which isn’t much these days, sad to say) and headed out for the evening.
If you’re familiar with How to Destroy Angels and love their music but have yet to see them live, well, you’re in for a treat. They basically sound just as good as they do on their recordings. Like, spot on. The sound was stellar and the music to vocal ratio was balanced. You didn’t have to struggle to hear her sing and the music was not overpowering. However, since I am midway to 40 I am sad to say that if you value your hearing like me, wear earplugs. True to Trent Reznor’s mind fuck stage visual wizardry (not that I would know because I have yet to see NIN), this show was an orgasm for the oculars. I imagine someone of shrooms or some such other type of gig would have been on a great high. Even though Maandig is the clearly the front woman of the group, Reznor still got mad cheers whenever he did any back up vocals. Otherwise, he stayed very much in the background.
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| return of the crappy cell phone shot |
I hate to admit that half way through their set I got a bit clusterfuckbit, or claustrophobic, from the heat and the pot cloud hanging around the crowds. Thankfully though, for my old ass and
un-thankfully to the younger hipper fans, they only played a little over an hour; which probably equated to their entire Welcome Oblivion album release. Where has my youth gone? So sad.
I like Reznor’s side project-collab with his wifey; it makes for good art making music for me. But I must say it is reminiscent of the softer side of NIN’s music. If you’re a fan of harder bands gone sleepy time like Team Sleep, ala Deftones and Perfect Circle, ala Tool, than this is the perfect sleepy time NIN for you. Added bonus, female singer with a sweet voice.
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| Mrs Reznor |
