Crosses at the Satellite

Back in January, I was fortunate enough to catch the debut of Crosses at the Glass House. Crosses is a collaboration between Chino Moreno of the Deftones, Shaun Lopez of Far and Chuck Doom. They have released two EPs of material that incorporate dark synthesizers, haunting guitar melodies and sinewy bass grooves. The Satellite was a packed house for their warm up show prior to their dates out in Chile for Lollapalooza.

After shooting White Rabbits at the El Rey Theater, I barely squeezed into the Satellite as the opening chords of "†hholyghs†" started to reverberate inside the club. The slow build up of the song which melts into a huge chorus with ringing power chords makes it one of my favorite songs and starts off the set with a sharp intensity.

While Crosses receives a lot of attention due to Moreno being in the band, it is hard to discount the other members of the band. Chuck Doom is fantastic on the bass hammering out the blistering notes of "†his Is A †rick". The crowd was going crazy the whole time reaching over the stage to touch Chino or holding up their phones to record the proceedings.

The slow tempo of "Bermuda Locke†" was hypnotic with its interjected synthesizer swells and pulsating drums floating beneath Moreno's vocals. Shaun Lopez was a busy man for "Fron†ier" working behind his laptop, lap steel guitar, keyboards and guitars adding different shades of sound to the dense mix.

Chuck Doom once again shined on the bass during "†Elepa†hy" that had everyone's head bobbing along to the twisted beat. "Prurien†" was a slick mix of electronic drums meshing with catchy samples. Synthesizers and quiet guitar harmonics dominated during "1987" as the dueling drummers of Crosses found a moment to catch their breath.

"Op†ion" builds slowly with chugging metallic guitars before exploding into a dreamy chorus. Crosses have a solid grasp of song dynamics and each song is well sculpted. Crosses definitely seemed more rehearsed and stronger live compared to their debut show. Showing their appreciation for '80s synthesizer music, they deftly covered "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus.

Crosses closed out the show with "The Years" which is featured on the Batman: Arkham City Soundtrack. It was a fitting closer as Moreno would wave to the crowd while singing the lyrics "as the years go bye". The folks in Chile better be prepared for a set of explosive performances by Crosses. I hope they tour again soon.