A long line of fans trailed the J Street corner leading to Harlow’s Thursday night to hear the otherworldly rock sounds of San Diego’s indie music pundit Pinback. The anticipation in the air thickened enough to emotionally throttle an hour-long, traffic-triggered delay, and in what seemed like barely a blink, the venue brimmed with both laughter and musical absorption.

The laughter was mostly spurred by a multimedia of satire and absurdity by opener JP Hasson, also known as JP Incorporated. Hasson’s shtick, self-described as a “wonderful company, specializing in a variety of quality products and services” featured such products and programming as “Jazzbot Xtreme,” a monster truck that transforms into fire-breathing saxophones, “Crap Factory,” a fictional metal rock band from the Hollywood Hills, “The Internet,” a dramedy about people using the internet, and an advertisement for the fictional limo company “No Prob Limo.”

“It’s good to be touring with smooth jazz artists Pinback. They tour in a limo!” announced Hasson, who is playing in support of his new album out by Comedy Central. Corporate shots of a white limo cut to a series of tacky motion graphics, prompting the audience to hum along to the intentionally obnoxious chorus line, “Need a ride?...No Prob Limo… No Prob Limo... No Prob Limoooooo!” as Hasson jerked his arms in jest.

By 11 p.m., images of comical commercial graphics shifted to stick figure drawings and underwater astronauts as Pinback finally took the stage. While Pinback’s sound is hardly “smooth jazz,” the band has a way of intricately weaving powerful pedal-driven distortion with calming, ethereal ambient sounds. Pinback founders Zach Smith and Rob Crow, known for experimenting on tour as a stripped-down duo, played with the full band for this show, which added extra layers of resonance to their distinct songwriting.

The band began the set with the haunting “Hatenaughts of Melancholy Wall,” a bonus track off of 2007’s “Autumn of the Seraphs.” Scenes from the science fiction film “Dark Star,” which inspired the band’s name, projected onto the screen shed with shadows of the moving musicians. The room was packed and the audience mesmerized as Pinback mazed through several never-before-heard songs from their new album expected to be released by Temporary Residence Limited. in early 2011. The indie rock veterans also rocked many older numbers from their last four albums including “Good to Sea”, “How We Breathe” and “Walters” off of “Autumn of the Seraphs,” “Penelope” off of Blue Screen Life and the chill “Loro” from the band’s 1998 debut "This is a Pinback."

The relatively blithe atmosphere took on a sad and serious tone when Crow announced the sudden death of friend and fellow musician “Steimy,” as he is affectionately called. Crow dedicated the next song “Bloods on Fire” to his friend. “Calm yourself, calm yourself,” Crow sang passionately. “Blood's on fire, blood's on fire…”

“I was just going to see him in Reno,” Crow told the Sacramento Press. “I can’t believe I won’t see him now. It’s a terrible loss.”

Melancholy again morphed into a progressive, party environment as Pinback continued to journey through its eclectic musical past and future. The dedicated audience members were right there ready to travel with them, maybe not back to San Diego, but home to their headphones and speakers, which will hopefully soon be able to play Pinback’s next album (exact date and title have not yet been released).
 

Photos by Steven Chea