No matter how successful a woman is, if she is attractive and up on a stage, some jackass in the crowd will inevitably shout, "Show your tits." Which is precisely what happened when I saw Philadelphia's Tapping the Vein play at the Vault on April 13. Fortunately, singer Heather Thompson had a reply on hand, the culprit apologized and the show went on.
Thompson is Alice in a Goth Wonderland. In a little black dress, she looks feminine, confident and tough, but her demeanor alternates between confidence and vulnerability. Thompson's self-assurance is intercut with moments when she crosses her arms in a self-protective gesture and wanders around the stage like a little girl.
Thompson's delivery of "Beautiful" - hard, questioning, defensive and, yes, beautiful - was characteristic of much of the Vault performance. At times, she looked and sounded as if she was seeking validation, not as much from the audience as from the person for whom she wrote the song. She offered no apologies, however, when she sang "The Ledge." Thompson was so emotional when she performed "The Damage," the title track of their album, that it was hard to tell if she was actually crying or not. Her superb vocals stood out on "Fingertips."
Her bandmates - bassist Joe Rolland, guitarist Mark Burket and drummer/programmer Eric Fisher - infuse Tapping the Vein's excellent straight-up rock with the perfect touch of industrial hardness. The band easily makes the transition from the studio to the stage. Although Tapping the Vein falls into the industrial/goth genre, the music is never too dependent on the programming and sampling.
Unfortunately, at the Vault show, Tapping the Vein had to skip "Sugar Falls," one of the album's best tracks, because of time constraints. The audience got to participate in choosing the last few songs of the performance, and the demand for Tapping the Vein's cover of Tori Amos' "Cornflake Girl" was overwhelmed the requests for "Sugar Falls." Concluding with a "Cornflake Girl" that rivals Amos', Tapping the Vein gave the audience what the audience wanted.
The Damage is available through Nuclear Blast/Revolution Entertainment. Visit http://www.tappingthevein.com for more information. Tapping the Vein's version of "Cornflake Girl" can be found on Volume Five of Beauty In Darkness, available on Nuclear Blast and on the Tori Amos tribute Songs of a Goddess, available on Cleopatra.
