My first experience with WTW was in January 2007. I had made the half hour trip down to Deep Ellum to attend a "chick-themed" show at the Curtain Club that I'd picked up a flyer for a week or so earlier. I was immediately impressed by the band's raw power and energy, and by the catchiness yet undeniable intensity of the songwriting. It was clear then, as it still is today, that this band was a force to be reckoned with.

With These Words has one of the tightest live acts I've ever seen. But that is only to be expected from a band that takes its music as seriously and plays as many live shows at these cats play. They step out on to the stage, and from that point forward they completely dominate the show, holding your attention with an iron grip that draws you in ever deeper and deeper until you are completely enveloped by the experience which is With These Words. Holding down the beat is the drummer, a dynamo whose frenzied playing over the kit carries the rhythm with an incendiary yet controlled brutality. The bassist stands plucking away at the strings bare-fingered like a cat straight out of an old-time jazz bistro, cool as ice even without the shades and the cigarettes. Two guitarists flesh out the animal, their bodies and instruments thrashing about in a kind of primordial dance in step with the beats of the music. And out front moves a miniature keg of dynamite, reining it all in and throwing it back at you with explosive force. When these musicians come out and play, everybody takes notice.

The songs roll by like a freight train, taking you along on an unstoppable ride and obliterating everything in its path. . .and then. . .it's over. As you work to recover yourself and your senses slowly return to normal, you know that you have experienced something incredible. And you know you'll be coming back for more.