Greeley Estates

"Pure devastation" is how the boys in local screamo outfit Greeley Estates jokingly describe their band on the mini-documentary "The Life of Greeley Estates," included on this recently released DVD. While they certainly have some devastating riffage, Greeley's live songs included here are more remarkable for their affability. Crowds of teenagers scream along with front man Ryan Zimmerman as the band tears through songs from last year's Outside of ThisLP, while Zimmerman politely exhorts the pulsing mass to "Take of yourselves, please," shaking the hair out of his face.

That's the appeal of Greeley -- these guys love their (mostly underage) fans, and the fans love them back (even those from outside the Valley, judging by the tour footage included). If you've witnessed the band playing live before, you won't find any surprises on the DVD except for a few unreleased tracks; this disc's value lies in the extra features. The video for "Outside of This" combines the band's performance of the song with a mini-narrative about a sad blonde girl looking for an escape from sadness. It's professional looking all around, produced by Mike Stoklasa and Tim Harmon of Red Letter Media, who did last year's Adventures in Rock local compilation DVD (and this is definitely a step up from that endeavor).

For local kids, the pleasure will be in seeing the Greeley boys offstage, grab-assing around on tour and talking to the camera. Zimmerman jokes that sometimes when you really like a band and you get to meet the members, you see that they're complete dorks and can't like the band anymore. He worries that you might get to know their band too well from the DVD (like, for example, the fact he wears women's jeans), and that Greeley "won't be cool anymore, especially to males." Don't worry, Ryan, a lot of your fan-boys out there are wearing women's jeans.