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1 cruise ship, 4 days, 42 bands, 2,000 fans! Yes, I had to do it again! 70,000 Tons of Metal, 2012! I had such a great time last year that I had to go for a reprise and see what would happen! I've got a photo album here with many more photos, and this entry is the companion to my radio show, airing Thursday Feb 2nd at noon. When the archive is posted, it will be linked here.
It's true, I had a lot of prior experience, so I had already been on the same ship, Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas, and knew my way around. The weather I was leaving was not nearly as horrendous as it was last year, but I was still looking forward to punishing my ears and my body for a possible 84 sets of music in 4 days. I arrived in Miami a day early to trek up to Ft. Lauderdale with one of my partners in crime for a Cannibal Corpse show, and to also pick up another partner in crime to head back to Miami. Why not get an early start on bludgeoning my senses? I have to admit we did find time to view a certain sporting event involving a NY team that day also. On to the cruise! Last year I never noticed how much was loaded onto the boat via crane; the pool stage was composed mostly of large items, let alone all the rigging, backline, etc. I watched the crane pluck pieces off the ground and onto Deck 11 for hours on Monday morning.
I haven't gone to as many shows as I'd like yet this year, but I will be heading off on the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise next week; expect a special and enough photos to get you seasick! Here are a some shots from some shows I did manage to get out to!
The three below = Night Birds at Lulu's in Brooklyn. I didn't get any pix of Nuclear Santa Claust, but should have; they're a great band as well who were also on the bill along with the Livids, Foster Care and Pampers. Night Birds were frantically nonstop with their faster-than-Southern-California hardcore and surf mix. It was guitarist Mike Hunchback's last gig with the band; fear not, folks, a replacement has already been working out with them, and he landed on the floor and played his heart out on his back for the fans' sneakers and boots.
In February of 1990, I xeroxed 2 pages of the New Yorker magazine, to hold onto what I considered one of the funniest pieces of writing ever. It was titled Coyote V. Acme and was penned by regular New Yorker writer and NJ resident, Ian Frazier. In a nutshell, and I'll post part of it after the jump, Wile E. Coyote, plaintiff sues the Acme Company for product liability and the injuries he sustained over his career at Warner Brothers Entertainment. It's written in legalese and describes so well some of the cartoons and shenanigans involved, that you'll be able to be there with Mr. Coyote when he endures a violent feet-first collision with a boulder. Frazier published a book bearing the same name in 1996; a collection of his short humorous pieces, and has other books to his name, some humor collections like Coyote V. Acme, others full length adventures. I was reminded of the original piece the other day and wanted to share some of it, since it's been sitting xeroxed in my file cabinet in the FUN folder for decades. Ian's books are available through several online retailers. This time of year can be one of reflection and I'd like to look at the attempts of Mr. Coyote to capture his prey over the years, and the purity of his actions. Wile E. Coyote; Genius, and at some point in the Roadrunner cartoons, upgraded to Super Genius, was dedicated and single minded. He'd have made a great employee at the time of his upswing into the public eye. He was inventive beyond belief, and even when the same item would malfunction three radically different ways, he would remain a loyal customer of the Acme Company. Brick and mortars would die for a shopper like him! He is a reminder to all of us that perseverance and hard work pays off, or at least keeps you gainfully employed, and that there's a super genius lying in wait inside all of us. Perhaps it just takes an anvil to the head! There was a response to the article published in 1995, I'm not certain of the source, which more or less takes the stand that since our beloved Mr. Coyote quite often looked directly at the camera before sustaining injuries that the Acme Company's products caused, that he was faking the extent of his physical damage. Imagine that!
Up through May 6th at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is an exhibit entitled"Storytelling In Japanese Art" with a main focus on the Emaki, or Emakimono hand scrolls; some dating as far back as the 12th century. What's interesting about these pieces is that they are physically lengthy, so only certain portions of the scrolls are available for viewing at a time. The scrolls will be advanced during the length of the exhibition, so if you visit more than once, chances are you'll see different sections of the scrolls, which contain illustrations as well as japanese character text. Some are faded and reflective of their age, and some are in phenomenal shape considering the fragility of the medium. The exhibition also includes full views of some of the handscrolls on iPad displays in the beautifully crafted reading room. The current of the presentation of the pieces is very fluid - literally, with a fountain by Isamu Noguchi in the center of the route and a study/bamboo mat room.
When visiting the exhibition, we learn narrative was not only told on the medium of the scroll; visitors will see illustrations on screens, fans, cards, hanging banners, books, kimonos and porcelain as well. Some are showing one or two ideas as a story, and other pieces have multiple scenes and many utilize the stylized cloud formations to separate panels or sections of the stories that is present in Japanese art through the years. Take a look at some of the details of this show in the photos after the jump and see if it doesn't pique your interest!
I went to St Louis for the Old School Tattoo Expo, where world renowned tattooer Lyle Tuttle celebrated his 80th birthday; here's a photo of his cake (it's the Frisco Flyer tattoo machine that he made and made famous). The highlight of the weekend, aside from reconnecting with Lyle and other great friends in the business for me- was the visit a few of us made to the 10 story City Museum there. A cross between the works of Antoni Gaudi and Mad Max, it's an amazing playground created for the most part, from junk! There was a ferris wheel on the roof, alongside the praying mantis dome, and on the same level was a schoolbus that was perched precariously with 2 wheels hanging off the roof for patrons to explore. There were slides on every floor; nope, not visual slides; the kind you plant your ass on and tumble down! One was a 10 story spiral slide, not unlike the style that comes to mind when referring to water parks. All types of sculpture and found object placement that was delightful, including an area with discarded architectural features - lions and gargoyles and lampposts, oh my! There is a section called the Enchanted Caves, which looked just like it sounded. Part of the museum had an aquarium within it; stocked with turtles and catfish, completely accessible if you wanted to pluck a turtle out of the water and walk around with him, you could! The aquarium (pictured left) was part of the maze of walk through/get lost in sculpture that made up the majority of the ground floor. I may not be describing it accurately, mostly because that's a difficult task; The City Museum defies categorization, which is a breath of fresh air this day and age. There's also a couple of bars, a smoothie joint and a thrift store within the museum's expanse, not to mention the fuselage of an airplane, a series of monkey bars that stretches countless yards, animal sculptures made of gears, a castle turret and more.
No words can really convey what goes on there; the photos featured after the jump will do some of the inventiveness and beauty of it justice, and the real experience can only be yours if you visit. Yes. It's an experiential kind of place. Show up in sneakers!
Several weeks ago, I was proud to have Gaye Black/Advert as a guest on the Peer Pressure segment of Diane's Kamikaze Fun Machine. Check the archive for the show here; she was a great guest, played strictly black metal, and we talked about her life post-Adverts - a lot of which consists of being an exhibiting collage/construction artist, and some photos of her work are displayed on the playlist. Those of you in the London region are lucky; she's curating a show that opens November 25th at the Signal Gallery that features art from names in music you'll recognize... Feast your eyes!
To be more specific, this past Saturday, Terre T hosted on her Cherry Blossom Clinic, 2 live bands:: Wild Flag (all female quartet containing members of Sleater-Kinney, Minders and Helium) and UK DIY anarcho punk rockers Zounds! Yowza, now that's a show! I was asked to engineer both, and responded with a HELL YES, and so our work was cut out for us! Check out the archive of the program. Shock and Awetober, indeed!
A number of weeks ago, I was contacted by my friend Roderic, who plays in the Hydra Head band KNUT, for a quote about how different NYC is since 9/11 from an artist's point of view. He works for Swiss publication Le Courrier, and I thought it would be interesting to contribute to foreign language media. Here is the article for anyone curious. This past Friday, the issue came up again, but in a different way. I ran into good friend and local maniac Zenametal; curator of Zena Metal Wants to Conquer the World blog among other things. It was lunchtime on a crowded corner of Canal St., and we both were happy at the turn of events that led us to almost literally bump into each other. She works nearby and was donning fashionable duds for the office, and I wasn't looking too shabby myself. We talked for about 25 minutes, and in that time, the same gentleman approached us several times to vend what I thought he termed "dime bags". At some point I made a comment to her, since we were both looking so damn sophisticated I couldn't imagine he couldn't find anyone else in the throngs of people on a sunny Friday more suited to vend "dime bags" to. Zena, working near that section of Canal St., set me straight. In a quick debriefing, I realized that I heard "dime bag" - an old, almost expected way I had of listening to people mumbling towards me on the street. She let me in on the real words he was uttering: "diamonds, bags!" Oh! Well that sort of elevates us to tourist trash looking for a cheap but expensive looking bargain! I hadn't even noticed it was bootleg bag and bling central there. And I thought he thought we were scum! Still not buying, but a little less confused, I then saw that she was in fact, not toting a pocketbook on her lunch break, which was probably a good reason we were being hounded, not because we looked like we wanted to get stoned. So I'm really comparing from a much earlier time than 9/11; but it is interesting to notice that the things being whispered about on streetcorners are handbags, not dime bags any longer.
I made a quick visit to Seattle's Experience Music Project not long ago. The current main exhibit is titled: NIRVANA: Taking Punk To The Masses, and coincides with the 20th birthday of the band's Nevermind record. The exhibit not only has tons of Nirvana memorabilia, but is really a goldmine of great music sources from that same period of time. The facility is right next to Seattle's Space Needle (it's that dented looking brass thing to the right of it), and is full of cool exhibits having to do with music and film. Here's a giant guitar sculpture that lifts 35 feet into the air like a stringed cyclone. In the lobby they were showing parts of the movie Avatar, but the filming was of the actors pretending to fly, pre-special effects. Interesting the prep involved and the faux wetsuits they wore that tracked their body movement so it would be easier to morph them with their rendered additions (wings, dragons, etc.) at a later time. Something about it reminded me of a short I saw once that was the filming of the dubbing of Poltergeist. It was a hilarious process actually. You'd think that dubbing a film is at least some kind of large production? That is what I thought and I was certainly proven wrong. Imagine a group of people sitting in a room all on folding chairs facing a screen. On the screen is a tickertape of words going by, and the lines spoken by each actor are in a different color and run across the screen in a different vertical position. The voice actors focus on their lines and stand up and shout them at the screen. There is a condenser microphone mounted in front of the screen in a central location. People were standing up, saying their lines, and sitting back down. They weren't watching the movie - it wasn't even playing! They all had scripts on their laps and were facing forward as if they were forced to. When the movie got a little nutty, those people were standing up, shouting their lines at this screen full of text, and quickly sitting back down again. It was surreal and deflating all at once- not exactly glamorous! It may be the same kind of activity going on at the stock market right now, and you know I'm not gonna go there!
This past week we were visited by one of rock's busiest men: Dave Edwardson, best known for being the bassist in Neurosis. His set list is here, and the attitude of the playlist was commanding and fun all at once. As a fan of Neurosis and one who's had several occasions to talk to Dave, it was the truest sense of his spirit, and I'm so pleased that came through. To listen to Neurosis, as powerful and foreboding as they are, and then to make a conclusion about the personality of any of the band members, would be a mistake for sure. Dave did a stellar job inserting bike bell rings into songs where curses were and made the whole process for me the "engineer/DJ" a breeze. A couple of the bands he spotlighted; Dimesland and Wild Hunt. were heavy, and local to the SF Bay area. Here are links related to his playlist from top to bottom:
6) Hobgoblin - "Distract Francis" from soundtrack to The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari. Dave's friends, and occasional Dave guest bass, soundtracking silent horror films. On November Fire, DVDs and CDs available here.
8) Wild Hunt - "Window To The Nether" from forthcoming LP "Before The Plane Of Angles", currently unsigned
9) Jesus Fucking Christ - "Sadistic Madness", unreleased track from future split on Inimical with Star Fucking Hipsters. All JFC releases on this label, along with one of the Kicker 7"s.
10) Neurosis - Unreleased Instrumental live at Gilman Street, probably 1989, Pain Of Mind lineup. Track found on online bootleg. Song played once live.
Something he chose to leave out of his playlist that he had a hand in the production of was the delightful band Shitty Fucker, which he refers to as Essy Effer... that is, if he were to mention them on WFMU. As it turns out, we didn't have the time, but here is a link to where their recordings can be found..... And to be sure there was even less seriousness happening in the show, he informed me that he was going to see the B-52s and the Human League later in the week. He rocks and is not afraid to dance! Thanks Dave!
This week's guest on Peer Pressure is the one and only Carl Canedy: drummer for The Rods, and producer of many a groundbreaking thrash record including LPs from Anthrax, Exciter,TT Quick, Helstar,OverKill and Possessed. The program airs right after this post goes up, so get listening if you aren't already, folks--you'll be glad you did!
Here's a drum solo from Carl from a couple of years back:
Before the storm, I was given the opportunity by fellow 'FMU DJ's Terre T and Joe Belock to engineer 2 sessions. Check the blog posting here for the FMA tracks of Ivan Julian's live set from the Cherry Blossom Clinic! A mere 5 days later, Deniz Tek and the Golden Breed occupied the very same room and blasted out a set of 5 killers for Joe's Three Chord Monte program, which are posted below for your ingestion -check out the interview as well in the archive! Both guitar heroes along with their bands combined for a live perfomance at Brooklyn's Bell House - and as it turned out it was the only of 3 shows they had scheduled together that survived the weather! Here's some of the best shots of both bands at the Bell House (Fleshtone Keith Streng joined Deniz & Band for a couple of songs), copies of the juicy set lists; yes, Deniz Tek covered both the Stooges and the Vibrators, and Ivan Julian played Voidoids faves plus tracks from his new release: The Naked Flame. I've included photos of each band with their hosts from each WFMU set.
Left: Deniz in the Live Room at WFMU;Deniz with Joe;Terre with Ivan Julian & band
When the forces of nature prove to be too much, the FMU archives are there to document it all!
Bell House set lists at right!
No guitar strap? No problem! Ivan Julian and band at the Bell House.
Deniz Tek and The Golden Breed at the Bell House -Keith Streng guest gtr, center.
Alice Cooper's show at the Community Theatre in Morristown could have been a fashion event! The first item revealed was the "Spider Jacket" (right), with performance of Black Widowaccompanying it, the extra arms may be ineffective for some, but Alice wore them elegantly, and stylishly. Throw in some sparklers for good measure, and Alice is on his way to a stellar fashion season! There was the "New Song" jacket, which I failed to get a photograph of - Alice's runway technique is a little to fast paced...let the audience savor, Alice, savor!! It was a black pleated denim jacket with the words NEW SONG spray painted in stencil lettering on the back in large white letters. Here is a photo of the shirt underneath, which reveals the title of said new song.."I'll Bite Your Face Off" (pitcture disc out soon).....Boas are back, but not the feathered kind. Alice adorns himself with a live creature...much more attractive than the minks and foxes of old!
Studded oversize top hat. This is an example of an article for high end fashionistas: only the daring can really pull this off, Alice Cooper included, but not many others. While it may look great on the runway or on the stage, the combination of spikes and the size itself ranks it right up there with Fergie's daughters hats at the royal wedding. NOT the regular guy look, although Alice wears it well. Do not try this at home, or even at a Destruction or Watain show.
In a creative universe where everything but everything is postmodern, where citation of creative influences is unnecessary and irrelevant, where "might appeal to fans of ____" doesn't go the mile or two that it used to, what impassions me personally about a band? Why this one and not so many others? I'll try and delineate.... It's the casual earnestness, for one, the way Lady Piss just do, simply lay it down, jumping from one well-written, expertly crafted song to another, with notions of "rock" or "punk" or "metal" or "heavy music" casually abandoned in the face and favor of free-flowing creativity. This is what they do, this is who they are, and miles-above-average song composition and arranging is so very key to their presentation, and sets them obviously apart (to my ears) from the mass of bands on myspace, or Facebook, or wherever. Noel's intelligent, gloomily animated, on-key and fully immersed horror-host delivery of the lyrics and vocal element of the band also propel Lady Piss forward, in a way that simply eludes many bands of their ilk. It's just the right alchemical balance of everything—a perfect moment in time in the form of a rock band.
I hear echoes of The Birthday Party, The Jesus Lizard and many of my historical favorites in these seven songs, though none of that would matter a whit if the songs weren't so damn good and rendered with the irrefutable oomph of a mass UFO sighting. Any band that drives from Baltimore to New Jersey to play an unpaid session at 12:30 a.m., on a moderately popular show on a widely beloved radio station (that and one gig in Brooklyn two nights later) has the right stuff in carefree abundance, and the need (because to "want" is childish) to put their stuff forward in a forum like The Castle, where I made it very clear that I believed in them, supported what they were doing, and felt wholeheartedly that they had the ability to reach greater heights in their field. By now, it's my hope that most regular Castle listeners know that the invitation to an artist to perform live on the show is never extended flippantly, or without this core belief. Like many who have come before me, I choose to believe in music, and its performers, rather than God or such other misty intangibles.
So, enough leaden praise—you've got the point; here now are the songs.
Expert and enthusiastic live engineering by Diane "Kamikaze" Farris. Colorful, high-impact manipulation of my band photo as always by Tracy Widdess of Brutal Knitting. You can pick up a copy of the Streaming e.p. (all six songs are featured in this set) by writing to Lady Piss on myspace, or through bandcamp, where you may choose to purchase a record with a free download code, or just grab the digital album—such greatness to be had for three measly American dollars. Endless gratitude to the band for making my birthday number 47 something more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.
Announced at the recent Comic-Con, Kiss will be teaming up with Archie Comics for "In your face tales of Kiss/Archie". Apparently Kiss will come to Archie's hometown of Riverdale in the pages of Archie #627, that will kick off a 4-part "Archie Meets Kiss" storyline. Yes, to the left is Veronica, Jughead, Betty and Archie donning Kiss makeup. I don't know about you, but the phrase "in your face" was not exactly a phrase that I equated with Archie Comics or any of those characters at all. To my surprise, it looks like others have visualized grown up versions of Archie as well. Here's a trailer for a fictitious movie called "Riverdale," with a new take on the Andrews clan - it doesn't have the naivete and lightness that I remember from the original Archies years ago, but I think it's well done in teen/vampire network style.
My path happened to cross with Mark Barkan, who authored the B-side of the Sugar Sugar single; a song called Melody Hill. I was awestruck at my discovery - he also wrote theBanana Splits theme as well as She's A Foolfor Lesley Gore, and he was kind enough to autograph my copy of Melody Hill/Sugar Sugar on the Calendar/Kirschner label. That single was the number one song in Billboard in 1969, and to this day I still think Melody Hillis the superior track. Just days after getting Mark's autograph, Archie was back in the news with the Kiss team-up announcement. I haven't kept up with Archie as of late, and think I'll leave it that way. My bubblegum pop history and B-sides are all I need. If I want, I can gawk at the cast of Archie in Kiss makeup- at least we know what they look like without it already! My dark side might watch this trailer a couple of times. Am I not getting with the program? I don't think so, certain things I'd rather not revisit, I'll stick with my original preference... I'll take Melody Hill anyday!
Taking into account all my years on WFMU, including my original tenure doing the weekly Hip Bone program (1984-1999), this live performance, a world debut by the Raspberry Bulbs 4-man combo, is one event that I shall place among the highest, most gratifying events I have ever had the decided privilege of presenting on the radio. Infused as it is, with a taste of the original rock 'n' roll energy, spirit and earnest delivery that made parents in the 50s fear Gene Vincent, and corporations in the 70s suppress the efforts of The Sex Pistols, this RB set is music + power defined. Something to spring on my hopefully appreciative grandkids.
I purchased the Raspberry Bulbs' debut cassette, Finally Burst...With Fluid, in 2009, from the man himself, long-time Bone Awl drummer, founder/proprietor of Seed Stock records, also known as He Who Crushes Teeth. My intense Bone Awl fandom re-ignited, as he described the tape as a solo project of his own, and my need to be on tap with all things Bone Awl was further satisfied, when I got home, and played this little motherfucker of a tape. The similarities to the parent project were there, sure, but the songs struck an instant chord of originality as well, owing more to first-generation punk, Oi!, and garage rock, and goddamn if the songs weren't catchy as hell.
Thus began a casual email discourse between Mr. RB and myself, I knowing that the tape (and the others that followed) were a one-man effort. I nonetheless threw it out there that were he to ever organize a combo to render this material live, the My Castle of Quiet program would be a welcome place to roll the dice, the invitation was open.
Fast forward to the first third of this year, and much to my pleasant surprise, a Raspberry Bulbs appearance on the show, not only a live set but a sheer *debut* of the newly formed RB combo, was now in the planning stages. And here it is, fulfilling and surpassing any expectations I might have had, like human gunpowder, well-rehearsed and ready to take the world over. Saying "thanks" at this point seems trite, despite my earnest gratitude, as RB & Co. surely know by now that they killed it, bagged it, and took it home.
What to say? Live appearances will follow, and I can't encourage you strongly enough to attend one or all (Saturday 6/30 @ Red Light District, as part of Burning Fleshtival III, and Sunday, 8/21, as part of a great bill @ Secret Project Robot.) Much credit must go to WFMU's own Diane "Kamikaze" Farris, who engineered the set, and lent her expertise, while at the same time being open to input from the band, and myself, as the live sound was fine-tuned. Thanks also, as always, to Tracy Widdess, for rendering my abysmal-as-ever iPhone capture of the band, making it something worth looking at more than once.
I'm not a shopper. I can't stand indecision. Shopping for clothes for me goes like this... does it look good? Yes! Buy 2 in different colors. Leave, and hopefully never come back. It's not a process I enjoy, unless I am shopping for music. So my food shopping experience is done late night for the reason of swiftness. I'm sure you can understand this. This evening, I went to my local weenie mart for provisions. It took me about 5 minutes to select the food and beverages I needed and I went to check out. There was a line of 6 people, and I saw there was only one automated checkout aisle open. The only employee was bagging and dealing with the malfuction of said checkout aisle. I decided to wander around instead of stand on this ridiculous line at such a late hour. After familiarizing myself with all the cooking utensils, plates and felt floor/furniture protectors and all the cakes in the bakery--who knew someone would want a Bastille Day cake-- I circled around to where the registers were, only to find there were now 11 people in the line, which I joined begrudgingly. As a notorious multitasker, standing in line rubs me the wrong way, in a BIG way. All I could do was joke about the ridiculousness of the line with my new neighbors suffering the same fate as myself. And then I remembered. About a year ago I was in the Shop Rite nearest to WFMU. I don't remember what I was purchasing. I had been in the express lane and was about 5 people back and a huge guy cut the line. You would think that he had murdered someone. He pushed past myself and all the others straight up to the cashier, and said something like "I know I'm an asshole, but I got to go!". The cashier didn't want to ring him up because he clearly cut the line in front of us, but he wouldn't leave. My companions in line were pissed and flipping out on him. It was very confrontational, and for some reason I found it really interesting.
One of my favorite hardcore records back in the day was DOA's "Hardcore '81". This was the Vancouver band's 2nd lp, and has was recently reissued on colored vinyl along with their first LP: "Something Better Change". Both are on vocalist Joey "Shithead" Keithley's label: Sudden Death Records. To order either LP or Keithley's most recently released book: Talk-Action=0, go here.
I'm always on the lookout for fun merch, as my collection of T-shirts got boring a long time ago. It's always great to see something inventive a band has cooked up to offer up to the fans. From eons ago, here's a shot of the DOA Beach Ball that I still have. Now this is a beach ball I'd be proud to bounce around at an outdoor fest! Over Memorial Day weekend, I attended Maryland Death Fest in Baltimore, and with 2 outdoor stages, a few beach balls managed to show up. Impaled Nazarene's vocalist Mika Luttinen, seemed exasperated at seeing the multicolored objects floating through the air during their brutal set of Finnish black/punk/metal, and accused the audience of being hippies in the middle of a Woodstock flashback. Snicker.
Here's a video of DOA as a 3-piece performing "World War 3"
Here's a video made for Impaled Nazarene's (unairable on FM) "Armageddon Death Squad"
Recently I went to The Netherlands for the Roadburn Festival. Thanks to Duane Harriot for running the Fun Machine for a week and not wrecking the gears! Last weeks episode was a full three hours of music and photos from the most enjoyable fest I have ever been to, and if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it (not because it's my program, mind you - it is my taste, but it was really programmed by those who put Roadburn together- thank them, not me)!
Since last year's festival was disrupted by a pesky volcanic eruption, I thought it would be wise to take an extra day ahead of the festival and eliminate the stress factor. I made my ever important sleeping bag connection ahead of time, and decided to head over to the town of 's-Hertogenbosch to check out the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center.
All of Bosch's works are in name museums, so I was not sure what to expect. This town probably would have no one paying attention to it except for their famous, intensely talented son. I'm not going to even go into describing his artwork here; if you are unfamiliar, go check out a link or two and get the scoop on this man.
The Art Center is housed in what had once been a church. It looks like a church, but when you step inside, all your senses tell you nearly right away (there's a large red curtain that separates the entrance from a lot of the exhibit area) that you may have actually stepped into a delightfully quirky version of hell. There is a telltale sculpture outside as well to tip you off, that in most ways, this was not going to be a religious experience, at least of a churchgoing nature.
The helpful women at the desk were concerned with the size of my backpack and could see I was being taxed by it's weight. They took it off my hands immediately although there was no coat room. The entrance fee was laughably cheap and I was given an audio guide to boot. It was when I got to the other side of the curtain that I thought to myself "I'm going to be here for hours and hours"...
Castevet are a powerful band, pulling in elements from all types of unexpected corners of the musical spectrum. That said, they are very decidedly and inescapably a black metal band in sound and approach, all the same, it's rare that names like Ligeti come up in black metal interviews, or that touches of Yes, Magma or even Fugazi are brought to mind as part of one's impressions of a black metal band's live set.
It was clear from my brief contact with Andrew, Ian and Josh that they simply do not limit themselves, and why should they? They're talented players, so why suppress their chops? Speaking more generally, it was inevitable that aspects of the genre, like the wearing of corpsepaint and strong anti-Xtian rhetoric, eventually subside, leaving less-easily-deciphered, more eloquent and abstruse musical and ideological facets rise in their wake. Point being, you can bring the "art," without sacrificing one ounce of ferocity, as this session bears out.
After over a decade of black-metal fanaticism, I'm learning that what really matters, when a band is called to the mat, is songwriting—original, interesting, "catchy," powerful or all of the above—it's the songs that separate the good from the great, and these songs exemplify top-shelf black-metal songwriting and arranging.
Don't miss an opportunity to see Castevet live (May 7th at Mother Pugs in Staten Island, and May 8 at The Acheron in Brooklyn, both shows with Richmond natives Bastard Sapling and Inter Arma.) In the meantime, you have their full-length debut, Mounds of Ash (Profound Lore) to explore and enjoy. There are layers of great shit happening on that record.
Tremendous thanks are due to Diane Kamikaze Farris, for showing up under the weather and pulling off a great job engineering this live session, to Tracy Widdess of Brutal Knitting for collaging and photostomping Johanna's band portraits, and to Johanna Lenski for taking pictures, hanging out, and essentially making the event happen.
This week was juicy in terms of live shows to attend, I wanted to go to many, but have yet to clone myself and my jet propulsion unit is still at the shop. I cheated a bit, by having a band on the Fun Machine, to be able to provide you, the listener with some tracks aside from these pix, so here's a quick rundown!! Sunday March 27th, I caught Thin Lizzy at the Starland Ballroom. Brian Downey, Scott Gorham and Darren Wharton, all from the Lynott era were joined onstage by Marco Mendoza, Vivian Campbell and Ricky Warwick. The show was great, the set list was very different from the Sykes/Gorham era that ended rather unexpectedly the summer of 2009, and all is well! Here's a few shots from the show! Tuesday, Batillus made their way to Jersey City to douse the Fun Machine with some gasoline, torched
