I was lucky enough to see Channel 3 last week at a small “old man” bar called Memories. From front door to the stage, the joint is maybe 20′ wide X 40′deep. I’ve seen shows there before (and played there) and as you’d figure, the sound is generally too loud & out of balance – but last Friday the sound was freakin’ great!
Anyhow, the line-up was different from the advertised line-up & like any show started late … but that’s nothin’ new in Chicago. The first band was The Clorox Girls – at first I thought they were “ok”, but as the set went on I liked ‘em more & more. I’m sure they get compared to The Briefs (I believe they’re from the same area) but I heard more influences & sounds … like Radio Birdman and early Replacements. Anyhow, I’d say check ‘em out if they roll through yer town. I missed the name of the second band, but it was basically The Clorox Girls minus their singer. They were fun, but less dynamic – more “Ramones beat up the Beach Boys”-ish.
Then Godzilla hit the stage with a hooligan anthem titled “Drink Beer Tonight” (er something to that effect) and it was a great “beers in the air” sing-along. Their set was aggressive & impressive. The drummer deserves a raise – holy crap was he “ON”! The whole band was “ON” … but at the velocity that the drummer was playing, he was tight & solid. I guess if ya gotta categorize Godzilla they’d end up in the hardcore category but they’ve got some great Oi melodies goin’ on and it isn’t all speed. Based on the show I saw, they are a balls out live band that I’d see again.
Local boys Destroy Everything played next … I had heard good things about them so I was excited. They have that Malcom McClaren inspired punk look and they’ve got a few years under their belt so I was looking forward to a ‘77-O-riffic set. Well … it was more Blanks 77 than 1977 … and when you’re playing that fast there’s no room for “push-n-pull” on the drums. The guitar & bass raced away from the drums on a handful of songs so maybe they just couldn’t hear the drums … I dunno – it was dissapointing. Who knows – it could’ve been the room, like I said earlier the sound usually “so-so” (but the other bands sounded good so what happened?) and maybe at a different venue they’d sound better or maybe it was just an off night … I’ll just have to check out another show.
Up to this point I had been having a great evening. Ran into some folks I haven’t seen in 12 or so years … the beer was cold … the music was rockin’ … I figured things couldn’t get any better. DOH! I was wrong … so wrong …
Channel 3 hit the stage & charged into a slew of songs that I couldn’t tell you the names of, but I knew the melody, I knew when the chorus was comin’ up, I even shouted out a line or two … I kept saying to myself, “Shit! that was CH 3?”. Ya see, The only CH 3 stuff I owned was a collection of comp tapes from friends that featured a song here & a couple songs there (maybe 12 in all) … that was a lil over 20 years ago. Well, those cassettes died in the great basement flood of 1992 and since then I haven’t thought alot about CH 3. Well that all changed about 3 weeks ago. Anyhow – back to the set …
So, they played all the shit that made me dig ‘em back then as well as more recent songs. I liked the new stuff, so I downloaded it from eMusic the next day. It’s got balls and isn’t a buncha “punk rock mid-life crisis” songs, or as those big time critics would say, “It’s a mature album … blah blah blah”. Anyhow – the singer was hysterical … crackin’ jokes, havin’ fun, playin his ass off. Hell – the whole band played their asses off but had this relaxed confidence that you’d swear this was the 5th night of a week long stay at Memories – it was simply fantastic.
If you get a chance to see Channel 3 … do so. If not, keep your eyes open for an upcoming documentary called One More for All My True Friends – it looks like it’ll be a good flick.
Filed under: Blogroll, critic in training | Tags: chicago, congress, iggy, live music, stooges
A week away from turning 60, and Mr. Pop is humping Mike Watt’s bass amp, rolling cross the floor, leaping into the crowd & floppin’ around like he stepped on a utility cable … DAMN! He makes me smile!
So, last night … The Congress Theater was the site of The Stooges Chicago performance. It’s not the greatest sounding venue in the world, but it’s the right capacity. The show was sold out, and we arrived in the middle of Shellac’s opening set, so we cruised up to the balcony and found a surprisingly good spot.
The stooges opened up w/ “Loose” & tore the Congress a new-one. They stuck w/ stuff from the first two albums for 4 or 5 songs and then started mixing in new material here & there. Overall it was a kickass show – but I woulda liked to hear more of the new album.
They played “My Idea of Fun”, “She Took My Money” & “I’m Fried” as well as “Lil’ Electric Chair” & “Skull Ring” … ummm, and maybe one more new one … arghh I forget. Anyhow the rest of the set covered majority of “The Stooges” & “Funhouse” albums and they played their asses off! I’m hoping performance from this tour end up released as DVD +/or CD.
Filed under: critic in training
Somewhere around 7th grade, I remember seeing a t-shirt with an illustration of Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison and a few others along with the text “Heaven Must Have One Helluva Band” (er somethin’ to that effect). It was a sweet sentiment and as a star-struck teen I’d imagine what “Heaven’s Band” would sound like … Wow! That’d be tits man!
Well, after experiencing more music … and maturing a bit … I realized that these performers didn’t achieve their iconic status on their own; they played in a band. It was that synergy that created the music that propelled these folks to stardom. Hendrix without Mitch Mitchell & Noel Redding would have still been a damn good guitar player – but never as huge & influential as he became. It was the band that created those sounds – not just Jimi, not just Noel, not just Mitch … but the whole band. It was the interaction of those particular musicians that created the monumental sound of “The Experience”. Putting different but equally skilled musicians in those roles would have changed the dynamic of the group and, in my opinion, produced good but not as memorable music.
A topic that gets overlooked when people discuss bands is Harmony. I’m not referring to harmony in the sense of how it works within a song or what melody it supports. I’m referring to the harmony of a band in its creative process, execution and presentation. It’s that 6th sense kind of thing that makes ya say, “Damn that band is good”. It can even elevate a band of lesser technical skill to great heights & respect. There are many bands who have had sloppy players and the way their “slop” fit in with everything else it made that band more unique. It’s all about how you put it together. Like marinara or pico de gallo – you may dislike tomato, onion, peppers, garlic, or “etc etc” on its own … but combined, it tastes awesome. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts … it’s just that simple.
As far as Heaven’s Band goes … well, I think the first problem would be a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario. Then ya gotta figure some folks didn’t quite make it in. And who knows … maybe Hendrix had a revelation that he was truly meant to play triangle rather than guitar & now he just dings his days away. We can dream up our own heavenly (or hellish) bands and it’s alotta fun … but I fear they’d sound far better “in your head” than in reality. So I’ll leave the formation of Heaven’s Band to the merchandising moguls and I look forward to the day that Justin Timberlake shows up on one of those shirts.
Filed under: Blogroll, critic in training | Tags: band, gimme a break, guitar
Up until the age of 9 my exposure to “ROCK” was limited. Ya see, my folks loved to dance so you’d hear disco, soul, motown, and the classics like Sinatra, Mathis or Nat King Cole when the radio or stereo was on. It wasn’t until I got a clock radio and discovered WLUP and WMET that I heard the likes of ZZ-Top, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, etc etc. It was so different from what I heard my parents play – it was new, exciting, and it was my introduction to “the guitar solo”.
Ahhhh yes, the guitar solo … at that point in time I thought they were all amazing. Then after a few years of buying records, reading Creem magazine, and talkin’ with my buddies – my tastes became more discerning. Page, Zappa, Eddie VanHalen, Tony Iommi, & Michael Schenker were some of my favs. But then came another day of radio discovery, a college radio station called WNUR. I didn’t even know colleges had radio stations! I heard The likes of D.O.A., the Vandals, Government Issue, MDC, GBH as well as others and thought – where the hell did this stuff come from!?! I was fascinated with what I heard … I couldn’t get enough … I again found something new & exciting.
I found many differences between the “ROCK” I had been listening to and the sounds of punk that I was becoming more interested in. One thing was the abruptness of or lack of guitar solos. I started realizing that several “ROCK” songs I liked could have been about 2 minutes shorter if they laid off the solo-ing. Some songs that I thought were cool really weren’t songs at all … they were a riff with 5 minutes of solos after 90 seconds of lyrics … it was a whole bunch of “look at me – look at me” … it was just a bunch of wanking … so, what did I do? I sold all my “ROCK” and Metal albums at a garage sale for $2 a piece. Boy I wish I didn’t do that, but that’s another story …
I think “the solo” has had some rough times over the last few decades, but it will never totally fade. It’s been alive & well in those suburban bars that are ruled by cover bands. I still see feathered hair & bleached jeans and the mullet & camo-pants every once in a while, so I know the “defenders of the wank” haven’t disappeared. And the biggest reason it still survives is that as long as there’s teenage boys … “the solo” will always be around.
For the most part – I think solos have gotten better over the years. Bands seem to realize that unless the guitarist sets his head on fire or ya got midgets blowin’ goats during a ten minute solo – the audience is just gonna go get a beer. So, I say wank within reason … if ya don’t, all that hair on your palms will knot up in the strings.
A conversation overheard on the train (paraphrased a lil’) …
mouth 1 – “Dude … emo blows, those shoegazers are worse than goths with their self-pity. I’m not talkin about industrial metal goth, I mean that new wave goth.”
mouth 2 – “Yeah … well it’s better than that hair metal you played for me yesterday.”
mouth 1 – “Shut up, that was a sick-ass comp full of street punk, glam, proto-punk, stoner rock, grindcore and a lil Screamo just for you.”
Ok … I could go on but I think you get the point … the amount of genres +/or sub-genres has become ridiculous. I mean, look at the “genre menu” when you adjust an mp3’s tags in itunes or similar program … there’s well over a hundred genres listed – WTF!
Now I don’t know exactly when “music genre” became so important – but I’m pretty sure it had somethin’ to do with sales. If your product is easier to categorize then it’s easier for a retailer to display & sell which of course means more money for the label. I figure it started sometime in the 60’s because of stickers on some of my records that say File Under “whatever genre” the record company wanted to push an artist as.
Or maybe it started with Jazz and the different movements within Jazz. Big Band, Ragtime, Be-Bop, improvisational … I don’t know. To me those names mark growth in Jazz more so than applying marketing terms to a product.
Regardless of when it started, it’s here and it’s getting worse. Ask someone who is in a band, “Hey what kind of music do you play?” and 85% of the time you’ll get a long winded combination of genres because they don’t want to be pigeon-holed as one thing. Well either that, or they’re tryin’ to impress you with their wide range of influence – and majority of the time, when it comes down to it, they’re just in a rock band. But anyhow … if you’re a punk band – say it! If you play metal – throw up those horns! If you play jazz – cool … but I don’t need to know what bizzare syncopated time signature your latest jam was in. It’s not that difficult a question to answer.
I realize there is Country influenced Punk and Jazz influenced Rock and Rock influenced Funk and yadda yadda yadda. But those are influences or aspects … not a whole new genre!
