The Yellow Swans gig was pretty great, even if Tom didn't really like them. Possibly I should've called them "punk-noise-rock" or something; I had a lot of fun, anyway, though possibly I would've had less so if I hadn't solidly primed myself with liquor. One of the features of the 'Swans was that they performed with Campbell Kneale/BCM in one of his retarded schlock-metal guises which involved him, amongst other things, seriously messing up his usually-cherubic features by diving continually face-first into the stage. I was actually a fan of the the "rock-god antics" which Tom comments as having found "a bit forced" - there's too much serious in serious music, and not enough KISS-like pyrotechnics and stage theatrics.
My own set was mostly disasterous; however, for an unrehearsed and improvised thing, it went across really well and everyone seemed to think I was awesome. Probably this was due to the degree to which everyone else had primed themselves with liquor, as well.After the gig I went out and got (more) drunk; later on I drank myself sober; later still, about 7am, I went home.
Thanks to Ryan, who pointed out that "Riley's You're No Good was reissued in 2001, but it was originally recorded wayyyyy back in 1967. Which makes it all the more impressive a work, given the relatively primitive sampling and sound manipulation technology of that era". Word.
Now, between then and now a lot of crazy shit has happened, but due to time constraints, I'm gonna have to catch you up on it later on. I did want to mention, though, my band The Stumps is supporting the Grey Daturas - an awesome noise-rock band from Melbourne (this time the empahsis is on the rock, not the noise) - tomorrow (Weds) night at Katipo Cafe, in Willis Street. Apparently this time it's an early show; also playing is (NZ's only semi-serious doom-metal band, just back from triumphant tour of Europe and the UK) Black Boned Angel.
7 comments:
Congrats on a successful set!
Good to see you're still alive ;)
Ah, I couldn't tell whether you were a "fan" of the antics or whether you were laughing your head off at the spectacle. I don't necessarily have anything against rock-god antics: they just seem more natural when there's a huge crowd that's going off and you've built up to it. Going straight into it when there's a crowd of less than ten seems like trying too hard. Though are you suggesting that for Campbell Kneale at least it's an intentional act or parody?
The actual noise they produced was quite intriguing in terms of its textures and emergent rhythms. I'm quite a fan of what you can do with layers of noise: the self-titled release from All the pretty things is something I love to let wash over me when I'm in the right mood.
I didn't think your set was disastrous, but I guess you'll know what you intended it to do and whether it matched up to your intentions. I remember playing support for Tinnitus once, and technically speaking, everything that could go wrong did, but people were coming up to us afterwards and saying "whoa, man, great set".
Oh, and you seem to have provoked the most dancing of the night. That (presumably) Hutt girl in the strapless leopard skin number was really digging your 70s samples. Perhaps you've got a future as a DJ at Boogie Wonderland!
Hey Tom, that was me!
(kidding ;) )
Ahh, comments, the sop to my parched existence.
First of all: Tom, thank you so much for mentioning that girl - a notorious drunken looney - who I'd happily forgotten.
Now, can I take the third road and say I was a fan, and laughing my head off at the same time. Gabe (guitar) is apparently an ex-punker, so his rock god antics were of the extremely yummy shirt-too-small-muscled-torso-and-arms -bulging variety; Campbell's was definitely theatre but he'd deny 'til he was blue in the face that it was parody; and Pete (vocals) is a bit of a (loveable) weirdo and has an appropriately weird stage persona. I also haven't discounted the theory that the whole stage-act was an ironic appreciation of the way that about 6 people turned up to see this band which is reasonably big in the US and would regularly pull crowds in the 200+ range.
Thanks for 'outing' yourself as having supported Tinnitus once; that would make you a former member of Trasch, for example, would it? You are an international man of mystery, aren't you.
If the "notorious drunken looney" had restricted herself to dancing like a nutter then it wouldn't have been too bad. I was just grindingly embarassing when the 'Swans introduced themselves in American accents and she yelled "Fuck America! George Bush sucks!". Gabe was going "I know! We didn't vote for him!" but she just kept on at them. Surely it shouldn't be too hard to work out that art/punk/noise/rock bands from Oakland are hardly the core demographic for Bush supporters?
The support gig we played for Tinnitus was a one-off, and no, we definitely weren't Trasch (at least, not with a "c"!). We were called "Texture" (cheesy name, stolen from the sequencing software we used) and played stuff that (we hope) sounded somewhere between Kraftwerk, Art of Noise and Depeche Mode. Normally we had a vocalist who wanted us to be poppier, but we didn't last long anyway: the late 80's in Christchurch was not a good milieu for synth pop.
So, not that international or mysterious after all. Bugger.
yo....Stoive....
god to hear your rocking out. ace. (devil horn etc).
(i miss girls from the hutt)
nathan
that girl from the Hutt was at the other gig at Valve as well in an even more ludicrous outfit. She was scary.
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