Clash Wednesday, Clash Corn

A side dish to the Clash Wednesday Benefit Show main course.

When I got into the car of Shadcore, I was just happy as a non-driver to be getting a way home. It's a constant struggle and work of negotiation in a place like Tampa Bay, trying not to be an inconvenience to your friends and acquaintances, and a nice guy like Rashad helps massively. What I was not expecting was a trip down nourishment lane! One crucial element in being a humble hitcher is flowing with the motorists schedule, so I raised no objection when Rashad asked if I minded stopping to see some cousins of his before they left town.

After a shot of wine made from grapes grown in his families own backyard, it dawned on me just how large the zip lock of corn was. I'd accepted it without viewing the dose, but it was no mistake. Three days and two thirds into the bag my girlfriend and I are still trying to judo the stuff down. It's gone into sandwiches, tacos, the side of fries and eaten by its cobby self. The mac and cheese that Shadcore's mother makes was devoured within the hour of leaving its mother kitchen, totally justifying its position in the rappers lyrics sheet. Such generous genes is surely the kind of thoughtfulness that led me to get a lift in the first place.

Music and food, bringing people together since Clash Wednesday!

The Clash Wednesday Benefit Show

Sunday, 19th April 2015

The Palladium Side Door, St. Petersburg FL

When you redefine hip hop, the philosophical among us may ask, are you keeping that hip hop real?  The Real Clash are a real band really crossing genres beyond the usual rap/rock equation.  They make songs about real important things with real intent, but without mistaking that for the real work required by today's social movements.  They're inspiring yet humble, in other words.  They're keeping it real though inaccurate, holding this Clash Wednesday album fundraiser on a Sunday, in a fancy venue called the Side Door that patrons don't even enter through the side of the building.  How fancy? The candles on each of the round, linen-covered tables here apparently aren't real, but the provided snacks definitely are.

La Lucha might sound a little fancier and more sophisticated than if their name was in English, but irrespective of that, their music fits the atmosphere at this Palladium bonus stage seamlessly.  It feels like a cool and dark New Orleans bar upon walking in. A jazz trio at heart (winning Best of the Bay in 2013 and 2014), the international sometimes-cover band incorporates in pop, funk, Latin music, EDM warbles and trip-hoppy bits of ginger instrumentation.  To that end they also sometimes incorporate singer Jun Bustamante and her arresting voice. She even sings arrestingly on a Police cover: "Can't Stand Losing You" comes at the end of both this set and La Lucha's new album Standards, Not-Standards.  See Zero Warning's recent video interview with Jun Bustamante here.

Next is another group of Danny Piechocki Birthday Experience 2.1 alumni, Lions After Dark (LAD).  He's only gone and shown up here as a guest bassist as well.  This lot are again primed for this satisfyingly dim little location, not just in their name but in their current sound.  LAD since I last saw them have gotten heavier, verging on hardcore, punk and sludge metal at times, with feedback, and screams from vocalist Maddie Pfeiffer.  That's not to say there aren't still moments of restraint and breath catching. During the track 'Casper' the band invites Jay and Rashad from The Real Clash up to give us a bridge-based preview of what's coming next.  Member of both acts Andrew Roden kind of encapsulates where LAD seem to have gone between his need for two guitars (one is apparently named 'Sparkly') and his Henry Rollins t-shirt. 'Let's Start A War' becomes My War.

While I wouldn't quite describe TRC as militant, they seem a bit like a battalion right now, with 2 rows of 4 members lined up, ready to get on to the task at hand.  The hacky sack kicked around during the strangely dramatic intro indicates more of a lean towards 3 Feet High and Rising than The 3rd World, with Jay Acolyte continuing to blur lines amid his touching Star Wars geekery (Darth Vader shirt, verse about the new trailer in his LAD rap).  To reference another band tag line, is this what hip hop looks like in 2015?  Part of the reason there are so many people here is the sheer number of guests.  There's DJ Rahim Samad, putting well placed scratches throughout the set, violinist Fae Nageon de Lestang from Gainseville's Flat Land, and wind instrument teachers David R. Manson and Austin Vickrey.  (After forming at SPC, it seems The Real Clash can't help but stay close -- The Palladium is owned by the college, these teachers employed by it.)  "Imagine a tambourine with them" says the ever-inclusive Shadcore. No wonder this album has taken a while to put together; just the costs of sandwiches at rehearsal alone must cost a small fortune.  New features include a reworking of 'Stupid,' sexy additions to other older tracks courtesy of the horny horns and a song about shady show promoters taking advantage of artists. Despite all of the instrumentation the vocals are clearer, including those of tonight's third strong female lead, Eliana Blanchard.  Perhaps this could be considered something of a backfire as the many musicians attempt not to stand on each others toes, but the last song at least is nice and loud.

I want to clarify what I wrote in the introduction about The Real Clash and their place as a conscious act.  Even as they begin to organise a benefit for Nepal on June 27th, sales from their shirts and track Embrace are still going towards recovery efforts after 2013's typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, long after the media has left.  They publicise this long-term thinking in the run-up to and during their own album fundraiser, unworried that it might delay their aspirations as artists, modestly ranking needs above their own.  They are fusing culture to society and not pretending soundtrack alone is enough. They are doing the real work. For this reason you should support them with real money, so that they can continue to make art with real connections to the real world.  

Andrew W.K./Wolf-face
Thursday, January 29th 2015
The State Theatre, St. Petersburg, FL

Originally published at Zero Warning 

 “Our next show is a wet dream come true for me.” — Michael J. Wolf.

I get wet indeed. Sometimes a promoter will put together a tour or pick a support act that is so beautifully perfect it elevates all the excitement around the gig. To share the stage with Andrew W.K. and not get utterly buried you have to have something going for you, and Wolf-Face are a band going nowhere but up right now. The St Pete locals have been showing up at every level of geography, from the mural over at Fubar, to discussing their favourite wolf-eatings in the nation-spanning foodytunes magazine Rice and Bread, to appearing on a free compilation from Belgium by the name of Beardedpunk. As popular as facial hair might have become as of late, there could have been no more appropriate pick for the album; dolled up in doggy masks and yellow gym uniforms, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re nothing other than an adolescent gimmick.

But the jokey theme only works because the music is damn good, and not unlike the actual Adolescents. After the multitude of lead up noises and film clips there’s a cover of ‘I Was a Teenage Werewolf’ by The Cramps, followed by lots and lots of fun punk. Wolf-Face at times remind me of Snuff or The Misfits, and that’s aside from the fact that many of their songs have expletive-ridden titles like ‘I’m a Son of a Bitch’ and ‘Put Me in Coach… On Second Thought Go Fuck Yourself.’ Many of those same titles that lead singer Michael J. Wolf snarls at the audience are references to Teen Wolf, but as someone who doesn’t remember ever seeing it I am perhaps well placed to tell you the tunes stand by themselves. That said, the novelty of the performance does add entertainment value. There’s more clips between the songs, somewhat slowing the momentum as they are badly projected onto a curtain. A mini, skinny Andrew W.K. jumps up and sings through one track with Wolf-Face, temporarily drawing your eyeline away from the y-fronts and tales of high school trauma. The band end with their “hit single”, the endlessly catchy ‘I Wanna Be a Homo(sapien).’ Go watch them. Just don’t mention Teen Wolf Too. 
 
What to expect from Andrew W.K.? It’s been over a decade since he came across my mind in any significant way, yet something has me inclined to believe that while his party-metal might not be amazing, the night’ll be high in revelry [Err, maybe it’s the fact that the central mantra of his entire output is that we should party all the time?]. It takes a while for them all to file on, but eventually Andrew is onstage, surrounded by his eighteen guitarists, hammering away on that keyboard and smiling like a person you cannot help but love. The pit is immediately mental and it’s only a few songs before there’s the perfectly reasonable sight of a wolf crowdsurfing across the room. Yes, this sets it up to be about the vibe you’d imagine. You’ve got tonnes of unashamed devil horns popping up after every number, hair swinging everywhere, more smoke and lights than a blown-out Tony Scott production, and obviously, a barrage of noise coming right at you. Definitely fun. Channeling the comfortably uncool and somewhat patronising wedding DJ who puts a slow one on “for the ladies,” Mr. W.K. dedicates ‘She is Beautiful’ to them. Not exactly radical at the end of a month in which I saw bands such as War on Women and Bitchmouth, but nice I guess, and for an act that could very easily be a safe space for unbridled dudebro behaviour it’s a job well done.

The “No Crowdsurfing” signs at State Theatre continue to be laughably ineffective as the band break up their set with stunts: a Green Day style audience participation bit, throwing shirts to the crowd, Rocky Horror-esque theatrics. ‘I Love New York City’ becomes ‘I Love Florida’ following a polite request by the singer. I can’t read my writing, but that’s more to do with the darkness than anything; at this point I was hoping my notebook would look like a cross between a well-thumbed Delia Smith tome and a handkerchief post bronchitis. I suppose you have to be able to meet the party halfway, and I’m just not up to it, as much as I like the idea. Still it’s not just me; the room seems to be running out of juice a bit towards the back end of the night. The chorus boys on the axes (I’m starting to wonder if they’re lip synching or if I just can’t distinguish between their five practically identical roles) manage to ramp it back up before and during the encore, helped along by the unstoppable ‘Party Hard.’ With ‘Don’t Stop Living in the Red’ half the crowd is on the stage, and AWK himself is hidden towards the back on his blessed keyboard, letting the communal message overtake even his larger than life character. While it isn’t the kind of music that’d I’d generally choose to dance, drink and shag to, Andrew W.K. does at least fulfill the important role of reminding us that we are biologically wired to get feral once in a while.

Broken Things
Four Songs EP
Self-released, 2014
 
Originally published at Zero Warning

Back in December I referred to a live performance by local punk band Broken Things as “loud, distorted and deafening.” It speaks to the growing importance of one-of-a-kind live gigs in this age of free downloads that the groups’ Four Songs EP conjures up an almost entirely different feeling. In fact, after listening to this release gradually over the past few months I can comfortably declare that it only makes me more interested in going to see them again, to see how the two experiences work off one another.

Like its Fugazi godparent Thirteen Songs, the EP starts with a wonderful and relaxed instrumental intro. It has just the smallest dash of late nineties emo guitar, quickly papered over with straight punk rock. These instrumental stretches come throughout the record, and without feeling like padding, indicate a band interested in providing more than a background to its lyricism. The songs are allowed to breathe, and it’s clear that although this is Broken Things’ first release, the writers aren’t complete newcomers.

The vocals of Anthony Louis run parallel to the style of the music even if they aren’t desperately filling every moment. Delivered with a deep and sometimes sandpapery texture, the focus of the content is on cautiously optimistic contemplation, particularly about life in a big city. This is most overt on ‘Always Adrift’ and ‘I Can’t Set Back,’ tracks that, like the dimly illuminated building cover art, wrap and bookend the whole of Four Songs in a kind of love letter to urban living. The middle songs, ‘Jayne Mansfield’ and ‘Goring,’ are more metaphorical and storylike, but also acknowledge emotions of melancholy and isolation. It’s a record about nostalgia, yet also weakly-smiling positivity and forward-movement. It’s about movement in general: multiple walking and crashing references fit St. Pete all too well, reflecting herky jerky restlessness in a supposedly burgeoning city.

On the subject of the past and future, it seems appropriate to mention that I once reviewed a demo by the former band of both Louis and Broken Things guitarist, Stewart Nicol. When you learn of the connection to Dead Sound/Steady State it’s impossible not to notice the similarities, in fact I had to be careful not to go repeating the same exact observations and terms as I did 4 years ago (“narrative-driven,” “grufty,” “Leather,” “face”). When writing about the gig a few months ago I even, unawares, compared Broken Things to Dead Sound, which was hilariously (and admirably) not referenced by the band in my second-hand communication with them regarding this EP. There’s a lot going on here in a small space, with controlled scope and real depth to chew on if you give it a chance. There’s also a sense that they still have room to grow and pan out some of the ideas that are being expressed (as you would hope from a debut). Nothing is broken, nothing needs fixing. But let’s hope the next offering shows a willingness to expand their tool kit.

Broken Things will be playing with Against Me! (who I also made comparisons to in the 2010 review) at The Ritz Ybor on February 18th.

Four Songs is available for $4 on bandcamp and the Dead Sound demo piece is available in exchange for asking me nicely.* You can also hear a live track on their Soundcloud page.

* Dead Sound - Monuments To Alienation review