San Francesca, First Borns and Iconoplasty @ Neurolux (11/6/12)

I'd caught the tail-end of San Francesca's set when they played the Red Room's Atypical Tuesday a few months back.  I'd only gotten to hear one or two songs, but those had impressed me so much that I'd hoped that I'd get to see this San Francisco-based band again sometime soon.  When I learned about this show, consequently, I immediately marked it down on the calendar.

There were about thirty people at Neurolux when I got down there.  I expected more people to show up later on, but such was not the case.  Then I remembered that there was some kind of election going on...

First up was Iconoplasty, the latest project of musician/playwright/Boise Weekly reporter Josh Gross.  It would've been impressive enough to have watched/heard the man construct layer upon layer of beats, riffs and loops for fifty minutes straight with only a guitar and an electronic drum setup.  Then he confirmed afterwards that, aside from the very beginning and the very end, his set had been entirely improvised.  Probably the most immediately and straightforwardly likeable that Josh Gross will ever get.  It's just a shame that more people didn't dance.  At least one guy had the right idea...

Too bad he stopped before Eric Gilbert turned on the smoke and lasers.

Local group First Borns played next.  It might've been nice if, after pausing mid-set to announce that Obama had won the election, they'd launched into a cover of "Won't Get Fooled Again."  That wouldn't really have fit in with their moody, Joy Division-esque sound, though, and we can debate the point another time (the important thing: Romney and the Luna laws lost).  In any case, these guys sounded in excellent form, with Christopher Smith's detached vocals floating atop his own droning basslines, Alex Hecht's buzzsaw guitar and Erik Butterworth's clipped, nimble drumming.

San Francesca closed out the night.  This group certainly made no bones about their influences: they closed their set with an original song entitled "Manchester" that even stole part of its melody from "Decades."  As the proud owner of five Joy Division CD's and two Joy Division t-shirts, however, I say that you can do a lot worse when it comes to influences.  Besides, their misty guitar drones, solemn synthesizer and intricate, propulsive mix of live drumming and recorded beats proved distinctive enough in their own right.  The clincher for me, however, were Harrison Russell's flat, grating vocals.  I found them annoying at first, but as the set wore on, I came to regard them as a bracing sign of life.  The man sounded too pissed off and smart to surrender to suicide, decadence or cheap cynicism.  Consequently, this group appealed not only to the part of me that loves Joy Division but to the part of me that loves the Clash.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.

Email Interview: Range Life

photo used with permission of Range Life

As readers of this blog may know, I've been a fan of the local band Range Life for a while.  Their Crazy Horse-meets-Velvets sound made them stand out among groups in this area.  I did an email interview with them back in July, but I held off on publishing it due to their going on hiatus. It feels bittersweet to publish it now: the band's leader, Ben Turner, confirmed recently that they'll play their last show on 11/10 opening for Roomrunner at the Red Room.  Still, I thought that I should finally put this out there if only to commemorate this group's existence.  I wish the members of Range Life all the best in their future endeavors.

Here's the interview:

Let's start with the basics.  Who does what in your current lineup?

Ben Turner--Guitar, vocals
Eamonn Parke--Drums
Andrew Haffner--Bass, vocals
Nat Cummings--Guitar

Where does the name Range Life come from?  What does it mean?

"Range Life" is a song by the band Pavement.  We chose that as the name of our band because it describes a feeling or wishful desire we hope to achieve.

How did you get started making music?

With the exception of Eamonn, we all started playing music in our early teen years.

Who are some of your musical influences?  How did you find them?

Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Thee Oh Sees, Black Mountain.  Most of the music we've been influenced by has just been through sharing with friends.

Have you been in any bands before Range Life?  How did all of you start playing together?

With the exception of Eamonn we've all been in several other bands.  Andrew and I have played together before in the bands With Child and Great Western.  Nat has been in an immesurable amount of bands.

Describe your creative process.  Does one person come in with a preconceived idea or do you jam and see what you come up with?

At the beginning, we were just playing old songs of Ben's, but more recently, we have begun to all work together in the creative process.

What are your plans for the future (touring, recording, etc.)?

We hope to do things like tour and record and grow, but we'll just have to see where things go.

Is there anything you'd like to say to readers/listeners out there?

Thanks for listening.  Hope to see you!

Blowfly and Velvet Hook and the Dagger Ladies (11/4/12)

This has been a good year for seeing old far--er, legends.  Dave Alvin, Mike Watt, Toots and the Maytals, Henry Rollins, the Vibrators, State of Confusion, Peter Murphy, James McMurtry, Jonathan Richman--that's a long list.  This show caught my attention because it featured a name that I thought would make a proud addition to that list.  That was Blowfly a.k.a. Clarence Reid, a man who wrote songs for artists like Wilson Pickett, Betty Wright and KC & the Sunshine Band and whose X-rated raps and song parodies helped inspire a number of old-school hip-hop artists (Chuck D, Ice-T, etc.).

I counted a little over thirty people when I got down to the Red Room.  That number would grow to maybe fifty by the time that Blowfly played.  Not bad at all for a Sunday night, but still pretty meager, considering the headliner's rep and history.  Eh.  What're ya gonna do?

Unfortunately, a technical error erased my photos of the show, so I can't include any images of Blowfly's wrinkles, paunch or puke-green costume.  Sorry.  My next post'll have some real purdy pictures.  I promise.

First up this night was local group Velvet Hook and the Dagger Ladies.  This quartet, which featured Kelsey Swope a.k.a. Grandma Kelsey on harmony vocals, did pretty well for their live debut.  Gentle tunes combined with jangly, metallic riffs and swinging, rumbling drums.  K.C. Martin's and Kelsey Swope's subdued vocals complemented each other very nicely (they weren't all subdued, actually--Swope broke out a cute little scream here and there).  They sounded a bit ragged in spots, but they definitely showed promise.

Blowfly took the stage soon after Velvet Hook.  Backed up by a three-piece band, he ripped through a series of raunchy, hilariously un-P.C. original songs like "To Fuck the Boss," "I Fuck Everything," "The Incredible Fulk," "Pussy Hell" and "Rap Dirty," "the world's first rap song" (Blowfly's description).  His set also included plenty of space for parodies of songs like "Beat It" ("Eat It"--most definitely not the Weird Al song), "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" ("Should I Fuck that Big Fat Ho?") and "Soul Man" ("Hole Man").  Blowfly's gritty, raspy delivery had a crude I-don't-give-a-fuck charm to it, and his backing musicians laid down some solid, greasy funk (his guitar player in particular showed some impressive chops).  Also, for all of his cheerfully lewd and scatological jokes, a certain courtliness ran through Reid's interactions with the crowd.  Call him a dirty old gentleman.

It had gotten pretty late by the time that Blowfly finished, so I'd had to leave before Shades played their closing set.  Jeez, I just can't a break with this group.  Oh well.  I've got one of their upcoming shows marked down on my calendar.  Come hell or high water, I WILL write about those guys.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Wes Malvini and the Red Room.

Sera Cahoone, The Parson Red Heads and Desert Noises @ the VaC (11/3/12)

Prior to seeing ads for this show, I'd never heard of Sera Cahoone.  The fact that Desert Noises was opening for her seemed like a good sign, however, so I marked this one down on my calendar.  Then I listened to one of Cahoone's songs and felt even more confident that I'd made the right decision.  If you haven't heard "Worry All Your Life," give it a play.  Its tender admonition to not do like its title says makes it a small miracle, given that indie-folk sometimes seems like the exclusive domain of depressives and neurotics (not that Cahoone doesn't know where those folks come from: she also has a very good song entitled "Nervous Wreck").

I counted a little over fifty people when I arrived at the VaC.  The crowd seemed comprised mainly of the younger, collegiate/post-collegiate set.  Looking back, that feels like just the right crowd for this music.

Desert Noises opened the show.  Seeing this Utah-based band for the third time, I was struck by what I might call the hard-rocking wistfulness of their music.  The mature ease and confidence of their twangy riffs and loping, strutting, swinging grooves counterbalanced the fragile, almost childlike lyricism of their melodies and lyrics (and vice versa).  Part of me wants to liken it to kids playing dress-up with grown-up clothes, but that sounds way too icky and condescending.  Main point: they pulled off the neat trick yet again of sounding both fresh and steeped in tradition.

Up next was Portland group the Parson Red Heads.  Talk about steeped in tradition: their pristine harmonies called to mind CSN, their terse solos called to mind Neil Young and Crazy Horse, their jangly riffs called to mind the Byrds, and I'm pretty sure I heard some Tom Petty, Bob Seger and Eagles in the mix too.  The fact that they held up under the weight of these influences was a compliment to said harmonies, solos and riffs, but it was even more so to Charlie Hester's bass and Brette Marie Way's drums.  And to the pinch of arty drone that they tossed in, which they put to excellent use on their set-capping cover of Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air."

Sera Cahoone closed out the night.  This Seattle-based musician managed to do one better than her openers: not only did she make her folk and country influences feel fresh, she made them feel as lived-in as your favorite jacket.  Gorgeous melodies consistently met with considered, luminously plainspoken lyrics, and the unaffected, unassuming ease with which Cahoone sang them rendered both even more attractive.  Her band followed suit: the weeping pedal steel, fluid dobro and lithe rhythm section added just the right colors and shadings, nothing more and nothing less.  Mature in the best sense of the word.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

Talkdemonic, Mwahaha and Le Fleur @ the VaC (11/2/12)

I'd greatly enjoyed Talkdemonic's performance on the Treefort main stage, so I got excited when I saw that they'd be coming back to Boise.  This show attracted me too because it featured Mwahaha, a group from Oakland, CA whose Treefort set I'd missed.

I got a little worried when I arrived at the VaC and saw only twenty people there.  Thankfully, that number would triple as the night progressed.  And that meant not only plenty of ears to hear the music but plenty of eyes to see the montages crafted by the dudes at antimagic.

Local band Le Fleur opened the show.  I was going to write that this might've been the best performance that I've seen by them yet, but I actually wrote that in my last post on them.  In any case, their solemn vocals, droning guitars, spare basslines, quietly intricate drumwork and hissing, blaring synthesizer all sounded in outstanding form.  Their strengthened groove gave the music extra power.  So did antimagic's montages, whose abstract images underlined the music's ominousness and whose cheery clips from 50's and 60's films provided an ironic counterpoint to it.

Next up was Mwahaha.  Their low, submerged vocals, chiming guitar, tribal beats and squeaking, burbling, whirring synth made me think a little of the Sisters of Mercy gone trip-hop.  The pulsating lights, swirling and sparkling squares and distorted cityscapes that antimagic had crafted for this set made me think a little of the star gate sequence in 2001 (i.e. the part leading up to Dave Bowman finding himself in the weird-ass bedroom).  The two elements combined to create an otherworldly atmosphere in which the audience could lose themselves.  Fascinating stuff.

Talkdemonic closed out the night.  I likened this Portland group to Gary Numan in my Treefort Day 2 post.  Hearing them live again, however, they made me think more of Vangelis but with much sharper beats.  Whatever the appropriate comparison, their droning, screeching, rippling violin and synth hooks, their man-meets-machine drumming and their simple, memorable tunes sounded just as wondrous the second time around.  Probably more so, in fact, thanks to their smoke-and-laser show and the snowflakes, cascading water, flashing squares and zigzagging blobs of light of antimagic's montages.  I wonder if Ridley Scott's looking for people to do the score for the Blade Runner sequel.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

mr. Gnome, Finn Riggins and the Gunfighters @ the Red Room (11/1/12)

This show marked the return to Boise of the Cleveland rock duo mr. Gnome.  I'd caught their Treefort set, and they hadn't sounded like any other band I'd heard before.  So I was interested to find out how they would strike me on a second go-round.

There were over seventy people at the Red Room when I arrived.  Another fifty or so would show up by the time that mr. Gnome played.  Pretty fantastic for a Thursday night.  Guess I wasn't the only one who'd been impressed at Treefort.

The Gunfighters opened the night.  I'm not exactly sure why their music sounded quirkier here than it did at any other time that I've seen them.  Their costumes can't account for it, I think (though their lead singer's black mask and makeup were kinda bizarre).  The new horn parts could partially.  Whatever the reasons, I didn't consider the slight uptick in weirdness a bad thing.  On the contrary, it just gave the music more character.  Of course, it helped that their guitars sounded as sharp and Katie Vant's harmonies as sweet as ever.  Now, if someone could tell me what was up with the guy off to the side painting a picture...

After the Gunfighters came Finn Riggins, who may have taken their supporting slot as a dare to really kick out the jams.  Lisa Simpson in particular whipped up one helluva racket on her guitar, carving out some terse solos and cranking out the distortion as if she were planning to audition for Sonic Youth.  Meanwhile, Eric Gilbert made his keyboards clang and wail, and I could feel Cameron Bouiss's drums trying to punch a hole through the back of my skull.  For all of the noise, however, they sounded as charming and melodious as usual.

Speaking of charming...

This just made me smile.

mr. Gnome's headlining set reinforced my good impression of them and then some.  They remain the only band I can think of who can evoke Valhalla and Sesame Street in the same song and sometimes in the same measure.  Nicole Barille cooed, sighed and yelped while her guitar tinkled one moment and went nuclear the next.  Sam Meister's drums stomped, bounced, skipped and pulverized.  "We really do love this town," Barille said before their encore, "so thank you guys for treating us so well."  The crowd earned the compliment: they swayed, threw up the horns and headbanged throughout much of the set.

You can look up info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band and Poke @ Neurolux (10/30/12)

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band had rolled through Boise at least once before (I wanna say two or three times, actually), but I'd never gotten to see them.  The name stuck in my head because... well, it's a pretty cool name.  So, when I saw that they'd be playing this show, I marked it down on the calendar.

I estimated at least sixty or seventy people at Neurolux when I arrived.  The crowd looked a bit older than usual: I'd put the average age at mid-forties or early fifties.  Good to see that it ain't just the youngsters who are getting hip to Radio Boise.

First up this night was local band Poke.  Their tongue-in-cheek take on rockabilly boom-chicka-boom was pleasant enough if a bit faceless.  B-Rad's stolid baritone, Diesel's straight-ahead standup bass and Smokin' J's sturdy drumming went over well enough with the crowd even if no one took up B-Rad's invitation to dance (some folks off to the side of the stage did do some bouncing on the balls of their feet).  Much more than good enough: Johnny Shoes's undulant, on-point lead guitar.

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band (man, it's even fun to type that) took the stage next.  Where Poke seemed to nibble at the edges of their roots-music influences, this Bean Blossom, IN band sank their teeth in and chewed.  Hyperkinetic country-blues guitar, sinuous washboard and locomoting drums collided with rowdy vocals and sly, goofy lyrics.  Their manic hoedowns, warm banter and cartoonish stage act got the crowd whooping and hollering.  Shtick wasn't all they had going for them, though: the Reverend Peyton called time out at one point to educate the audience about his unique, resolutely old-school finger-picking style.  They knew and loved the blues well enough to pay it the tribute of irreverence.  Wicked fun.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.