words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota.
RIDE returned to Porto for an expected performance at the Hard Club. More than promoting their latest album – This Is Not a Safe Place – the Oxford band decided for a kind of sampling concert, introducing themselves live to an audience that would have adopted them since the first incarnation, in the first half of the 90s. Someone, who will not have been present at Primavera Sound 2015, shouted: “I’ve been waiting for you 30 years, man”, to which a nice Mark Gardener (voice/guitar) replied “I hope it’s worth it”.
And the trip was worth it. Starting with Jump Jet to dye the air with contagious energy, opening a sound journey through a career that survived an eighteen-year break and resumed in 2014 with the same line-up.
In the room echoed songs like Leave All Behind (Going Blank Again, 1992), Lannoy Point (Weather Diaries, 2017) or Dreams Burn Down (Nowhere, 1990), performed without blemish and exuding freshness, underlining the melodic shoegaze paternity and simultaneously promising more interesting paths, as in the case of the theme Fifteen Minutes, from their latest album, interpreted by the voice of Andy Bell, in what would have been the best moment of a concert that, having not filled the house, filled the heart.
Os RIDE regressaram ao Porto para uma esperada atuação no Hard Club. Mais do que promover o seu último trabalho – This Is Not a Safe Place – a banda de Oxford optou por uma espécie de concerto de degustação, dando-se a conhecer ao vivo para uma plateia que tê-los-ia adotado desde a primeira encarnação, na primeira metade dos anos 90. Alguém, que não terá estado presente no Primavera Sound de 2015, gritou: “I’ve been waiting for you 30 years, man”, ao que um Mark Gardener (voz/guitarra) simpático respondeu “I hope it’s worth it”.
E valeu a pena a viagem, começando com Jump Jet a tingir o ar com uma energia contagiante, inaugurando um percurso sonoro por uma carreira que sobreviveu a uma paragem de dezoito anos, retomada em 2014 com a mesma formação.
Na sala ecoaram temas como Leave All Behind (Going Blank Again, 1992), Lannoy Point (Weather Diaries, 2017) ou Dreams Burn Down (Nowhere, 1990), interpretadas sem mácula e transpirando frescura, sublinhando a paternidade shoegaze melódica e simultaneamente prometendo caminhos mais interessantes, como no caso do tema Fifteen Minutes, do seu último trabalho, interpretado pela voz de Andy Bell, naquele que terá sido o melhor momento de um concerto que, não tendo enchido a casa, encheu as medidas.
Portuguese band Cancro had the ungrateful task of opening for Fat White Family. Mostly, because of poor sound quality. For those, like myself, unfamiliar with them, it was hardly possible to access what they were playing. All I managed to come up with, was that they have a lot of energy and, at times, live, the vocals resembled Adolfo Luxúria Canibal of Mão Morta and Manel Cruz of Ornatos Violenta.
Then, come Londoners Fat White Family. The audience was there for them and, from the start, they were welcomed in a worshiping way. Anyone who knows Fat White Family is aware they have trailed the path of many a band. The ups, the downs, flirting with the abyss, if not nearly, or really, falling into it, firing members, re-hiring them and the rest of the litany of rock’n’roll.
From Autoneutron, the opening song to the finale with Tastes Good With That Money, it was an exhilarating thrill. If during the first three songs things seemed to float in a less raucous, speedy, danceable mode, a journey probably better enjoyed under mind altering substances. By Fringe Runner, Lias Saoudi did an impromptu dive into the audience, ending crashed on the floor.
He soon recovered, was helped back to the stage, seated there for a while, leaning closely to the audience that was loving every second of it. The party carried on. It didn’t took long for Lias to unbuttoned his shirt, picked a Guinness can and drank from it. As the evening went on, the music got more intense, turning Hard Club’s Sala 1 into a disco.
Lias also kept pouring fire to gasoline. Shirt, off, picking a whiskey, or was it bourbon, bottle and drinking from it. Fat White Family, particularly Lias, behave on stage in a way now nearly absent from rock’n’roll. Loud, misbehaved, in your face. How many bands still drink from beer cans and a hard liquor bottle on stage, whistle, at the same time, more than totally looking the part, being the part itself? Not many.
They may be tamer and, as Lias told All Thing Loud some months ago “managed to pull through and abyss of self-destruction”, but they remain off, insane, intense, raw and direct. Disney come, they left. The audience called and called for the band to return, some giving up. Until, after a good while, they returned, played Tastes Good With The Money finishing with a big bang.
Sold out Hard Club, expectation. Angel Olsen, troubadour of threadbare souls, took the stage for an open-hearted performance in a room surrendered to her lyrical authenticity, invigorated by the more elaborate sound of her 4th album, All Mirrors. There is a luminous beauty in the darkness of the songs of her latest work that Olsen’s and the six musicians who accompany her performance did not disappoint. The orchestral dimension proved to be effective, giving a well-constructed and involving melodic spatiality although, at times, the need for sound adjustments was felt, as in the interpretation of the beautiful Lark, in which the drum/voice balance was not the best. Nothing that took away from the run of the concert, the introspective tone and poetic force that Angel Olsen offered us, punctuated with light moments of interactive decompression with the audience. One went out into the night rewarded, with the soul cleared, but with some restlessness, “What about the heart?/ Trouble from the start”.
Hard Club esgotado, expectativa. Angel Olsen, a trovadora das almas puídas, subiu ao palco para uma atuação de peito aberto numa sala que se rendeu à sua autenticidade lírica, revigorada pela sonoridade mais elaborada do seu 4º álbum, All Mirrors. Há uma beleza luminosa na escuridão dos temas deste último trabalho que a sua atuação e a dos seis músicos que a acompanham não defraudou. A dimensão orquestral provou ser eficaz, conferindo uma espacialidade melódica bem contruída e envolvente embora, em certos momentos, se tenha sentido a necessidade de ajustes sonoros, sentiu-se isso na interpretação do belíssimo tema Lark, onde o equilíbrio bateria/voz não foi o melhor. Nada que tenha retirado ao discorrer do concerto a toada introspetiva e a força poética com que Angel Olsen nos brindou, pontuada com momentos ligeiros de descompressão interativa com a assistência. Saiu-se para a noite recompensado mas com a alma lavada com alguma inquietação, “What about the heart?/ Trouble from the start”.
Solilóquios, a concert evening of mostly solos, is celebrating its third anniversary. The events are held in a beautiful location, a third floor yoga studio in downtown Porto.
What’s in a double bass? Judging by Larry Grenadier’s performance, a lot. Those like myself, who like jazz, but are not experts may be surprised by how versatile and varied a single instrument can be.
Like The Gleaners, the album from where most of songs played tonight come from, the opening was with Oceanic. Soon we were at Vineland, written by Larry in his back porch, on an acoustic bass guitar. And here we were no longer in Kansas, sorry, Porto. And that were drums, right? And did I just hear a guitar? An electrical one, I mean. Most surely there is a full band playing. No, it was just Larry playing pizzicato. Was it? Indeed it was. And how marvellous and ingenious the whole thing was.
Gone Like The Season, written by Grenadier’s wife Rebecca Martin, Compassion/The Owl of Craniston, a medley of John Coltrane’e and Paul Motian’ themes, George Gershwin’s My Man’s Gone Now (from Porgy and Bess) and The Gleaner, all from the album, took us on several different journeys. One moment we were somewhere inside a road movie, the next in the smoke filled basement of a 1920s New York jazz club.
And then, Rebecca Martin sang a few Songs, including Brother Can You Spare a Dime, written in 1930 by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and Jay Gorney. It was an enchanting, hearty evening to warm a cold Winter’s night.
words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota
Holygram returned to Portugal for a performance at the Hard Club, in Porto, brought by At The Rollercoaster – a warm-up concert for Post Punk Strikes Back Again that will take place on December 7th.
Havin g released two albums and two EP’s Holygram proved consistent with their hypnotic beat, Gothic homily voice, krautrock scent and an 80’s spice with some catchy freshness, perhaps requiring more creative boldness.
Os Holygram regressaram a Portugal para uma atuação no Hard Club, no Porto, trazidos pela mão da At The Rollercoaster, naquele que é o concerto de aquecimento para o Post Punk Strikes Back Again, no dia 7 de dezembro.
Com dois álbuns e dois EP’s editados, os Holygram revelaram-se consistentes com a sua batida hipnótica, voz homília gótica, cheiro de krautrock e um tempero de anos 80 com alguma frescura cativante, talvez a pedir mais arrojo criativo.
words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota
1
Amplificasom’s 13th anniversary echoed in the reverential silence of the audience that filled Hard Club to Hear Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor and their latest album
Luciferian Towers. Opening act Light Conductors deserve a closer listening.
2
Violin and double bass developing, anxiety suspended. With the eight elements of GY! BE onstage the journey began its path in an immersive swell through sonic landscapes
beaten by a disquieting wind, at times, melancholy, between towers of lucidity. The chest of the ears filling with the demultiplying instrumental cradle, interweaving riffs and
fingerpicking on hypnotic backgrounds, breaking windows overlooking disturbed territories, between whispers of helplessness and redemptive phrases, until disemboguing into an ode to hope.
3
The journey lasted a little over an hour and a half and, in it, fit shreds of eternity, reassuring warm clothing in the winters of discontent of those who watched this superb GY! BE return.
O 13º aniversário do Amplificasom ecoou no silêncio reverencial do público que encheu o Hard Club para ouvir os canadianos Godspeed You! Black Emperor e o seu mais recente álbum “Luciferian Towers”. Como entrada, os Light Conductor, a merecer audições mais atentas.
2
Violino e contrabaixo em evolução, ansiedade suspensa. Com os oito elementos dos GY!BE em palco a viagem iniciou o seu percurso num crescendo envolvente através de paisagens sónicas batidas por um vento inquietante, por vezes melancólico, entre torres de lucidez. O peito dos ouvidos encheu-se com o embalo instrumental a desmultiplicar-se, entrançando riffs e dedilhados sobre fundos hipnóticos, partindo janelas com vistas para territórios perturbados, entre sussurros de desamparo e frases redenção, até desembocar numa ode à esperança.
3
A viagem durou pouco mais de hora e meia e nela couberam farrapos de eternidade, agasalhos reconfortantes nos invernos de desencantamento de quem assistiu a mais este regresso do soberbo dos GY!BE.
Fugly, a band from Porto had the ungrateful task of being Primal Scream’s opening act. Ungrateful because being opening for Bobby Gillespie’s and Andrew Innes’ band is, not also daunting, but requires a band capable of, if not matching, at least complementary to Primal Scream.
It is hard to say if Fugly are, or aren’t, a good life band. The sound was too loud and too high pitched to allow for clear judgement. They have energy and drive, but it was was difficult to access more.
If how good a concert is can be measured by how much the reviewer and audience sweat and danced, Primal Scream were off the chart. If not, they still were off the chart.
Had seen them before at festivals, the experience is quite difference in a venue, especially one like Hard Club’s Sala 1.
The intensity is the same, but the closeness and confinement make it for a far richer, enjoyable and mind blowing happening.
On tour to promote Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll, The Singles Volumes 1 and 2, quite a comprehensive singles collection, Primal Scream set was just that, the singles, played loud, clear, with joy, fun and colour and, of course, maximumrock’n’roll.
From Velocity Girl to Miss Lucifer, through Swastica Eyes, delivered with an overload of strobes and colourful flashing lights adding to the song’s insane ambient; Higher Than the Sun, during which we were floating in space; Kowalsky and Kill All Hippies one after the other in a maddening, vibrant, sequence again punctuated by intense light flashes to Loaded, another, lets go travel to lands far, far away moment and pretty much every conceivable single the band has released.
Save for Come Together, Jailbird and Rocks, reserved for the encore. By come together the room that has been literally shaking and vibrating for a while, blew into an even intenser dance and mutual adoration frenzy. The band, especially Gillespie, feeds off the audience as much as the audience feeds of them and him.
Concious of the fact that fans make, or break, a band, the band, and especially Bobby play to, and for, themselves and the love of music, but also to the gallery.
It is only logical. No band exists without its audience. After all, people go to concerts because they love the music and, often, because they want to see a good show that for an hour or so makes them forget their daily life.
A consummate showman, Bobby Gillespie knows it – (so does Andrew Innes, but Innes is smart enough to let the singer shine, coming to the front of the stage at times striking poses with his guitar and allowing the audience to capture him with their mobiles)-, loves the cameras and the audience as much as they love him.
Primal Scream both know all the tricks to rapture an audience as well as keep embodying a genuine love of music and displaying authenticity.
Last, but not least, Bobby Gillespie sartorial choice was on point. Sharp magenta (or was it pinkish-redish-mauve?) suit, red shirt, pink shoes.
words: Guilherme Lucas (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Raquel Pinheiro
Mick Harvey performed last Saturday night at room 2 of Casa da Música, Porto. Currently on a European tour (called Mick Harvey plays Serge Gainsbourg), the musician’s mission is to live broadcast his four solo works, started in 1995, about the songs of French musician and agent provocateur, Serge Gainsbourg.
Considering that Intoxicated Man (1995), Pink Elephants (1997), Delirium Tremens (2016) and Intoxicated Women (2017) were spread in time over 22 years, one conclude that this is a breathtaking work of remarkable quality in the re-adaptation of another artist’s work into English. Such because it is difficult to translate the universe of Gainsbourg’s lyrics into English and even more troubling to risk singing them in this context. But, Mick Harvey proved that it is not an impossible task, and somehow managed to overcome the challenge and create something that by being unique and captivating, generates interest. Not that Mick Harvey needed it for his career, as his original work is also of the highest quality, but with Gainsbourg’s songs he adds another dimension to his prolific career (I venture, without having counted them that Mick Harvey will have more songs than those of Nick Cave’s entire career to date).
The former The Birthday Party and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have always handpicked the musicians that accompany him, both in record and live. The band that performed on Saturday’s rainy night reflected it, with some of the best heavyweights of today, within more alternative and noir, but not only. J.P. Shilo, James Johnston and Lawrence Edward Mullins showcase it. From the start, it was a winner.
In a strictly musical area of the show, I will say that, by the selection of played songs, it is obvious that the best ones are those of the first album, Intoxicated Man. Maybe because it was also at that early stage of the project that Harvey summed up the best songs of French musician, continuing throughout the years with the others. However, it would be unfair to say that the first album alone would define all the subsequent ones. Not quite so, but such possibility of interpretation exists.
I saw Mick Harvey in 2015, in Ílhavo, precisely with the same live performance mode of this project of his and there was no significant change in regard to Saturday. That is, the tone of concert is the appreciation of music for the sake of music, without major investments in other devices that can distract the audience from the songs played very carefully and disciplined, without mistakes or great reveries. Just as we heard them on record, with everything, including the string arrangements, with four violinists on stage.
Without surprises in such regard, this time what stood out was the realization that much of the interest of the concert laid in the young singer Xanthe Waite (of the Australian band Primo !, who is also Harvey’s niece), who wielding her white Squier Mustang, and with her voice, at times sexy, at times angelic and tender (drawing a veil over Anita Lane), enchanted a large tportion of the show, becoming, without a doubt the center of great part of of the attention, sharing only that time and space during the remarkable moments when dueting and singing backing vocals with Theoriste Sundown Shilo – photographer and video maker of some of Mick Harvey’s and JP Shilo’s work -, that would come up on stage on occasion to sing on some songs.
Mick Harvey has a very professional and sincere stance, from time to time introducing some songs, telling a few stories in connivance with an audience at his feet repleying with humor to someone in the audience, who always responded in dismay when the musician referred that the next song was about a failed marital relationship. He has a good sense of humor, playing with some of the choruses of a song, forgetting which one, but saying that the first chorus is the same as the second, like in a Ramones’ song, or praising a member of the audience wearing a David Bowie‘s T-shirt, which lead him to rehearse Ziggy Stardust’s opening. Mick Harvey knows that he is a charismatic entertainer, and in that field he does not give in or capitulates.
If there were no major surprises where it come to the songs selection, all played exquisitely, the great musical moment was precisely the last one, played on the encore calle L’Invisage (a cover of French singer Alain Bashung, who also collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg).
It was a special moment different from the whole show, unlike the usual 3-4 minutes of the other songs, it took 8 minutes and condensed a magnificent psychedelic-environmental approach (very krautrock), and, once more, showed what an excellent guitarist and multi-instrumentalist JP Shilo is. An unforgettable moment, retained for future memory, from the one that, by far, I consider to be the best musician of the current Melbourne’s alternative music scene.
In a nutshell and managing a selfish manifesto of my ideals, I want to mention that Mick Harvey is one of the GREATS in the history of rock’n’roll, an exceptional and decisive musician in my musical culture. He was part of The Birthday Party, one of the three most influential and defining bands of my life and of the path I’ve traveled to date (the other two are The Ramones and The Sex Pistols). He was part of the best years of the Bad Seeds and his music is practically in everything I usually listen to, either by simple influence or because I always listen over and over to exhaustion, which is important and relevant and saves me day and night.
His sound is omnipresent in my life; it has to do with me, as simple as that. It also works whenever I see him live, a way of appreciating the other musicians in his band. It was through him (and the great Rowland S. Howard) that I discovered J.P. Shilo’s fabulous Hungry Ghosts Is is very rewarding for those like me who are constantly looking for new quality things in the harsh world of alternative music. This time I was also able to meet Tobby Dammit [ Lawrence Edward Mullins], his drummer. He was Iggy Pop’s drummer in 1991 during the concert I consider to be the best of my life to date. That’s why Mick Harvey doesn’t just do good things, he directs and delivers them through others. That is also why he is huge.
Mick Harvey apresentou-se na noite de sábado passado, na sala 2 da Casa da Música, no Porto. Atualmente em tour europeia (denominada Mick Harvey plays Serge Gainsbourg), o músico tem como missão divulgar, ao vivo, os seus quatro trabalhos a solo, iniciados em 1995, sobre as canções do músico e agent provocateur francês, Serge Gainsbourg.
Se considerarmos que Intoxicated Man (1995), Pink Elephants (1997), Delirium Tremens (2016) e Intoxicated Women (2017) foram realizados de forma espaçada ao longo de 22 anos, concluímos então que é um trabalho de grande fôlego e de qualidade notável na readaptação de uma obra de um outro artista para a língua inglesa. Isto porque é difícil a tarefa de traduzir para inglês as letras do universo de Gainsbourg e mais atribulado ainda a de arriscar o canto das mesmas nesse contexto. Mas Mick Harvey provou que essa não é tarefa impossível, e de alguma forma, conseguiu através deste seu desafio, criar algo que gera interesse, por ser singular e cativante. Não que Mick Harvey necessitasse de tal para a sua carreira, pois o seu trabalho de originais é também de elevada qualidade, mas com os temas de Gainsbourg acrescenta uma outra dimensão ao seu prolífico percurso (arrisco, sem ter feito contas precisas, que Mick Harvey terá mais canções que os de toda a carreira de Nick Cave, até esta data).
O ex-The Birthday Party e ex-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds sempre escolheu a dedo os músicos de que se faz acompanhar, tanto a nível discográfico, como em concerto. A banda que atuou na noite chuvosa de sábado à noite era reflexo disso, contando com alguns pesos-pesados do que de melhor existe na atualidade, dentro da música de pendor mais alternativo e noir, mas não só. J.P. Shilo, James Johnston e Lawrence Edward Mullins são exemplos disso mesmo. Este era já à partida, um concerto ganho.
No campo estritamente musical deste espetáculo, direi que, pela seleção dos temas interpretados, resulta óbvio que os melhores temas são os que constam do primeiro álbum Intoxicated Man. Talvez porque também foi nesse momento inicial do projeto que Harvey resumiu o melhor dos temas do músico francês, continuando nos anos seguintes com os restantes. Seria injusto, porém, afirmar que só com o primeiro álbum já se definiriam todos os outros trabalhos seguintes. Não é bem assim, mas essa possibilidade de interpretação existe.
Em 2015, vi precisamente Mick Harvey no mesmo registo de apresentação ao vivo deste seu projeto, num concerto em Ílhavo, Aveiro, e não existiu em relação a este de sábado qualquer alteração significativa em termos de espetáculo. Ou seja, o registo de concerto é o de valorização da música pela música, sem grandes investimentos em outros expedientes que possam distrair o espetador das canções que são interpretadas de forma muito atenta e disciplinada, sem erros ou grandes devaneios. Tal e qual como ouvimos em disco, e com tudo incluído, inclusive os arranjos de cordas, com quatro violinistas em palco.
Não havendo surpresas neste aspeto, ressaltou desta vez a perceção de que muito do interesse deste concerto residiu na jovem vocalista Xanthe Waite (da banda australiana Primo! e que é também sobrinha de Harvey), que empunhando a sua Mustang Squier branca, e com a sua voz, ora sexy, ora angelical e enternecedora (fazendo esquecer Anita Lane), encantou os presentes, tornando-se indesmentivelmente o centro de muita da atenção, partilhando apenas esse tempo e espaço, nos momentos marcantes em que fez dueto de voz e coro com Theoriste Sundown Shilo, esta música, fotógrafa e videasta de algum do trabalho de Mick Harvey e J.P. Shilo, e que subiu a espaços ao palco, para algumas canções.
Mick Harvey tem uma postura que é muito profissional e sincera, apresentando de tempos a tempos alguns dos temas, contando uma ou outra história em cumplicidade com o público rendido e respondendo com humor a alguém da assistência, que sempre lhe respondia em desalento, quando o músico referia que o próximo tema era (mais uma vez), sobre uma relação conjugal falhada. Tem um bom sentido de humor, brincando com alguns dos refrões de um tema, esquecendo-se qual, mas dizendo que o primeiro refrão é igual ao segundo, como numa música dos Ramones, ou elogiando um membro do público que envergava uma t-shirt do David Bowie, o que fez com que ensaiasse a entrada do Ziggy Stardust. Mick Harvey sabe que é um entertainer com carisma, e nesse campo não cede nem capitula.
Se não houve grandes surpresas na seleção das canções, interpretadas todas de forma primorosa, o grande momento musical foi precisamente o último tema, já executado em modo de encore, do seu nome J’Envisage (sendo uma cover de Alain Bashung, cantor francês, que colaborou também com Serge Gainsbourg).
Foi um momento especial esse e diferenciador em relação a todo o espetáculo, porque ao contrário dos habituais 3-4 minutos de duração das outras canções, este perfez 8 minutos e condensa uma magnífica abordagem psicadélica-ambiental (muito krautrock), e demonstrou mais uma vez o excelente guitarrista e multi-instrumentista que é J.P. Shilo, num momento inesquecível, retido para minha memória futura, daquele que considero ser, de longe, o melhor músico da atualidade da cena musical alternativa de Melbourne.
Em jeito de conclusão e na gestão de um manifesto egoísta dos meus ideais, quero referir que Mick Harvey é um dos GRANDES da história do rock’n’roll, um músico excepcional e determinante na minha cultura musical. Fez parte dos The Birthday Party, uma das três bandas mais influentes e determinantes no caminho que percorri até hoje (as outras duas são os Ramones e os Sex Pistols).
Fez parte dos melhores anos dos Bad Seeds e a sua música está praticamente em tudo que ouço habitualmente, quer por simples influência, quer porque volto sempre a escutar até à exaustão o que é importante e relevante, e que me salva os dias e as noites. O seu som é omnipresente na minha vida; tem a ver comigo, é tão simples quanto isso. Também resulta, sempre que o vejo ao vivo, numa oportunidade rara de apreciar os seus outros músicos de banda. Foi através dele (e do grande Rowland S. Howard), que descobri J.P. Shilo com os seus fabulosos Hungry Ghosts, e isso é muito recompensador para quem como eu procura incessantemente coisas novas e com qualidade no agreste mundo da música alternativa.
Desta vez possibilitou-me também conhecer pessoalmente Tobby Dammit, o seu baterista, que foi em 1991, baterista de Iggy Pop, no concerto que considero ser até hoje, o melhor da minha vida. Por isso Mick Harvey não faz só coisas boas, direciona e oferece as mesmas através dos outros. É também por isso que é enorme.
Simon Bonney (Crime&The City Solution) is on tour as Mark Lanegan’s support act.
The Australian singer-songwriter is presenting Past, Present, Future a compilation of his two album along with some new songs, accompanied by violinist Bronwyn Adams.
Unfortunately due to a last minute re-schedule that saw them starting fifteen minutes earlier, they played for a nearly empty room. In their meagre half an hour Simon and Bronwyn were a joy to listen to. Simon’s beautiful songs and voice gently highlighted by the guitar and violin and complemented by Bronwyn’s voice.
In sharp contrast Mark Lanegan and his band, presenting Somebody’s Knocking, his latest album, soon become morose. Morose may be an oxymoron since, by default, that is the essence of Lanegan’s voice and songs.
However, at their best when the melodies are smoother, the arrangements more vibrant and the voice takes off from its more uni-dimensional tone as in the great Field Songs, Lanegan’s songs and voice shine. The same is true of his collaborations with Isobel Campbell and The Queens of The Stone Age.
With an uninspired band, less or nonexistent arrangements and a set list that, aside briefly towards the end, hardly took off to other dimensions we’re left with a loud, strong, but not layered sound and a hoarse voice. Not that any of it made a difference to the many devotees that filled the room.
words: Guilherme Lucas (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos Guilherme Lucas
Last Thursday, TWIN GUNS, an American band from Brooklyn, New York, were the group chosen to open the new concert season at La Iguana Club, a rock club in Vigo, Spain. Their beginning dates back to 2010. At first they were a duo (maybe that is the reason for the group’s name), formed by guitarist and vocalist Andrea Sicco and drummer “Jungle” Jim Chandler, the latter famous for having also had been a drummer of the legendary The Cramps in 2003-2204, since becoming an asset for promoting Twin Guns to audiences with a taste for the same kind of sound. In 2014, with the arrival of bassist Kristin Fayne-Mulroy they become a trio, an equation that continues to this day.
Carefully listening to their discography currently up to four albums, one quickly realizes that they’re a quality band of subtleties that often surprises, perhaps because of their remarkable ability and creativity to fuse diverse music genres, and turn them into something of their own. There is a story of combustible American garage rock in them, that is constantly crisscrossed in its compositions by various genres: from rock’n’roll to surf music, country, blues, punk, psychobilly, trash, psychedelic, etc., performed in a noir and cinematic way. They have a gothic and dark aesthetic ambience, which is quite obvious in nearly all their themes, within a sunglasses after dark tone, which the three elements embody blamelessly during the whole performance. Among other details of dark inclination within the themes of rock’n’roll suicide their performance and sound send us completely into B-series films, western-spaghettis, crime in the city and dark alleys,. The good “ghosts” of The Gun Club, The Cramps, Iggy And The Stooges, Link Wray, Johnny Cash, and even Suicide (band) haunt a large part of their repertoire, but it is wrong to think they are just another band of great wannabes: on their own way they are building their own path and there is merit in that, as it is in their variety of styles, and in the way they play them that their worthiness resides. I really enjoyed Twin Guns’ concert that oscillated between a good and very good performance, also a result of the different intensities of each of the performed themes.
Andrea Sicco (also a member of the noise-rock band, Art Gray Noizz Quintet), is a very competent and focused guitarist-vocalist, managing to cover several styles, both when it comes to singing and guitar work, being exquisite in both aspects. Quite particularly, too, because a guitarist who happens upon the fortune of choosing to use a white Fender Jaguar as his favorite guitar, coupled with a Fender Twin Reverb, and have Reuss RSH-03 as one of his effects pedals, is,without a doubt, a tasteful, cultured musician, and artists of such class are very much needed, at least as far as I am concerned. Those who don’t understand what I’m talking about, do your research, he only clue I provide is: Melbourne. Between mourning and pure chaotic savagery Twin Guns, played two encores requested by the audience, which of course was euphoric with a great performance. The three of them volunteered until one of the guitar strings broke during a devastating solo in Jack The Ripper, a Link Wray cover. It was the right cue to end the show.
Interestingly, I realized that little by little, and having seen The Cramps live in 2006 at Vodafone Paredes de Coura Festival, I will have been able to see other former The Cramps in different contexts; a year ago it was Fur Dixon at Barracuda – Roque Club, this time Jim Chandler… so, bring on the next living “crampesque” legend because i tis always guaranteed to be a good thing.
In short, I spend a very pleasant Thursday night with these New Yorkers in the land of nuestros hermanos. Next time you come to Europe next time I hope you’ll play in Portugal.
Fiesta comienzo de temporada: Twin Guns (ex-The Cramps) – Os TWIN GUNS, banda norte-americana de Brooklyn, New York, foram o grupo escolhido para abrir a nova temporada de concertos, na última quinta-feira, no clube de rock de Vigo, Espanha, o La Iguana Club. O seu início de atividade remonta a 2010 e eram inicialmente um duo (eventualmente sendo esta particularidade a razão para o nome do grupo), formado pelo guitarrista e vocalista Andrea Sicco e o baterista “Jungle” Jim Chandler, este último famoso por ter sido também baterista dos lendários The Cramps entre 2003-2004, e que tem servido desde aí como uma mais-valia na divulgação dos Twin Guns para públicos com gostos pelos mesmos tipos de sonoridades. Em 2014, passam a ser um trio, com a entrada da baixista Kristin Fayne-Mulroy, equação que se mantêm até ao presente.
Escutando atentamente a sua discografia, que conta já com quatro álbuns, rapidamente percebemos que é banda de qualidade e de subtilezas que em muitos momentos surpreendem, talvez pela notável capacidade e criatividade de fundir géneros musicais distintos, e de os transformar em algo próprio. Há neles uma história de garage rock americano em combustão, que é constantemente entre cruzada estilisticamente nas suas composições por diversos géneros musicais: desde o rock’n’roll, passando pela surf music, country, blues, punk, psychobilly, trash, psicadélico, etc, executados de uma forma noir e cinematográfica. Possuem uma ambiência estética gótica e dark, que é muito evidente em quase todos os seus temas, dentro de um registo sunglasses after dark, que os três elementos personificam irrepreensivelmente em toda a sua atuação. A sua performance e sonoridade remete-nos completamente para filmes de série-B, western-spaghettis, crime na cidade e becos escuros, entre outras minudências de pendor obscuro dentro das temáticas do rock’n’roll suicide. Os bons “fantasmas” de uns The Gun Club, The Cramps, Iggy And The Stooges, Link Wray, Johnny Cash, e até mesmo Suicide (band), assombram muito do seu repertório, mas desengane-se quem pensar que são mais uma banda de wannabes dos grandes: à sua maneira estão a construir o seu próprio percurso e tem mérito nisso, pois, é na sua variedade de estilos, e na forma como os interpretam, que reside o seu gabarito.
Gostei bastante do concerto destes Twin Guns, resvalando entre o bom e o muito bom na sua atuação, fruto também das diferentes intensidades de cada um dos temas executados.
Andrea Sicco (que também é membro da banda noise-rock, Art Gray Noizz Quintet), é um guitarrista-vocalista muito competente e focado, conseguindo abranger vários registos, tanto ao nível de canto como do seu trabalho de guitarra, sendo primoroso nos dois aspetos. Muito particularmente, também, porque um guitarrista que pode ter a fortuna de escolher usar uma Fender Jaguar branca como a sua guitarra de eleição, ligada a um Fender Twin Reverb, e ter como um dos seus pedais de efeitos o Reuss RSH-03, naturalmente é um músico culto e com muito bom gosto, e artistas com esta classe são muito necessários, pelo menos para mim. Quem não perceber o que estou a comentar, que investigue, e a única pista que dou é: Melbourne. Entre o dolente e a mais pura selvajaria caótica, os Twin Guns, fizeram dois encores a pedido do público, que naturalmente estava eufórico com uma grande prestação. E assim se prontificaram os três, até que uma das cordas da guitarra se partiu durante um solo devastador à la Link Wray, na versão do mesmo, Jack The Ripper. Foi o mote certo para dar por finalizado o espetáculo.
Em jeito de curiosidade, constatei, de que a pouco e pouco, e depois de ter visto os The Cramps ao vivo em 2006, no Festival Vodafone Paredes de Coura, vou conseguindo ver outros ex-The Cramps noutros contextos; há um ano foi a Fur Dixon no Barracuda – Clube de Roque, desta vez o Jim Chandler… por isso, que venha a próxima lenda viva “crampesca”, é sempre garantidamente coisa boa.
Finalizando: foi uma muito agradável noite de quinta-feira, aquela que passei com estes nova-iorquinos, em terras de nuestros hermanos. Quando regressarem à Europa da próxima vez, espero que atuem em Portugal.
