Rock This! discussion

So I got to see them on the 12th. First time in ten years. Last time I saw them, I was the only paying member of the audience. I heard Scott Nydegger (vocals/percussion) talking about the show with the sound guy, so I went up and introduced myself as, you know, THAT GUY. Which ended up with Scott and I spending much of the next two hours talking, because the sound system isn't the only thing that got moved over to Now That's Class when Speak in Tongues closed down. It's not unusual for a 9PM show to start at 11, even on a Wednesday night. (And that a show on a Wednesday pulled in more people than a Saturday show did at Speak sometimes is amazing, as much as I miss Speak... but I digress.)

Anyway, after much stimulating conversation, most of which had very little to do with music, and an opening band who were kind of interesting but not at all what I was there for, Sikhara took the stage. Three percussionists and a drum machine. Because, yes, three percussionists is NOT ENOUGH. As someone who was a drummer before I got into the creation of non-music, I can fully understand and identify with that sentiment. All the percussion wasn't drums, though. One of the guys spent most of the night with what looked for all the world like a homemade two-string slap-bass, but sounded like the roar coming out of the mouth of a coal mine after there's been an explosion. The rest of the time he was using something I don't even know what to call-- it was a big forked stick with various diameters of spring attached to it that he used a violin bow to play. Awesome. Scott had a mic and a pair of floor toms, while Yann was using a basic drum kit without the snare and bass-- a set of rack toms, a couple of timbales. They played the entire new album, Anduni (Armenian for "homeless"), front to back, and it is amazing. Based, Scott tells me, on Armenian folk opera and dealing with (as much Armenian art has for the past ninety years) the 1915 Ottoman genocide. A lot of background wailing accompanied by a lot of angry chanting and a whole lot of serious riddim. If you like drums, there are few groups that should be on your list above Sikhara to see live; the album, which I've listened to a whole lot in the past two days, is very good, but it doesn't really catch the ambience of the live show (which is a lot more primitive/savage-- as all-drum-acts tend to be), which comes complete with some performance art of the type one usually gets at social-commentary shows-- the lighting of pictures of war criminals on fire, that sort of thing. And I gotta say, I'm not one for social commentary in my music unless it adheres to the rules of artistic creativity (most notably Marshall McLuhan's golden rule, The Medium Is The Message). But this... this was fascinating.

They're headed west right now. Unfortunately, the tour dates on their myspace stop at Lincoln, NE, on the 19th, so I'm not sure if they'll be making it to everyone else's neck of the woods. But pay attention. You really honest to pete want to see these guys live. I've been complaining at Cleveland for a decade after they didn't show up to the '98 show, and I was vindicated Wed. night by a crowd of about seventy-five. Let's see if I can stir up some turnout in other cities.

(Next up:
me own show!, Nov. 29
Burning Star Core, Dec. 12
Apt. 213, Dec. 13)

Looks like your going to be busy.....

I couldn't be happier. When Speak in Tongues closed on Dec. 31, 2000, Cleveland basically lost its noise scene. A few clubs sprouted up here and there, but they all either closed within a year or are VERY territorial. Then we got Now That's Class-- it's mostly a hardcore club (the guy that owns it is the vocalist for hardcore band Inmates), but Paul (the owner) is very good friends with Steve Meketa, who's been in both the hardcore and noise scenes in Cleveland forever, and so it's starting to do experimental shows as well. Because of that, Cleveland's noise scene is getting vibrant again. I'm thrilled to pieces.

(And as an added bonus, NTC is about half a mile from my doorstep, while the only other decent noise club in town is forty-five minutes away. Score!)

As for the kid, well, that has to do with a long and ugly custody battle my ex and I are embroiled in right now. As well as the fact that Enter the Haggis tickets were $12 a pop and the Sikhara show was considerably cheaper. And it's been ten years since I saw Sikhara and one since I saw ETH...

Wow...nice post, man!

Thanks. I try not to wax poetic too much, but there are certain bands that really bring it out. Just don't get me started on Merzbow... we'd be here all day.