Following the run-in at 6 AM with the confused elf, the Misanthrope went to Williamsburg to listen in on the new Strikes Again! recording going on at Smoke & Mirrors Studios, the Misanthrope's all-time favorite recording studio.
It was a very different experience being in the studio with no requirement that I play anything at all. It made listening to the sounds the guys were getting a very different experience. Suffice it to say, Chris is capturing the sound of the band extremely well. I've always admired the tremendous amount of thought and effort that goes into the arrangements of Strikes Again! songs and it is going to be a treat to have a good recording of these new songs so that I can really hear what is going on. Plus, Jeff Wiens plays a solo on "Hell Disaster" that will be appearing in "Guitar for the Practicing Musician" in about a year because everyone will want to learn it.
Later in the evening, I met up with Brother Big Red John Boy Jethro Elmore to hear some music at North Six. The first band on the bill, Stay Fucked, was a bit like an amped up, Relayer-era Yes without any of the positive vibes. The guys could really play and some of the sounds were really interesting. As a math rock geek, I was into it. Birds of Avalon were entertaining, but after the 5th song featuring no ideas that did not come directly from the 1970s Rock Playbook, I grew tired of them. EVERYBODY - PLEASE STOP MINING THE 1970s. You will not do it better than they did back then.
The reason we were there was to see Black Taj. John and I are big Polvo fans and Steve and Dave from that band form the core of Black Taj. They sounded great and the songs were interesting by HOLY SCHNEIKES!!! the drummer was AMAZING. He played with a fury and abandon that I have never seen. I can only imagine that this was what watching Moon was like, at least in some very small way.
The less said about the headliners, The Fucking Champs, the better. The music was dull, joyless and irritating. Yecch.
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2 comments:
Glad Black Taj made it back onto the bill, and glad you enjoyed Stay Fucked. They're good guys.
Thanks for the kind words, Dave.
It's always easy to capture the sound of a band that's already making the sound you're trying to capture.
In other words, sometimes the musicians do all the work.
It was also nice to have the little influx of energy that comes when someone who hasn't been there all day (ie you) stops by. You're listening objectively at the point where we're just starting to lose objectivity, and if you're excited it gives us a second wind.
'Twas fun.
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