Boys keep swinging, ears keep ringing
typed for your pleasure on 17 April 2005, at 11.42 pmSdtrk: ‘Noise grinder’ by Speedranch ^ Jansky noise
SOME GUY: ‘JESSE!!’
JESSE (setting up his bass amp): ‘I don’t know your name, so I can’t yell back.’
SOME GUY: ‘It’s Steven!’
JESSE: ‘Hey, Steven!’ *waves*
As predicted, Jeff and I trekked out to the Lager House to see Death from above 1979, and I even managed to persuade Derek to come with, and enjoy his first live performance since the late 90s. None of us had ever been to the Lager House before; it’s this bar located within the shadow of the original Tiger Stadium, and it was rather small, to say the least. ‘An intimate venue’, as papers would probably describe it. Which isn’t bad at all, but we thought that since DFA’79 had played larger venues elsewhere, they’d be playing one here. Alas! Like I said, though, it wasn’t a bad bar — the performing area was roughly the length of a typical basement — but they kinda need to address their soundboard problems. I’ll get to that in a bit..
DFA’79 and their two opening acts were doing a two-shows-one-day thing; the doors opened for the all ages show at 5pm, and the 18+ show was at 9pm. We elected to go to the earlier one, so we could get back round to Jeff’s afterwards and catch the recent episode of Doctor Who, among other things.
After a 45min long soundcheck, and a premature start due to a problem with one of the guitarist’s amps, the first act up was Controller.controller, some band none of us had heard of, but they had their following, as quite a few of the emo kids were singing along. The musicians were pretty tight (despite the fact that the drummer wore a ski mask. If your drummer has a ‘gimmick’, your band is probably shite), and the vocalist lass, who reminded me a bit of Siouxsie Sioux, seemed to be enjoying herself, but her voice just didn’t seem all that polished as compared to the rest of the music. Maybe she sounds better on Cd. It’s a bit like Photoshopping supermodels; they look ace in print or on telly, but meet them in ‘real’ life, and you might be disappointed.. Overall, Controller.controller get a B for effort.
I’m gonna derail my narrative for a wee bit, and point out that I really have no idea what the fuck today’s hipster kids are supposed to be dressed as. It’s like they’re taking all the bad parts of the 70s and the 80s and squishing it together into some supposedly-ironic heap of crap. Girls with razor-cut hairdos and guys with those goddamned trucker hats. And every third person with either facial machinery, a white leather belt with pyramid studs on it, or both. And don’t even get me started on those fucking emo glasses. I don’t like emo, and I wish to set it on fire.
Anyway! Second act was Lee Marvin computer arm. I wish I could say something memorable about them, but I can’t. I can, however, note, that we couldn’t even hear the lead vocalist; either his mike wasn’t plugged in (a real American tragedy, to be sure), or he was screaming at a level that only dogs can hear. Hooray for the Lager house soundboard!
Around quarter to eight, DFA’79 finally went on, and about ten minutes after that, they started playing, having kinda sorta ironed out their own problems with the soundboard. It was a fast set, but it was pretty ace, and loud as hell (we were standing about eight feet away from one of the PAs). Sebastien’s vocals sounded a little blown out, though; I mean, even moreso than usual, but DFA’79 really proves that you really don’t need a guitarist to demolish your opponents musically. Is Jesse as good as the God of All Bassists, Peter Hook? No, but he’s damn close..
Towards the end of the set, DFA’79’s new best friend Steven (see above) kept requesting they play ‘Little girl’. He’d requested it about five or six times.
STEVEN: ‘LITTLE GIRL!!’
SEBASTIEN: ‘Fuck you.’
*audience laughs*
JESSE: ‘We don’t tell you how to suck dick when you’re out on the street corner.’
AUDIENCE: ‘OOoooooohh!!’
Then they launched into ‘Little girl’, ‘by request’, Sebastien added. 🙂
I’d say we all enjoyed ourselves. Good show!
Now it’s Sunday eve, and I’ve got like 95% of my hearing back! Woo hoo!
Random similar posts, for more timewasting:
Daylight savings time has me all screwed up on April 3rd, 2005
Stuff from Canada, music from Omaha on October 11th, 2004
