Rolling Stones, Art Bergmann, Betty Bathory, plus an idea for a song lyric

Kinda like Kris did with "Bringing in the Sheaves," I offer y'all a folk song. I am not sure how to convey the tune, here (maybe I'll put it on Youtube?), but something with broad enough melodies that you could sing it in the pub (do people still sing in pubs?). Ask yourself, "How would the Clancy Brothers sing this," and I think the tune will come to you. 

When the Rolling Stones are gone

We’ll remember them in song

And some will sing this song

Now and then

The tour has rambled on

Like that rapey fucking song

And we’ll never get to see their likes agaaaaain

...but no, seriously, it sounds like they did a magnificent job of "Wild Horses," in particular (Bev says). I'm jealous! I have gravitated over the years more towards the Eugene Chadbourne interpretation of that song but I can imagine it live being absolutely transfixing. 

I coulda gone. I thought about it. I suggested it to Erika, even ("Do YOU want to spend $300 to see the Stones?" ...because that was the minimum price for two verified resale tickets, it seemed). 

I'm gonna go see Blondie, shaddap. Steep myself in Pacific Coliseum nostalgia (first show I've seen their since Iggy opened for the Pretenders on the Blah-Blah-Blah tour? Maybe).

If I'd known Neil woulda cancelled, I'd've gone to the Stones! It's all Neil's fault! (Get well, guys). Maybe I will buy the live album of "the tour I didn't see," if it ever comes out (Stoneswise). NEIL WAS S'POSED TO BE THE BIG CONCERT this year. 

I'm doubly glad Bev got to see the Stones, since she won't be seeing Neil anymore than I will, this time.  

I wonder... maybe I would have gone if Art Bergmann hadn't bit the Stones so hard in their crotches last Keithmas, delivering one of the most magnificent rips on a song I have ever seen, during Rich Hope's set; maybe my Favourite Piece of (Punk?*) Rock Theatre ever, surpassing even Robby Hanson with the geoduck hanging from his jockstrap (dangling down between his legs, stinking so you could smell it, which I did), or Facepuller throwing a running lawnmower into the moshpit (it had no blade -- thanks to Facepuller drummer Brad Mitchell for explaining that and verifying that it wasn't just the acid, it really happened.) Or, like Danny Nowak swinging the cow intestine like a lasso, so gobs of bloody shit flung out into the pit of the York Theatre during a Spores show. I wasn't there for that one, thank Christ, only heard about it. If you were there, please leave a comment. 

Actually, speaking of shit, I guess Art has some competition in the form of Betty Bathory's BB Allin show -- Betty pissing fake pee on the audience from her fake penis and smearing them with (fake) shit from her diaper, covering "Die When You Die." Actually, no, Betty is probably first-place here, Queen of Rock Theatre in Vancouver; sorry Art, you have to settle for second place, even though your, uh, critical engagement with the material runs deeper than Betty's. We suspect. 

Betty is many things, but "critically engaged?" How do you wear a Ted Bundy mask onstage and be critically engaged? I don't think she's distant enough from what she's doing to be critically engaged. She's IN it. 

We can critically fucking engage with HER -- it ain't HER job. Anyhow, she wins, I gotta give her that. Maybe if Art had smeared shit on me, too...? It looked (and smelled, a bit) like high-end Swiss chocolate, mixed with patchouli (but I did not taste it). 

But I digress -- I came here to write about Art, and the Stones. If you weren't there: it happened last Keithmas, at the Rickshaw, BUT NOT DURING ART'S SET, which was magnificent and moving and earnest and (at Art and Patricia's request) documented by me on Youtube (may I let you find that yourselves?). Art was most reverent towards the songs he covered. But -- I mean, allegedly he peed on the Boomtown Rats, too -- he shook the whole edifice of the night by  representing the Rape Victim during "Midnight Rambler," AKA, the "rapey fucking song" in my ditty.

Not that any of us knew what the fuck he was doing at the time. (He had to explain it later!).  

There will be a point in the future when Art, too, is gone (and the Stones, and eventually all of us), and if I am still around at that point myself, my last memory of "Midnight Rambler" live will, I hope, still be Rich Hope  trying to make sense of what the fuck Art was doing onstage, when, in the middle of the song, he lay on the floor of the Rickshaw and lifted his legs in the air. Rich looked down, chuckling, dazed: "What the fuck?" And eventually grinned and puts his foot on -- I'm guessing his butt cheek, but from where I stood, it looked more like Art's perineal area. If I ever interview Rich again, I will ask him to tell his version of this story, including EXACTLY where his foot went. It was only because of THAT moment that I went and actually READ THE LYRICS to "Midnight Rambler," which, y'know, I guess I hadn't thought about that critically. Ever. Before. There were certainly some images I had missed.  

Read them to Erika while she was making breakfast - what was that about being a "hit and run raper in anger?" (Or was that "rape her in anger"...?). She grimaced over the eggs as she stirred them. I mean, that's terrifying stuff, it's mortifying. I'm not exactly saying it's not, in a way, great, not exactly condemning it, if the goal is, I dunno, to make some sort of deeply transgressive, evil thing.... but... is this a bit like "Brown Sugar," a song best left behind, maybe? What does it mean to make those sentiments into a catchy rock and roll tune? To get the audiences dancing to the idea of knives being stuck "right down your throat?" That song treads VERY lightly on some VERY bad ju-ju. It trumps the evilest thing Ozzy Osbourne ever dreamed of, makes Black Sabbath into Dr. Seuss. It's like they scoured the lyrics of the most violent blues songs ever recorded and refined them into cocaine and snorted it. Church of Misery could cover it (Japanese blues-metal band who sing from the POV of serial killers). 

And y'know they didn't know what the fuck they were doing, really, when they wrote that song. It's kind of startling that they did it last night. I'm torn between gutted to not have been there and going, "No, Art made his point and I'd rather remember 'Midnight Rambler' via my memory of him and Rich than via the Stones still celebrating it, reveling in it." I do not need my rock and roll to be that troubling, thanks. I'm not sure I understand.

If I find out Art was THERE, mind you -- if he went to the Stones while I stayed home -- I'll be kinda pissed!

*We gather Art doesn't think of himself as punk anymore, but embodying the Rape Victim in "Midnight Rambler" is one of the most punk-rock fucking things I've ever seen done onstage. 

Roots Roundup, Stephen Hamm Theremin Man, and Cass King: a Saturday must-see gig at the WISE Hall

It's rare that there's a lineup of three bands that I am equally excited to see, but this Saturday at the WISE Hall is one of them. In the name of helping plug the show, I've interacted with all three bands: Cass King and the Cassettes, Stephen Hamm Theremin Man, and Roots Roundup (as well as guest vocalist Mellow Friesen), to fill you in. 

Mellow at the Bowie Ball, 2022: Is that Greg Hathaway behind her? By Allan MacInnis

Turns out there's no real need for press -- it's another one of those gigs where advance tickets are sold out online and the few remaining physical tickets are going fast (apparently as of July 3rd there were a few tickets at Red Cat and a few at the WISE Hall Lounge, with unsold tickets to be available at the door on Saturday, but even Roots Roundup were acknowledging on their Facebook page that "it's starting to look kind of slim.") It's still the room to be in on Saturday, if you can find a way: and whatever you do, do not skip the opening acts! 

1. Cass King and the Cassettes

Cass King by Gordon E. McCaw, not to be reused without permission

Let's start (arbitrarily, because I am not sure who is on first) with Cass King. Have interviewed her here (when her band was called "the Next Right Thing") and here (including a bit about why she changed that band name -- I liked the name "the Next Right Thing" a lot but as soon as she pointed out her reasons, it made perfect sense!). I also shot video of her the first night I saw her, at the first ever Bowie Ball, and caught her at Bowie Ball 2022 (did that really happen? There was a Bowie Ball in 2022? Weren't we all still hiding in isolation?). She did a stunning take on "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" that year that still stands out as the finest vocal performance I've caught at one of those events. I've also caught Cass a couple of times in-between those gigs, but those she's had a few shows since, I haven't been at them...

We begin our email interview with very casual, obvious questions, and then soon find ourselves in deeper water, after she drops a bomb in the answer to the second question...!  

Allan: Any news? What does your set look like these days? Any new covers or originals in the set?

Cass: We have emerged from the COVID wastelands with a couple more members, having added Damion Gray on the keys and Jamie Macdonald on guitar, and we have Gabe Ng sitting in on bass with us too. That's a total of five singers. So we are doing a lot of work on arrangements. I'm happy to say that we are playing mostly originals this time! We have a couple of new tunes to roll out as well.

Some of our originals are "Naked on the Dance Floor," a true story about a debauched Vancouver party in the aughts, and the title of our album; and "Nice Guy," in which an unreliable narrator reflects on his object of affection, in the manner of Joe Jackson’s "Is She Really Going Out With Him." One of the new ones is "Waiting on a Miracle," highly topical to the current electoral situation in the US, a topic which unfortunately seems to be evergreen. 

I want to also mention that the heavy lifter songwriter in our band is my partner John Woods. He does 90% the writing, and l contribute to arrangement, percussion, and vocal ideas, and a few lyrics here and there. The few songs I’ve written ("Do I Miss You," "Beautiful Today," "Window Shopping") have all kind of arrived fully formed in a bolt of lightning, which is awesome, but I would say that John is the real craftsperson.

It’s amazing to be able to write with digital software, to be able to lay down a simple bass line, or draw in a piano part; it gets the beginning of an idea across. That said, we really depend on our collaborators like Adrian Buckley on drums and our former bass player Brendan Mooney and our keyboard player Damion Grey and producer Scott Fletcher to bring their humanity and experience and musicality and wit to the songwriting. They contributed so much to what wound up on the album, and what we play today.

Allan: Anything we should say about this show?

Cass: This gig is a real milestone because I've been dealing with some significant health issues in the last couple of years. In 2022 I discovered I've got congenital hearing loss and diplacusis, which means I hear pitch differently in one ear than the other, necessitating hearing aids in both ears. So I've had to rehab and relearn an awful lot that I thought I knew. It's humbling, and I won't lie, there have been times I've wanted to just give up. But then I get in that rehearsal room with my incredibly talented and funny band, and we laugh our guts out and play some loud music, and all is right with the world.

So this is our first full set of originals since alla that mess.
Music is joy, and I need it in my life.

Allan: Oh man, sorry to hear about the hearing issues -- how have they affected  you as a performer?

Cass: The story about my hearing issues is this: When we came back from lockdown and started to attend shows in loud rooms again, I kept asking John if the band was out of tune. They weren’t.

Then we brought in Jamie Macdonald to the band (Jamie, Adrian and John are all former members of The Orchid Highway, btw). I knew Jamie to be a very strong, very technical singer, and I was having this issue where I would start a song, and then Jamie and John would come in on background vocals, and they sounded ‘out’ to me. But my brain knew that these guys a) weren’t out and b) were in tune with each other. So it must be me.

It was a real head fuck, because I’m largely self taught and one of the traits that made that possible was having a good ear for pitch. Now all of a sudden, that’s gone. It felt very groundless, very much like missing one of my senses. There were no guideposts particularly in a loud room where I couldn’t hear myself well. In those situations, I’d always been able to get by using the ‘feel’ of the vocal, and that wasn’t working.

To be honest, and I know this sounds dramatic, it was humiliating. Then one day I’m at my computer working on some vocal arrangements, and I’ve got a single keyboard note part panned hard to the left. Then I panned it hard to the right. Then I realized that the part sounded flat in one ear, and my jaw hit the floor. So what happens is my brain tries to make sense of the two notes I’m hearing and it resolves into this weird flammy tremolo warble. Thanks, brain!

I had been having a few issues hearing folks, particularly in places where there were multiple voices, or even background noise. So I finally went and had my hearing tested at this amazing organization called Wavefront. It turns out I have a congenital issue with my cochlear nerve that means that I have trouble hearing lower sounds, like low voices. No wonder I’m always turning up the bass! It’s very likely that I’ve had the issue for a while but the lockdown isolation affected my ability to calibrate, if that makes sense.

Wavefront walked me through the process of getting funding to purchase my hearing aids via WorkBC and I’m immensely grateful for that.

So I’ve had them for about seven months and the recovery process has been remarkably fast. I still rely on feedback from my band mates if there’s a section of a song that needs work, and I’m picky about sound check and being able to hear everyone’s vocals on stage. I have to think more about what I’m doing technically. Kind of like how when you’re learning to drive, you have to think about every little thing until it becomes habitual, I had to learn to drive my voice again.

I know it’s funny to tell you all this, considering I’m in the business of promoting what is going to be a killer show, and you’re really not supposed to show how the sausage is made. All I can say is that our last big show was the Bowie Ball and I feel confident, based on the audience response, that the Cassettes are back in business. We can’t wait to play this show with the legendary Roots Round Up, it’s going to be a party for dancing!

Cass King by Gordon E. McCaw, not to be reused without permission

2. Stephen Hamm Theremin Man

Okay, so: we end Cass King interview and return to Allan's writing, here.

True fact: Stephen Hamm actually played bass for Roots Roundup early on, I'm told! I never saw him with them, but have seen him with Slow, first opening for the Cramps back in the 1980s, and have caught him since in half a dozen bands, including Tankhog, the Evaporators, three Slow reunion shows (one Fox two Penthouse), Sunday Morning, and even the Enigmas, maybe in the gig that he mentions below (though I don't remember a motorcycle so possibly I'm thinking of some other show? Danny of the Spores did some Stranglers covers the night I went, but Hamm was on bass, for sure). Against the odds, I have managed to keep my "Canned Hamm virginity" intact, but I greatly enjoyed his debut as Theremin Man, did some press for it, and was at the LanaLou's launch for that album back in 2019, and though I missed the recent launch for his new album to have an important date night with my wife, I grabbed his new album the first time I saw it at Red Cat...

...and was blown away. I had enjoyed his debut, but I guess didn't entirely trust in the project's staying power, didn't take it entirely seriously: Big Hamm in ceremonial garb, guiding mediations and singing songs about UFO cults? Ha, why the heck not. I was amused, but given the various incarnations I have seen him in, I could have seen him re-inventing himself yet again and having a next album that was completely different.  Songs for the Future, however -- credited just to Theremin Man -- lands with great conviction, from a kickoff track, "Planet Earth," that locates you, especially when things get going at the one minute mark, squarely in a cloud of dry ice on the Celebrities dance floor circa 1983, wearing pointy-toed Fluevogs and hairspray*, dancing to New Order or Depeche Mode or maybe even Joy Division**. It's a full-on New Wave song that made me do a double-take, an evolution that makes perfect sense and makes me a full-on believer in the ways of Theremin Man, but still came as a surprise. (The previous link is to the video, by Ani Kyd Wolf, which is fun, but I recommend checking the song out without visuals, the first time, if you can. Maybe imagine it's Ian Curtis singing it?). 

Hamm doesn't seem to take offense when I comment that I like the second album even more than the first, commenting that "I wanted to just record some of my better songs and not worry to much about shtick on this one (though it is loosely thematic)." He also indulged a few email questions, despite being in Denmark at the time!

 

Did Judith Beeman take this picture? Clearly I did not. For people who mistake us, HAMM IS THE ONE WITH THE MOUSTACHE. (I have twice been identified in public as Stephen Hamm, maybe by the same person! I am not now, nor have I ever been, Stephen Hamm).

Allan: Why are you in Copenhagen, anyhow?

Stephen: I came here to attend a five day theremin meet up called The International Theremin Camp. It was a group effort put together by a bunch of us who have met on Zoom every Sunday since COVID-19 times. There are people in the group from Canada, the U.S., Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, France, Holland, Norway and the U.K. it was also attended by Lydia Kavina and Thorwald Jergenson who are two of the best theremin players in the world. They were giving workshops and private lessons. We also did our own workshops (Mine was all about touring in a band and as a solo performer) and on Thursday we did a concert of all the different Thereminists attending the camp (which was at Rodovre Music School) and on Friday there was a concert featuring Lydia and Thorwald. We ended the concert with a piece written by composer Kristoffer Rosing Schow who is a theremin player and works at the school. The piece was called "Teenage Dream Part 2" and was performed by piano, guitar, percussion and seventeen theremins!

Allan: Tell me about the Marfa Lights, again? [Stephen and I had talked about them at the time of the John Otway concert at Lanalou's last year; they are, apparently, a real phenomenon, not necessarily involving aliens or paranormality, but there is no agreement as to what they are; from the Wikipedia page on them, we learn from author James Bunnell that in certain places near Marfa, Texas, "you might just see mysterious orbs of light suddenly appear above desert foliage."] How did you come to write a song about them?

Stephen: I was asked to write a song about Marfa Lights by a friend of a friend. I looked into it and thought it would be a good basis for a Theremin Man song! The narrative behind the song is driving into the town of Marfa Texas at dusk and hoping to see the fabled Marfa Lights that appear on the horizon. No one can say what they are. Some say they're UFOs, some say mirage, and some say interdimensional entity others just plane old ball lighting. I love stories of apparitions like that, of magical forces. I have no idea if the Marfa lights even exist but I love folkloric mystique to prime the imagination and get me thinking about things that may be out there lurking in the night!

Allan: Was surprised to see you had a cover of the Rolling Stones on the album. Since this is going up the day of the Stones' Vancouver show -- I wonder if it was complicated or expensive to secure rights to put that on your record? 

Stephen: Ya I've been covering that song for a long time. There are lots of online services these days that you can pay a nominal fee and get the rights to cover a song.

Allan: Cool, okay. Tell me about the new videos? I believe Ani is directing a few of them; do you have a favourite?

Stephen: My favourite video is the one Ani did with me for "Are You Receiving Me." We had access to some great sets thanks to Patrick at Industrial Works and Ani did a bang up job directing me, shooting and editing. I think we really captured the mood of the song. Sometimes all the pieces come together for a song or a video or whatever and the magic kicks in. This video to me is perfect. Ani is a powerhouse and she works really hard to make her vision come to life!

Allan: With the WISE imperiled I wonder if you have any favourite memories or thoughts about that venue?

Stephen: Favourite memory of the WISE is probably the time I played bass for an Enigmas reunion. The show was sold out, we were firing on all cylinders and McKenzie brought a motorbike on stage and no one got killed although a few of us lost some brain cells from the carbon monoxide! I think this Roots Roundup Show at the WISE is going to be really special. They asked me to record the new album last year and we did it over a few months in their rehearsal space. It's the first full length album I've recorded other than my own and I'm really proud of the results. I'm glad it's coming out and I'm honoured to share the stage with a band that I have a long history with going back some 37 years.
Anyhow I hope the WISE is around for the next 37 years as well!

Allan: Me too! 

3. Roots Roundup 

Roots Roundup full band shot, June 2022, at Rock Against Racism, by Bob Hanham, not to be reused without permission: bandmembers L-to-R: David Hathaway, Greg Hathaway, David "Dymitri" Hanna, Bradford Lambert, Keith Rose, Mark Campbell and Eric Napier.

(Again, so people don't get confused: end Hamm interview, begin in Allan's voice again.)

For me, this blogpiece actually began with a recent Joe Keithley feature I did, after which David Hathaway contacted me by Facebook to note that Roots Roundup had a cover of D.O.A.'s "War in the East" on their upcoming album, Up Rooted, featuring background vocals from Keithley himself (which figures; the album is on Sudden Death records, Joe's label, and note, it is no longer just coming out, but is OUT NOW). You can see Keithley join Roots Roundup onstage for a live performance of the song here. Unlike the original's relationship to the rest of War on 45 -- the only reggae song on a punk rock album -- "War in the East" here is entirely in keeping with its environs, with Up Rooted being 95% reggae, dub, and ska, with a smidgen of (reggae-inflected) funk thrown in for "Screamin'," which is one of the three songs you can preview on Roots Roundup's website (also including the D.O.A. cover). 

Dymitri and Mark, by Bob Hanham, also from Rock Against Racism, also not to be reused without permission

There is another cover on the album, as well, of the Sarcastic Mannequins' "4 Arabs in a Red Fury." The original song title, says drummer/ video artist Bradford Lambert -- whom I'm assuming brought the song to the band, since David Hathaway pointed me at him for an answer -- "was just a funny title, a play on The Red Fury. Imagine four Arabs driving around in a red Dodge Fury. Sarcastic Mannequins made fun of everything, nothing more than that." All the same, David chimes in, "we felt the original title was not a great idea, hahahah!" ...and so the band retitled it "The Red Fury" for the purposes of the album. 

Bradford Lambert with Roots Roundup, by Bob Hanham

Of course, Mr. Lambert and Mr. Napier are also with Tony Bardach's band (stay tuned for news of a very limited vinyl release of Tony's album) and were the non-Ford members of the Ford Pier Vengeance Trio. David Hathaway indulged me in a few quick questions via Facebook: thanks, man! 

Allan: So do Roots Roundup do a lot of classic reggae covers amidst the originals? I don't know your go-tos.

David: They tend to vary in our sets, but I know we are doing "Bad Card" by Bob Marley tomorrow and PROBABLY "Book of Rules" by the Heptones. Greg and I have covered MANY reggae songs over the years in various bands!

Allan: I can imagine. Tell me about Mellow - she says she'll be joining you for "Bad Card," "War in the East," and "Burn Your Name."  [Note to readers: if you've missed it, see "Mellowtron's" video for "I'm Afraid of Americans" here, recorded with the Hathaway brothers, and soon to be topical again. And speaking of Ani Kyd, see another video with Mellow, here, for "Thick as Thieves"].

David: Greg and I have worked with Mellow a lot in the various Bowie Balls, she's a treat to work with! And a long time friend and fan of the band.

David and Greg, by Bob Hanham, also from Rock Against Racism, also not to be reused without permission

Allan: Is this your first show since the Rock Against Racism gig?

David: No, we tend to do out of town shows, like on the Gulf Islands, but this is our first show in Vancouver since Rock against Racism. Should be a roaring show! We love that venue given our East Van roots, and nothing beats a sold-out show of dancing humans. 

Allan: Indeed! I think since COVID people are more generally appreciative of joyful, positive and playful music. Like you say, everybody's looking for relief...!

David: The funny thing with "Relief" was it was written in the early 90s and never really used, but we brought it back to life because we felt the message was bang on for the times.

Allan: I agree. Brilliant video that Bradford made for that [see previous link]. Is the graffiti still out there?

David: I ADORE the video! Brad filmed it in the DTES and out in Surrey and yes, all that graffiti likely still exists.

Thanks to Cass, Stephen, Greg and David, Bradford, Mellow, Ani, and anyone else who answered my questions. Note that I would normally post a link at the end of an article like this so you could buy tickets, but it's too damn late! Probably the Red Cat ones are sold out by now, too. You might have luck at the WISE Hall Lounge or at the door, but I would get there very early (or plan better next time). More on Roots Roundup here, however. 

 Tip to console yourself if you can't get in: Gadfly has an album release show at the FOX! About as different as you can get, but that's where I'd be if I weren't going to be at the WISE. Gadfly interview here! 

*No, I never have owned pointy boots or worn hairspray. 

**Never danced to New Order, Depeche Mode, or Joy Division, either. 

Ceremonial Bloodbath terrifies my friend

So I took a buddy to see Ceremonial Bloodbath the other night. I was thinking I would also see Noroth and Phrenelith too; I'm not usually a death metal man, these days, but I had an "in" to the gig and figured it would be an interesting night out. 

It sure was!

"This isn't one of those shows where people are singing about worshipping Satan, is it?" my friend said at the start of the evening. 

"No, that's generally the stuff of black metal. This is death metal, so it's probably more about disembowelment and torture."

He laughed. Maybe he thought I was joking? But in fact, I was just wrong, it seems like Ceremonial Bloodbath really do sing about matters Satanic, or, uh, Satanic-ish, at least some of the time. From the album The Tides of Blood -- the lyrics for which can helpfully be found here --we have "Primitive," about ritual sacrifice of children... whilst in "The Book of Black Blessings," we have a priest being ritually sacrificed. That song is followed by "The Throat of Belial," where we have cheery lyrics like, "line up the throats/ for the denizens of the goat" -- wait, what? people living inside a goat? Hold on a second there. 

There is sometimes a "thesaurus-overuse-factor" with metal, you know? "Prostaglandins of the Inseminated," "Blasphemous Rhinoplasty," "Meconium of the Disinherited," etc. There seem to be times where the hardcore FEELING of a certain word trumps the MEANING. And you just know, for instance, that Cannibal Corpse came up with song titles like "Evisceration Plague" by just randomly slamming a couple of evil-sounding words together and then writing around them. Not that I'm judging: I once was in a band (sort of) called Epicurean Nightmare, named right out of a fuckin' dictionary, so I'm hardly fit to throw stones. But it's a funny aspect of the subgenre. These denizens of the goat are... whom, exactly? It makes me want to wax Seussian by way of reply: "I will not live inside a goat/ I will not let you slit my throat..." 

Anyhow, once you've lined up these throats for sacrificial purposes, you set about "spilling the blood of the priests/ Let it run like a river for the feast/ Slaughter the human sheep/ Punishment for their weakness/ Let the blood run down the ancient god's well like a river/ Let it run down the throat of Belial." That's all clear enough! Do all of Ceremonial Bloodbath's songs involve ritual bloodletting, or is this a theme album? What could my friend possibly be uncomfortable with there? Good, pro-social sentiments, these. 

I'm regretting not having picked up vinyl, now, though there's not much point buying records I am never, ever going to get to play unless I'm alone. Hell, I'm not even sure the cat could take it!

 Anyhow, having not been to a black-or-death metal show in some years, I was surprised to find myself really enjoying Ceremonial Bloodbath's music. Per genre convention, it has its punishing, pummeling aspect, is unrelentingly intense, but I was also catching Sabbath-like licks of guitar and recognizable, angular hooks that I could attach to and follow. It's actually kind of catchy, when you get the hang of it! 

My friend responded to this observation, "Are you serious?" Left to his own devices, he was mortified, nauseated, felt like he might vomit (he actually said that). It was just so evil! He even was disturbed by this guy's hoodie:

I mean, maybe I'm de-sensitized to such matters, but far be it from me to induce nausea in people. I walked my buddy to the Skytrain and, having arrived there, elected to just carry on home to hang out with the cat, since he'd been alone for awhile (Erika was out and about on her own business). But Ceremonial Bloodbath was a great time (for me, and I got a kick out of how much my friend was made uncomfortable by it, so that was kind of entertaining, too!). I would see this band again (but I guess I'd have to go alone...). 

I was mildly disappointed that I didn't recognize anyone from Anju's live score for A Page of Madness. It would have been fun to run into the Robbins twins again! I bet they could take the bloodbath. Their next chance to catch Anju will be an ambient opening slot for a metal gig, July 13th at Green Auto, with bands Liminal Shroud (first track on their bandcamp: "Nucleonic Blight;" if HP Lovecraft were alive, he'd love these titles), Empress, and Reversed. I have not always found the quality of listening all that agreeable at metal shows, so I'm hoping that someone makes a plea at the start of the night for people to shut up and listen, because that's how you're going to enjoy The Nausea, whereas if you just slam beers and talk with your buddies, the rest of us won't be able to! Event info here. Hey, maybe my buddy will like THAT show? 

Heh.

Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2024: Wayne Horvitz, Horse Lords, Earthball, and Jackson Pollock's hidden cigarette

Not quite a full band shot! Wayne Horvitz' Electric Circus by Allan MacInnis 

Haven't done a jazz festival show in some time; tonight was one hell of a good night to return.

Wayne Horvitz Electric Circus, at Performance Works, saw Horvitz -- a brief bit of harmonica aside -- mostly off-instrument, conducting an orchestra of 14, I think, to make a music that reminded me at times of searching for the cigarette and paint-tube lids and so forth embedded in the paint in Pollock's Full Fathom Five, when I got to spend 45 minutes staring into it in a Tokyo museum; I recognized, in the glorious, multi-coloured, swingin' cacophony produced by the 14-piece band, riffs on Howlin' Wolf, Sister Sledge, the Bangles, and James Brown -- the respective  cigarettes and paint-tube lids -- but often they were very brief, just a hint of spice and familiarity, an emotional touch-point for audience members before stepping off for wilder (often overlapping) adventures.  Knowing that such things were hidden in the mix made it impossible not to be on the lookout for them and to try to recognize the shapes they made; when one saxophonist (with maybe a couple of other players, or maybe on her own) gave a little riff that went dah-DAH dah-DAH dah-DAHH-DAHH, I spent the next twenty minutes, fool that I am, trying to put a lyric to it. Hard to do when you don't know what filing cabinet to look in -- jazz? rock? pop? funk? (blues: it was "Spoonful"). 

It was all dense and strange enough, the music they made, that it reminded me of the time some friends and I -- were we on mushrooms or LSD or just smoking really strong weed? -- put that Jon Hassell/ Brian Eno Possible Worlds record on one turntable, and some Haitian voodoo ritual music on another (I think the soundtrack to the Maya Deren movie, in fact, Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti), and grooved to both records playing at once, except, for the purposes of analogy, to approximate music as complex as the Electric Circus makes, I'd call for a third turntable, too -- specifically, one playing On the Corner by Miles Davis. (Miles, especially at that particular juncture, seemed a definite presence, though if and when the band gestured at his music, I missed it). Horvitz, as conductor, reminded me of John Zorn conducting Electric Masada with coded hand gestures and ample pointing. It must be odd to adjust to a job where being pointed at is a norm. Some were very forceful jabs, though it was hard to know what that correlated with; the force with which someone was to play? It was fun trying to get a sense of the impact of his hands on the music, too, like watching someone paint with weather or something, sculpting clouds and wind and light with flicks of his fingers and sweeping gestures. It must feel a bit godlike, harnessing the elements with your hands, thus.

The overall effect was phenomenal, and funkier than I'm letting on. I think you could actually dance to this music. I would like to try, sometime (Performance Works is a seated venue, so it did not happen tonight). They played an amazingly fun Art Ensemble of Chicago cover (of a song I believe I saw the Cinematic Orchestra do once, as well, at a jazz festival past, the very funky "Theme de Yoyo," originally sung with Fontella Bass on lead vocals). I shot video of this song, in fact, but am not sure if the band wants whole clips of their performances out there? I did not have time to check but it seems to me the local players involved might like to see themselves... Have written Mr. Horvitz and will share if I get the okay.

Oh, Shahzad Ismaily on bass had the best face of the night -- very expressive and intense. Cannot tell you which bands I have seen him with before but I know I have. Very interesting New York Times feature on him here. 

Then it was a fast walk to see Horse Lords at the Revue Stage, which needs a better name: it was actually a great room for live music. I did not know Horse Lords until very recently. It might help to think of them in terms of a denser, more playful, more driven Don Caballero, but it probably does them an injustice to compare them to anyone, really. There are elements of prog, math rock, and American minimalism to what they do, but occasionally, especially during Andrew Bernstein's saxophone solos, you'll hear something else coming through, in a way you don't expect and can't quite justify, things that seem very much other than the style of music the band makes; at various points, I found myself "hearing" bluegrass, ragtime jazz, rockabilly, and other things "hidden" in his solos, which, unlike the cigarette in Pollock, you can't be sure are really there. Maybe it was just in my head? But this is a fucking cigarette:  

By the way, yes, the background of my blog is a detail from this Pollock, chosen because I got to spend so much time with that particular painting (in Japan, at a touring MOMA show. It was bizarre how uninterested most Japanese attendees seemed in the row of abstract expressionist stuff; I actually heard people scoff as they walked by, but lining up to see the Dalis and oohing over the Matisses, while I was going from Pollock to Pollock and studying the de Koonig...). Pollock was also - thanks to Ornette Coleman - an instrumental, visual/ synesthetic aid to entering free jazz, during my 20s. A difficult time in my life, really -- not very productive, even somewhat self-destructive -- but boy did I listen to a lot of explosively free music in my 20s.  

In any event... though I would not call Horse Lords "free," per se -- some of the sax playing was pretty wild, but there was great intensity of focus and interaction between guitars, bass, and drums. It was very, very rewarding and very unique. It was also fun that during Bernstein's turns on the second drum kit that his eyes lost so much focus, just seeming to shut off as a sensory organ, that I was reminded of watching Blind Marc. I actually wondered if he was visually impaired. He wasn't, I don't think -- just deeply tranced out. Jeremy of Earthball, whom I chatted with briefly before Horse Lords took the stage, said he had had no idea that his band was following Horse Lords when the gig was initially scheduled. He was in the audience for them, as well (and members of Horse Lords were in the audience for Earthball, too). Couldn't be more different, and yet they complimented each other perfectly. 

Earthball achieves the same intensity as Horse Lords, but in an outward-, not inward-, facing way, seeming rooted in 1960s and 1970s psychedelic free jazz, but with a driving rock element (mostly via John Brennan's drums. John, was that you who introduced yourself to me at the Violent Femmes shows? Hello, if so!). You kind of get a sense that you're in for something unusual when a member (Jeremy) brings a chair onto a stage and, instead of sitting on it to prepare his instruments, which is what my first thought was, he mics it and turns it INTO his instrument, sliding it across the floor so the squeaks and grinds of the ends of the chair legs, rubbing against the stage, become part of what you're hearing. I'm pretty sure I've seen Han Bennink drum on a chair, once, but I've never seen anyone play chair quite like THIS. 

I cannot do justice to Earthball's music, but there were enough unconventional and little instruments that I thought of a very different face of the Art Ensemble of Chicago at times, compared to "Theme de Yoyo" -- the "Illustrum" side, but without the overtly Afrocentric element; it was AECO by way of Sonic Youth, say (but more organic, freer, less song-oriented, and with more of an Ayler-esque sax than a Roscoe Mitchell one from Liam Murphy). Apparently there is a side-project called CROTCH involving Jeremy and Isabel Ford that I must investigate, as well... I had somewhat forgotten how to enjoy music that was this free, but it came back to me soon enough. In fact, for most of Earthball and Horse Lords, I just closed my eyes and enjoyed the sounds, experiencing the space in my head in a newer, richer way, though they were both amply interesting to watch, as well (I confess it was hard to keep my eyes shut at the Horvitz gig). Earthball's new full length is here, the rest of their bandcamp here. See them, too, if you can! 

So that made for an amazing evening of music; it's my first visit to a jazz festival gig in maybe ten years, and damn was it a good'un. The battery on my phone died early in my Earthball photography, but I got a few fun pictures out of it (no, Jeremy was not on chair the whole night -- he played guitar, sang, did some percussion, and even left the stage to press parts of his guitar into monitors and so forth, doing a wee walkabout, as long as his cord would let him). I wonder if there's some follow up gig tonight somewhere? 

Oh, hi to JP Carter (sitting in with both Horvitz and Earthball)!