Zale, the audience member of the evening, is brought onstage by Matthew Baty
Sometimes you don't need to fully understand a band to appreciate what they do. Hell, sometimes not understanding is actually useful. And sometimes understanding, when it is present, doesn't mean that much, in the scheme of things.
Like, I feel like I understand the Paranoyds, the opening band for PigsX7 last night at the Pearl. I sorta thought of them as "LA Witch by way of the Black Angels": hooky neo-psychedelic rock with one foot in the garage. Great! I liked them plenty, would see them again, had no questions, no qualifications. But I do have recordings of other bands (including LA Witch and the Black Angels) that will suffice to fill the need for "this kinda thing," so I snapped some photos, shot one vid ("Lizzie," which also has an agreeably retro rock video), and bought no merch from their side of the table (sorry, Paranoyds! I'm over-extended in a few directions). I did consider buying the 7" of I Like It Here, but 7" inches are something I almost never play and have no more room for. I really like the song "I'm JK," which is not about Ms. Rowling, note. They didn't play it last night, though!
I'd gotten into the show via Kristina Mameli (thanks, Kristina!) who had a plus one, but I'd also gone with the idea of hanging out with Bev. I had a Macbeth DVD to give her -- the Polanski -- and a couple of Straights. She was the person who first told me about Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, when they were still brand new, but she doesn't know why they call themselves that either.
My first photo of her of the night, she looked at, then mussed her hair and had me re-take it. This is the mussed version (more Bev to come):
Bev has
a much better version of this photo (the dude stayed in this position for long enough that I couldn't resist, even though I'd seen her take one already).
I got a couple "action shots" of Bev in the pit:
I wonder if Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have a large following of gay men with foot fetishes? The singer, Matt, was barefoot the whole night. He has beautiful feet, which he kept putting up on the monitor. I have not been as aware of feet during a concert since Blag Dahlia (accidentally but repeatedly) kicked me in the head (with shoes on) when stage diving at a Dwarves show at Fortune Sound Club.
Patti Smith came to mind, too, though her use of feet is more on the merely functional side (she doesn't seem to pose them, as Matt sometimes did).
I did not and do not fully grasp Pigs X 7 music. There are unresolved questions, ranging from, "Why does Matt dress like he's fresh from the gym?" to "How is death hilarious?" Their music is, to me, quite unpredictable and unique -- there isn't another band that sounds like them. I can see some overlap, say with something like High on Fire, who I also don't fully understand; there are probably even more relevant sludge/ stoner/ doom metal bands out there. But was I able to FEEL it? To dance around? Yes, I was. Though occasionally my mind did come back to my phone, and the impulse to document:
I liked their spirit, too. At one point, seeing me trying to snap a photo of the setlist, John Michael came over and (using his feet: it's not a theme) moved it, not further away from my inquiring phone, but out of the shadows, so I could get a better shot. Thanks, man!
The catch about not really understanding Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs' music yet is that I have nothing at all intelligent or remotely interesting to say about it. But I did get some fun pictures. I stayed up front right til the end. I enjoyed Matt's stage patter -- about the milestone of having put out a fifth album, and the number of really good bands that didn't (he said this by way of introducing an alleged cover, but it sounded to me like he said the song was "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys, and that simply cannot be right).
He also offered a very funny story about a left-handed compliment he received from a fan in Poland, but though I do remember that story, I don't want to take away from anyone hearing it afresh, by commiting it to print (the "Not you, you're a fucking arsehole" one). I liked his wit; he's a hell of a frontman, bouncing around unflaggingly through the night, sometimes just staring out into the audience, almost like he's challenging them. I hope we met the challenge.
There was one particularly fun moment late in the concert, but note the guy moshing on the left, there. He'll come up again in a second. His name, if I heard correctly, was Zale.
The band paused and Matthew said something about how they had a contest for the audience member of the night, but that they had stopped telling people the contest existed (I guess I'm spoiling this one, though, because I need to in order to set up the photos) because it invited all sorts of distasteful macho behaviour in the pit. Matthew only mentioned it and told us the point of the contest once he was confident his bassist had made a choice. John Michael nodded, pointed into the audience, and picked a kid who promptly threw up both goats (my photo of that moment is blurry). He was then invited up onto the stage, to receive some sort of prize -- I think it was a sweatband?
I sat out the rest of the set, after that -- only a couple more songs -- but I did
grab video of a couple later ones, beginning with Matt curled up on the stage, I think for the end of the previous song. It got a bit fuzzy, where one song ended and the next began. But by the time they launched into "Collider," I was feeling hungry, and went and found Bev (I think "Collider" might have been their last song? Or maybe they did an encore? Dunno). We went for slightly strange Japanese food at a sushi place across from the venue.
So intent was I on chatting with Bev that I forgot all about Kristina, who had gotten me into the show! But once we were in place at the Skytrain, waiting for a train to Surrey, Kristina came around the corner with a slice of pizza. So I got a few photos of her with Bev.
Apparently she has set aside some nice photos of Bev with Jack Keating, too.
I don't think I actually have explained to Kristina about my tongue cancer ordeal, but if she thought, ever, "What's wrong with his voice," she didn't say anything. We did have a few odd communication glitches, like I asked her about
Stick Men and she thought I meant the Pointed Sticks. But, I mean, they do both have "Stick" in their name! (Kristina, my tongue story is told
here).
My big realization is that Kristina is almost as tall as I am. In fact, she looks taller in this photo -- but she isn't. She's 5' 10" and something and I'm 5' 11" and something. Incidentally, I think this is a selfie; Bev also took a couple on my phone, but it was a bit challenging for her to do, one handed, so I think this one is mine:
Pigs X 7's new album is Death Hilarious. I would have bought it on vinyl if they'd had vinyl (but that would have meant sticking around to pester people to sign it; it's just as well). I would have bought the shirt, if they'd had my size. As things are, I got it on CD, and am keen to check it out again, precisely because I still do not feel I have any firm grasp on this band's music. There are definitely epic moments in there. I must investigate further.
But even if the album doesn't catch on, I sure had a fine time last night. Thanks, Pigs! Thanks, Bev! And thanks, Kristina!
Pigs X 7's bandcamp is here!
Bev Davies photos here.
No comments:
Post a Comment