|
Smog
Sings Up the Moon
By: Meredith Vacek (Lawrencerock.com Editor) |
|
|
The
not-so-unsuspecting crowd at all-ages club El Torreon was in for a varied
and intense show on Saturday, Oct. 27. The line-up was local crazy-kids
The Shun, Neil Michael Hagerty formerly of Royal Trux, and the headliner:
supremely emotion-laden Smog, headed by the talented Bill Callahan. It
was apparent by attire and the fact that almost the entire audience
knew each other that the early attendees of the show were quite familiar
with The Shun, or at least its members. The Shun was a wild group of
three female singer/dancers, a male singer/dancer, and a guitarist.
They mounted the stage by first slithering on their bellies between
and under audience members until they reached the front. From there,
they span through a cheesy-beat-filled line-up of mostly prerecorded
songs, belting out the humorous, satirical, and barely-sensical lyrics
while running around the stage in flamboyant outfits dancing, play-acting,
stripping, and making out with each other. Their loyal fans crowded
around the stage cheering, moaning, and screaming, “I want to fuck
Cody!” who was the male lead singer. Their overall effect was akin
to performance art, and, the group having been sited at two previous
Har Mar Superstar shows, seems to have been somewhat influenced by his
style of satirical sexy singing and dancing to prerecorded music. Some
of the memorable songs the group performed were: “We want to be
Anorexic,” which featured the refrain, “Keep your fingers
crossed, and keep your legs spread!”, “I Got AIDS off a Toilet
Seat,” at the beginning of which all the members huddled in a corner
and then suddenly turned back to the audience with fake blood dripping
from their mouths, and “I Don’t Hate Everything (But I Want
To)” a song that seemed to be about sex, and involved the members
stripping to their underwear, and Cody rolling around on the floor amongst
the audience. It seems like these kids are from the Lawrence-KC area.
A very interesting group- perhaps we’ll hear more from them soon. The
Shun’s fans didn’t seem to concerned with the act to follow,
Neil Mike Hagerty of Royal Trux fame. It didn’t seem that too many
of Neil’s or Trux’s fans showed up to the show, but there
were definitely listeners in attendance. He seemed to be in a poor mood,
perhaps feeling at odds with the audience predominantly composed of
the previous act’s fans, and played a short, morose set of only
thirty minutes and four or five songs. On the same label as Smog, Drag
City, Neil seems to have his own idea of how alterna-indie can sound.
His band line-up included himself on guitar, a bassist, and two separate
drum kits. His material came from his first solo release, a self-titled
album, and listeners commented on its nearness to the sound of his last
band. It fell short in comparison though, in intensity, fullness of
sound, and experimentative qualities. The songs were long, driving,
threaded only loosely with the lyrics sung in his rambley old-rocker
voice, and spiraled off into unspoiled lands of pure instrumental indulgence
for most of the length of them. Neil started off with “Creature
Catcher,” which seemed to be a good example of his new sound. The
songs’ gravely, imperfect, unpolished sound can be thought of as
anti-techno: no thumping beats, no smooth, complete, synthed sound,
no dreamy, far-off voices. Quite the opposite. It was far more real
and exciting. Most fascinating was the presence of the two drum kits.
The skill, speed, and precision of the drummers was remarkable and amazing
to watch. They pounded away unceasingly on their drums, symbols, and
pieces of other metal, adding a great urgency and a slightly unusual
sound to the music. The most spectacular example of the drummers’
work was during the song “Oh to be Wicked Again.” During the
last song, Hagerty seemed to get frustrated with something and cut the
song off early, leaving the stage with some muttered remark to the effect
of, “That’s good enough.” Finally came the eagerly awaited Smog. Bill Callahan, bearing a strange resemblance to Mr. Rogers, wandered hesitantly onstage with his band of another guitarist, a drummer, and a violinist. By this time most of The Shun crowd had lost interest and meandered out, leaving a medium-sized, slightly older audience of Smog fans. Before delving into the performance, some background on this enigmatic band. Incepted in 1988, the band has released a plethora of albums starting with their first cassette-only release and ending with their most recent one in 2001, “Rain on Lens.” For its entire career it has remained on independent labels. It is from “Rain on Lens” that much of the material was gleaned, though there also were songs from other recent releases, including “Blood Red Bird,” one of the most striking songs of the night, from “Red Apple Falls.” The sound is nearly incomparable considering both instrumentation and lyrical content, except perhaps to musical great Nick Cave (think, most specifically, “Hallelujah” from “No More Shall We Part”). The sound of the band is certainly minimal, soft, and unpretentious. It needs little flash and flounce to draw in listeners and make clear their significance. From the lovely sound of the violin, whether it was simply played for rhythm or held the melody, to the powerful, deep voice of Callahan, the show was spellbinding. The drummer, who seemed by his facial expression to be almost disinterested in the show, when finally caught up in one of the songs moved as though he were painting a frenzied picture. The violinist sawed out alternately pulling rhythms or possessing, delicate melodies. At times the music seemed to sound almost like country, with Bill’s low voice sounding like that of a sage old-time cowboy. The songs were sincerely sung, deep, and full of dark, sorrowful imagery. While singing, Bill would stare absently off at some insignificant point in space, as though he were withdrawn into his own mind and not seeing out his eyes anymore. When told that he would soon have to end because of KC’s eleven o’clock curfew rule, he asked, “Is that for real?”, and after a few moments of contemplation, said, “Well, that’s ok, because we just have, (in a lowered voice), five or six more songs.” He only ended up playing two more, before uncertainly ending what had been an undoubtedly worthwhile night.
|
||