Tremors Felt from House of Blues Found to be the Cause of Punk Infused Electro
April 28th, 2010 § 1 Comment
On Friday, April 23, the House of Blues in San Diego hosted the newly reborn Bloody Beetroots with All Leather, Shark Attack and Deth Hertz. The Beetroots won my attention nearly a year ago at Cinespace in Hollywood in conjunction with Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Tuesday’s event. Back then, the French duo of Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and Tommy Tea were two DJs made iconic for their black Venom masks and heavy, heavy electronic music. The success of their album Romborama released in August last year and their smashing remixes threw the Beetroots into the spotlight as pioneers of producing forceful and dynamic electronic dance music. When I saw them a year ago, they completely slayed the crowd at the small Hollywood club and I have been hooked ever since.
Sir Bob Cornelius Rufio and Tommy Tea
After the Bloody Beetroots ended their United States shows a year ago, they seemed to cocoon themselves from the public while releasing a flood of remixes and productions including the EP DOMINO as well as Christmas Vendetta and Spares of Romborama Pt. 1. During this time, they also defined their masked personas, further developing their counter-culture character and creating Death Crew 77 before embarking on their international tour.
Newly added drummer Edward Grinch truly gives a new dimension to the band’s live mood and really gave it the extra thrashing punk punch. It confirmed that this group had emerged from the underground, no longer the two DJs behind turntables, but engineers of a techno/punk/baroque soundscape that breaks down genres and screams “fuck you!” to conformity.
So back to the House of Blues on April 23 night. It’s a total rager. Unfortunately, I got there too late to catch Death Hertz open, but I heard someone next to me say that they sucked. I situated myself on the top balcony and watched as the crowd went up in an uproar when the Bloody Beetroots came out from behind the curtains and took the stage.
It was about to go off. Sick!
The Beetroots orchestrated a mean set and the crowd was a riot practically the whole time, with only a short rest period during their rendition of “Phantom of the Opera.” The bass was hard and heavy, strong enough to rattle the bone, and their signature synthesized riffs and shrieking vocals electrified the venue. Some highlights included remixes of Audioporno’s “Choo Choo” and The Toxic Avenger’s “Escape” as well as originals “Dimmakmmunication” and the foreboding and ground-shaking “Warp 1977.” When it was all over, there was a sense of bewildered amazement as everyone stumbled out in a daze from the effects of getting the shit rocked out of them.
So yeah, that was my Friday and it was an awesome opportunity to see them, because it will probably be the last time they will be in the U.S. for a while. You can see where they are off to next on their website Deathcrew77.com. They also have some really interesting music videos and other multimedia by Sir Bob. You can also find the Death Crew 77 “manifesto” on their site to truly see what the Bloody Beetroots are all about. These guys are committed to pushing the envelope and I can’t wait to see what they come out with next.
SoCal Anarchy
April 19th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
On April 8, Malcolm McLaren the manager of the Sex Pistols died following a long fight with cancer. His influence and the Sex Pistols punk movement in the U.K. inspired musicians all over the world. It can be argued that the birthplace of hardcore punk was in Orange County and some of the first to burst from the womb were from Fullerton. Bands such as The Adolescents, Agent Orange and Social Distortion and D.I. all hail Fully as their hometown.
Since then, local musicians have been modifying this fast and furious style of of rock ‘n’ roll and continue to break down the genre while more and more creative monikers are needed to describe them. From psychobilly cowpunk to emocore thrashmetal, the real beauty of it is that you can find all the trendsetters of this ever-diversifying musical style close by.
When zombie’s walk the earth, they will be laying waste to humanity to the tune of Death Hymn Number 9. If you wandered in to their last show at the Continental Room unbeknown to what was going on you probably would have been very confused and frightened. It was the first time I saw them live after hearing so much of this gimmicky rock group and they certainly lived up to the hype. It was truly otherworldly and a bit blurry from what I could see after getting knocked in the eye by a drunken hipster with pointy elbows.
Death Hymn Number 9
Best as I can tell, they were dressed as Louisiana well-to-do freshly raised from the grave. Sleazy P and Rack ‘Em Frack ‘Em deliver a straight forward auditory onslaught of thrash punk with a bluesy edge and a delightful bloodcurdling scream from time to time. Sleazy P’s drumming sounds like he is throwing a tantrum in a junk pile and Frack ‘Em’s riffs are just as relentless; as they both tear it up on stage while the crowd tears it up on the dance floor. It’s only going to get more interesting now that the duo have “got a singer shitheads!” according to their Facebook page.
These guys are cool, look up the song “I Reckon You Gonna Die” and punch a hipster in the face for me next time you see one.
Up the road a ways in Long Beach are the Gestapo Khazi. Listening to their self titled EP you may feel like your stereo has just sent you back in time to the golden days of 80’s angst punk – what a great idea for a movie! This album has more than enough reverb to go around and is filled with bona fide throwbacks reminiscent of True Sounds of Liberty and all those other great pioneers of the OC and LA punk emergence.
The Gestapo Khazi
The group consists of ex-Geisha Girl guitarist John Holy Roller who is now the vocalist for Khazi, Stark Raving Erik on guitar, Gestapo Grazi on bass and Third Reich Meich on drums. These guys really know how to emulate the classics and already have a big following in Long Beach. Check out their new “Sun Belt” demo and keep an eye out for more EP’s and a full length album later this year.
Murder By Death is a group from Indiana that made a stop by Detroit Bar last weekend to showcase songs from their new album, Good Morning, Magpie. The ‘death folk’ group features Adam Turla on vocals/guitar, the lovely Sarah Balliet on cello/keyboards, Matt Armstrong on bass and Dagan Thogerson on drums.
The show at Detroit was so packed you could throw a bottle of Stella Artois and easily nail two to three dudes sporting greased up mustaches.
Good, Morning Magpie has quite a few upbeat songs for a typical MBD record but is still infused with plenty of the dark Cash-esque lyricism Turla is renowned for. They do an amazing job of serenading the audience with vaudevillian ballads of remorse that crescendo to an upbeat foot-stomper. The song “You Don’t Miss Twice (When Shaving With A Knife)” has a ‘rink-a-dink’ feel and has an ironic likening to the tune of Fred Astaire’s “Puttin’ On the Ritz.” It was written about Turla’s retreat into the Tennessee woods where he wrote all 11 songs on the album in seclusion.
Sarah Balliet <3
During their performance of “Foxglove” Balliet stole my heart while playing the opening cello riff. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn she looked up and winked at me. Maybe she felt my longing gaze and knew I had a soft spot for beautiful female musicians that play instruments with a low key signature ever since the days of D’arcy Wretzky of the Smashing Pumpkins.
I’d also like to throw in honorable mentions to some local bands for most interesting/ridiculous punk cover band: Yeastie Boys and the band that is really rockin’ but has a crappy name: Poop.
If you’re in Fullerton you should see one of these groups and really see how it has historically made it’s root in this city. Plus it feels good to unleash a little anarchy once in a while.
