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Oxbow / Zeni Geva / Neurosis / Shellac / Thrones / Isis Great American Music Hall August 17th & 18th, 2001 Review by Conan Neutron So this festival was something that Neurosis put on, 4 nights at the best venue in San Francisco, the Great American Music Hall, curated by the band featuring all bands that are Neurosis tested, Neurot approved. I went to the two headlining nights of Friday and Saturday and here is an account of those nights. While puzzling on what the exact meaning of 'Beyond the Pale' might be, I took the time to take in the surroundings, the stage was set with matching Neurot banners on either side, both featuring Neurosis custom logo, and looking very pseudo-medieval in the process. I nearly expected a banquet table with roast pigs and black clad barbarians to be setup for the entertainment for the evening, but instead it was Oxbow Oxbow One of the SF Bay Area's most overlooked 'loud rock' acts, Oxbow, like many an American artist, are huge in Europe and almost totally unknown here. For those that don't know they're contemporaries of the Jesus Lizard and mine the same sort of area that that band does, along with the Birthday Party and other likeminded bands. On album Oxbow delivers dense orchestration with the rock, including on occasion, a literal orchestra. They've collaborated with everyone from Lydia Lunch to Marianne Faithfull, but tonight it was just the core band doing what the Europeans have gone nuts for years. Live, much like the Jesus Lizard it's all about the show. Dan Adams/bass, Greg Davis/drums, and Niko Wenner/guitars lay down a firm, if at some times chaotic, base of music. With driving rhythm and controlled dissonance, Oxbow create a blistering sound that pummels and interests at the same time. There are few immediate 'hooks' for the average listener to hear, but the sounds work together as one and become greater then it's constituent parts. Over this unified wave of Oxbow sound Vocalist Eugene Robinson, nonchalantly chewing on an apple he had brought on stage and looking like he had showed up at the venue immediately after leaving a 9-5 desk job, went to work. Howling out lyrics of disenfranchisement, seduction, lewd activity, strange parables and other intense nearly indecipherable yet fitting messages. Recalling the stature, intensity and presence of Henry Rollins, Robinson performed for the crowd and interacted with them far less then confronted them. With his ears taped down, more then likely in lieu of proper ear protection, Robinson looked a little like the character in Falling Down. A man whose just come off the job and has had just about enough from the morons and ineffectual middle management of the world and has been pushed over the line in some way shape or form. But instead of breaking out a gun and shooting the crowd in a desperate cry for justice, Robinson threw his apple core, once complete and took off his pants instead. Creating what was, for some, an odd spectacle of unknown intent, and for others, just another part of the show. Parts of Oxbow's music recall the stuttering heaviness of certain popular progressive metal bands such as tool. But the Oxbow sound definitely is rooted into more of a 'noiserock' scene, keeping the intellectual aspects of the 'thinking mans metal' and adding other disparate elements, such as Kashmir style orchestration, and the skree and skronk of 'free jazz', while it would seem like together this would be a mishmash of pure chaos and noise, Oxbow's years of experience make it work for them and forge it into a style all their own. It's a shame that in a world that makes multi million dollar successes out of bands that take the worst elements of rap and metal and mix them together, that an intensely creative and desiccated band such as this labors in relative obscurity. But such is the inequity of our entertainment system. Perhaps that is reason enough to go postal. Next up was: Zeni Geva (sorta) You see founder and band leader KK Null was not allowed in the country for the festival due to immigration problems involving actually making money on American soil, although Null has been a frequent visitor to America the US immigration forces, instead of concentrating their efforts on stopping plane bombers and dangerous criminals, took it open themselves to deport the poor man. So rather then cancel out, the two remaining members Mitsuru Tabata, and drummer Eito decided to go play on their own, with a little help from their friends. They started things off with a really cool, almost tribal beat with lots of guitar improvisation on the top of it. Looped guitar phrases kept getting put in and others added, with different effects. The end result was a nearly hypnotic song that was actually quite beautiful in a non Zeni-Geva type way. Most of the crowd, obviously not knowing what to expect, were drawn in by this and were entranced. The improv continued for a ways afterwards, having not been familiar with very much of Zeni Geva's work period, let alone the newer and solo stuff from it's members, I couldn't say if the music being played was pure improv or if it was loosely structured or entirely free. But I can say for a fact that it was damn good. It still sounded very much like Zeni Geva, just minus Null's trademark pseudo Death Metal screaming. Which in the end of things made for an altogether cool listening experience. After a few songs both Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till, the guitarists/vocalists from Neurosis came out and played Null's parts on a few Zeni Geva songs, at first separately and then together, Steve Albini was rumored to be one of the collaborators in the Zeni Geva Rolling Thunder type ensemble, raising much intrigue as to whether any Super unit material (Steve w/Zeni Geva, pre-Shellac) would be played. But whether it was a lack of time, or decided against at the last minute it didn't happen. A brief appearance by Eugene from Oxbow, contributing some well placed 'ambient' vocals went over quite well with the crowd, and allowed him to fetch his briefcase he had left onstage. The crowd really got into the Zeni Geva once there were members of Neurosis playing on stage, and the energy level of the place raised noticeably. By the time Tabata announced that they were done, leaving the crowd wanting more it was no surprise that the set was a great success. Next up: Neurosis There is a certain type of person that you can easily spot as a Neurosis fan in the greater San Francisco bay area, these people frequently have facial piercings, wear all black, sport Raiders gear and look like people you would not want to get on your bad side. These folks nearly always scowl at everybody and everything and pretty much look like they are in some way shape or form preparing for an upcoming tribal battle of some kind. There clearly was much anticipation in the air from the 'Tribe of Neurot' as their Flagship band, who once, years ago played constantly, and now rarely appeared, prepared to take the stage. The Neurosis lineup consists of Drums, bass, synths, two guitars with MASSIVE amounts of low end, and a healthy dosage of really bizarre films and visuals projected behind them. The vocals generally speaking are screamed more then sung, and really sound quite intimidating in it's own way. Like the vocals or not, one must really give Neurosis their due for spearheading that sound, they were bellowing and destroying when many of their imitators were still approaching puberty, and they do it quite well. The newer Neurosis stuff, relies much more on a world weary sort of singing that at times reminded me of Metallica crooning, definitely dangerous territory. But the effort of trying to diversify was definitely appreciated. Certain parts of the crowd definitely seemed to be disappointed at the lack of fullbore assault all the time. But Neurosis, like a true group of artists should, played what they wanted to play because they were being true to themselves. Very admirable. Looking as much a gang as a band, Neurosis definitely looked comfortable on stage and gave the performance their all, filling dead air between songs with samples, odd 'found sound' and musical phrases that created a creepy ambience that added to the mood. So having said all that, I’ll have to say that my opinion on Neurosis is ambiguous, while I appreciate very much what they have done and continue to do, I certainly wouldn't say that they're my favorite. But i did enjoy seeing them play live and see their multimedia integration in action. Plus any show that gets the jaded, uber hip bay area crowd rocking out, facial piercings or no, is cool in my book. And people were most certainly cutting loose at that. As for the visuals, there was definitely some interesting stuff being played, all of which melded well with the often ambient and heavy sounds coming from the stage, the highlight of which was something that looked like a Cleric symbol rotating in 'thing air', I’m not certain what it was, but I’m pretty sure that it gave +2 to save against breath weapons and +10 to hit points. Oh, did I mention that Neurosis had a lot of low-end? So much in fact that they blew some of the low-end straight out of the house speakers, making an interesting transition near the end of the set, and unfortunately crippling... Shellac Shellac, is composed of Steve Albini, Bob Weston, and Todd Trainer. All have been in other bands with varying degrees of activity, and popularity. Steve and Bob are of course widely known for their engineering skills, the records they have helped create being some of the lynchpins of the independent world (Sebadoh, Jesus Lizard, Pixies, Polvo, etc.) and with a good dose of the mainstream as well (Get Up Kids, Nirvana, Bush, Page & Plant, etc.). However it wasn't a dissertation on recording technique that people were experiencing tonight, it was a rock show, and totally independent of each members reputation and past accomplishments, Shellac is a rock band, and each member quite an impressive musician in his own right. Minimalist, powerful and totally unique, Shellac is the kind of band that takes no prisoners and lets nobody tell them what to do. They kicked off their first performance in the SF bay area for 3 years by quipping that they would sound like the Knack playing after the Neurosis, but this definitely was not the case. Even with the low-end in the house system totally crippled Shellac was a machine, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer, one of the most unique looking men in rock, form one of the tightest rhythm sections in the world, and Steve's angular and precise guitar work gives them a sound all their own. Of course comparisons can be drawn from such bands as the Minutemen and Gang of Four, as well as the members previous bands. But Shellac is no revival act, they make wonderfully uncompromising and sometimes intentionally challenging music that would not fit, and is not designed to fit into what people want or expect. Because of the members other obligations, Shellac doesn't tour or practice like a 'normal' band, as a result, they don't burnout, end up hating each other and break up like many a band. It is one of their secrets to success. Unfortunately what that means is when they haven't played in awhile they can be a little rusty. This was one of those nights. Luckily Shellac on an off night still blows away the live or recorded output of 92% of the bands out there. As per normal for Shellac the songs played weren't in any set order, and they came from all over their history as a band, from their first 7" to the most recent album. Live Shellac intentionally draws out some of the more introspective parts to build tension, with Albini often improvising lyrics in a storytelling like atmosphere, this procedure, uncommon in rock music and deviating from the recorded output of course usually prompts many an aspiring wit to shout out asinine things like 'start rocking'. During one such part in 'the billiard player song', a song influenced in part by the minutemen, one such boor decided to walk all over the really quiet, tension filled part of the song by repeatedly yelling out distracting things in the otherwise silent and attentive music hall. Therefore it was much to the amusement of the crowd when Albini stopped his stream of consciousness lyricism to invite the heckler to come up and suck his cock. Before going right back into the flow of th! ings without missing a beat. That isn't to say that random heckling can't be fun though, my favorite random yelling during a quiet bit of the show, and indeed any show had to be from the gentleman up in the top left balcony, who for reasons known only to himself got up out of a sound sleep(?) rose to his feet and inexplicably yelled "Unleash the Kraken!" before sitting back down and nodding off again. Truly Surreal. Next night: With the low-end fixed in the speakers the Neurot Fest continued on. Thrones Sadly while waiting outside for the festivities to begin, I was completely unaware that the Thrones were already starting on stage at a surprisingly early hour (close to on time). This made me very angry as I was looking forward to seeing Thrones again. Last time I had seen them (him), was with Fugazi and the Ex years before. As it turns out I missed all but 3 of his (their) songs, which made me very very sad. For those not in the know, the Thrones consist of one guy, Joe Preston one time bass player for the Melvins and Earth Collaborator, Thrones is Joe Preston, with his double necked bass and guitar, playing sequenced percussion and doing a variety of vocals that sound like anything from Italian horror movie soundtracks, Black Sabbath, The Residents, to the pounding death dirge of a dying polar bear. Thrones are both heavy, and interesting to watch, much more I think then on any of the albums thus far. Thrones ended the set with a Rush cover, singing through some insane effect that gave his (their) voice an other worldly Residents-like vocal effect. I was not pleased at missing the Thrones. Thrones are one of the more unique and interesting musical 'groups' out there today, if you have the chance to catch them (him) please do yourself a favor and do so. Next up was: Isis It's a very fine line between Neurot Fest and Ozzfest, for instance at both you have lots of heavy music, piercings and black t-shirts. While at one people would be more interested in listening to Slipknot then the Fucking Champs. Having said that, Isis is the one band of the two nights I saw, that I can honestly say I disliked. At first I saw promise with them, mostly instrumental heavy stuff that seemed to be kind of cool, even if it was firmly planted in the Neurosis Jr. genre. But all the songs were long, very long, overtly long and quite frankly tedious as all hell. To their credit they all seemed very into the music and there was a large amount of Neurot goers who seemed to really like what they were doing. I was not one of them and quite frankly was rather bored and disgusted at the fine fine crossover line between mainstream nu-'metal' and Neurosis-y 'art metal'. For what they do, they do it well, I just did not want any part of it. I was actually so disenchanted with Isis that I stayed outside for the better part of Neurosis. Needless to say there was more dense, heavy, crazy stuff that was much better then Isis, and this time there were quite a few Neurosis fans getting down. Some of them with determined looks on their faces one would usually associate with armed conflict rather then a rock show. One of the funniest things after Neurosis finished was watching the Neurosis crowd move back and outside and the Shellac crowd move inside and forward. Suddenly the black clad Crash Worship types were stepping to the rear and the skinny kids with glasses were in the front. Truly an amusing thing to behold. And Then: Shellac Definitely warmed up from the night before and with energy to spare, this time the house system had no limitations for them and Shellac was an unstoppable machine. Rather then rehashing the previous night, the crowd seemed much more respectful and quite frankly 'into it'. A lot of this crowd actually went beyond the 'Chicago rock' folded arms head nod, and seemed to genuinely enjoy moving around and, for lack of a better term, 'rocking out'. During the Question and Answer period, a mainstay of Shellac shows where audience members ask the bands questions, many an interesting question was asked. One of which resulted in Steve Albini asking the questioner if he studied old issues of Forced Exposure (a zine he used to write for and was featured in) in his spare time. This time there was not one but two new songs, the first, which was not 'improvised' as some have said, was incredibly slow and relied on nothing more then vocals and a steady constant drumbeat for the duration. When the guitar and bass came in for good, instead of in intermittent punctuations, it had an interesting hook to it that stuck in ones mind. Definitely a winner. The other was quite simply full on ROCK, reminiscent of thin lizzy, this song featured much riffage and indeed a beginning that almost sounded like a lawnmower being revved up, all with guitar, bass and drums. It was definitely the shocker of the night and most certainly a crowd favorite. So after an energized set of music, Shellac bid farewell to the stage and San Francisco, until next time, which was promised to not be that far away. At least sooner then 3 years. And with that I too bid goodbye to the Neurot Fest, a monumental undertaking that was executed quite well and had many a good time and experience to it. -C. --- © 2001 Conan Neutron Also check out Conan's band Replicator |