ARCADE FIRE ::

ARCADE FIRE
flex / vienna, austria
21st may 2005

missed ZITA SWOON on the 19th, which is quite a pity really, but had the opportunity to watch a great hungarian movie. whether it was worth missing those fantastic, crazy and absolutely brilliant belgians i don't know, but it was a great movie nevertheless. no regrets.

on to the topic at hand, namely ARCADE FIRE. a tantalizing effort on "funeral", but failed on so many levels on stage. yes, the venue was sold out and i am dead sure that the majority of attendees heartily enjoyed their canadian post-rock, as do i on my hi-fi-gear, but something was amiss. somehow neither violins, upright bass, accordeon nor any other gadget could create that live atmosphere for me, that i want to have at a concert. anyone who has once been thoroughly engulfed by a live performance will know what i am talking about. there's this certain chemistry, this energy, going on at a good gig that can't be duplicated. in its uniqueness it marks the fascination of going to a live concert, not just to see how good a musician the artist(s) of choice is (are), but in a certain way to get to know that person, that band on a more personal level, link it directly to one's own experience and have that music do something physical to you. yes, listening to a record can do something similar, but that's a different pair of shoes, other nerves that are hit. and frankly, ARCADE FIRE didn't hit anything at all with me. as a matter of fact it was so boring that i went home during the fifth songs, put the cd in and had a fabulous night with ARCADE FIRE... only without ARCADE FIRE. but everyone gets a second chance with me, so we'll see what will happen next time i get the opportunity to see them perform live. perhaps it was only a fluke this time, maybe they weren't feeling too well, something dragged them down. i'll cut them that much slack. we'll see about that. in the meantime i can only recommend to get their new cd "funeral", because it does not disappoint. quite contrary.

ISIS ::

ISIS / JESU / MONNO
szene / vienna, austria
16th may 2005

one after the other. first thing: lots of people! was expecting many people, but not that many. quite a few guys and gals from eastern neighboring countries (hungary, poland, croatia, serbia, etc.) and also the usual hardcore scenesters. therefore many familiar and even more unfamiliar faces. good thing.

first band: MONNO. boring. not bad, but boring. why? they are not quite as they describe themselves. noise? yes, noisy, but where, pray tell, is the deconstructivism there? what is your noise supposed to mean? is it just noise for the sake of noise? then it isn't noise anymore. is it noise, for the sound quality of noise? then it isn't noise either. make up your mind. power electronics? i'm afraid, not really. go back and listen to your WHITEHOUSE collection some more. the first song was interesting, seemed to me like a noised-up bastard child convergence of CAN and CURVED AIR but it went downhill from there.

another thing: excitement. somebody tells me that justin broadrick is coming with a full band. highly unlikely, but the prospect is intriguing.

next band: justin broadrick's JESU, coincidentally without band. only with a guitarist and occasionally there's a drummer spotting justin. i liked the album, though not as much as i liked GODFLESH, but still. have to say that it isn't really meant for being played live... or maybe justin wasn't up to form.

then: exhaustion and fatigue set in. been too long a weekend, too many nights awake, too little sleep. body going numb. nevertheless giddy with anticipation.

final band. there they are. the might ISIS. brilliant. swaying in the droning of their soundscapes, it's all there: the energy, the tight corners, the loose spaces, just like on the albums. only more intense, more out-there. weaving their music carpet through the audiences bodies. funny intermezzo: drunk idiot throws cigar and beer at singer. agitation, some screaming from the stage down at the moron. some screaming back and the threat of physical violence. the members of ISIS may be heady guys, but they obviously are not afraid of physical confrontation. threatening back. moron guy leaves hall. singer to audience: "in case you were wondering: you drink your beer and smoke yoour cigarettes, but if you feel like throwing beer and cigarettes at us, get the FUCK out of here!" - loud approving clapping and yelling. not afraid to be human, i like that. end of concert and i want to go home. people chanting "encore!"... and i dislike that ISIS are actually giving them an encore. doesn't really fit, in my opinion. i leave without watching the encore. it would've lessened the experience for me. wonderful concert.

TRUCKFIGHTERS ::

TRUCKFIGHTERS / EL THULE
arena / vienna, austria
13th may 2005

i made a headcount. 27. 27 people were attending the TRUCKFIGHTERS concert. hello? what the fuck is going on? actually, i can just imagine what IS going on, still... i would've assumed the rock-community in vienna to be more enthusiastic. of course, right now there's an overload in supply: each day there are 2 or sometimes even more good concerts. perfectly comprehensible that many are totally overtaxed. there's a good deal of gigs that i let slip by because of the very same reason. oh well...

anyway, TRUCKFIGHTERS were great. pretty intense in their droning bits and blasting on their riffing. one of the guitarists was completely insane, jumping around the stage like rumplestiltskin on crack. and i don't know what the deal was with that, but his pants were ripped up around his crotch. and when i say ripped up, i do mean ripped up. his old-western-style boxer shorts were dangling out of his pants, man. funny guy, really, but great instrumentalist, no doubt. what i liked most about TRUCKFIGHTERS - this was not only the first time i saw 'em live, but also the first time that i heard more than 1 or 2 songs of them in one going - was their tendency to hang into the more noisy areas of doom and stoner rock. sometimes, mostly as bridge to or from more melodic, calm pieces, they started a real drone and messed around with highly distorted guitars and fuzzy sounds. their music doesn't sound anything like them, but it reminded me of FUDGE TUNNEL for some reason. which is a good thing, because i like FUDGE TUNNEL.

even more funny than TRUCKFIGHTERS' guitarists was EL THULE, their support band from italy. not to say that the guys were bad - not at all. actually most of their stuff appealed to me. but two things tickeld my laughing nerve. first, the band is tiny. i mean, it's a 3-piece and the singer/guitarist and the bassist are a good 1 1/2 heads shorter than me. the other thing, their drummer. he was bad. not only did he mess up his rides, but he couldn't even keep rythm. but he made an effort to stay with the band. after the show i went to get their cd, because i thought, what the heck, nice enough band and... i have to admit that i was intriguied and wanted to know whether or not the drummer would sound the same on cd as live. so, i bought the cd and the bassist was doing their merch himself. and we had a little chat that went something like this:

EL COMANDANTE (the bass-player): thanks.
ME: no, thank YOU, man. ... say...
E.C.: yes?
ME: i was wondering, is that your regular drummer?
E.C.: umm... yeah... why?
ME: erm... uh...
[embarrased silence, E.C. jumping in to save the situation]
E.C.: uh... he's really strong! you know, he used to build houses. he's very strong. not much control yet.
ME: yeah! yeah! he's really... digging into the drum-kit!
E.C.: yes!
[both looking at the floor, knowing exactly what the other one is talking about]

we chatted a bit more after that. i think it is really cool of the guys to stick with their drummer and not drop him. i really admire that in a band, because after all it's not only about what comes out at the end, but how it was created. and isn't much better to be a cool band and have fun with each other instead of having the best musicians to play with? yeah, so i think that's really cool about EL THULE and i'm sure that their drummer will get better very quickly. nice.

SUNRIDE ::

SUNRIDE /JUNIAS / THE ACCIDENTS (headliner)
arena / vienna, austria
10th may 2005

stoner rock is not very popular in these parts. street punk on the other hand is quite popular. so much so, that a great support act - SUNRIDE - play in front of perhaps 30 people, while they have to be headlined by one of the worst street punk bands i have ever witnessed, THE ACCIDENTS, play in front of perhaps 150 people. that is unfair.

anyway, SUNRIDE have to blame themselves a bit for that, because their latest outing wasn't quite up to the standards of previous recordings, although it has grown on me, after repeated listen-throughs.
not too spectucal a concert, so that's all i have to say.

OVERKILL ::

OVERKILL / 10 FOLD B-LOW / CONTRADICTION
planet music / vienna, austria
09th may 2005

there is a certain magic to things that have accompanied you through a lengthy period of your time. things that you will perhaps one day look back upon and not really understand why you liked them in the first place, but somehow can't help feel nostalgic about it. even more beautiful if those things never lose their enchanting powers and stay with you throughout your entire life. i believe that my relationship with music goes far beyond my memory. i do know that i loved music from the moment i have any recollection of my life. at age 10 i befriended heavy metal. and it has stayed with me since. i hope it won't go away. ever.

what's that sappy paragraph all about? well... one of my favorite thrash metal bands came to town... after about 10 years or more... and it was the first time i had the opportunity to see them live. OVERKILL.
you see, this concert was more fun than most things recently, but at the same time it has saddened me deeply. OVERKILL... you'd think that people know the band... or at least their name! you'd think that anyone listening to any kind of heavy metal that comes from the thrash or death school, anybody who has any idea about what has gone on before, would come to see OVERKILL live. to see an influential and great band perform. how disappointing when there are no more than 150 people... most of them about as old as the members of the band... the few youngsters who did attend the concert mostly staring blankly at the stage, probably wondering how those old farts could've ever meant anything to the metal world. perhaps i am too much of a fanboy here, but i was secretely hoping for a packed venue, a young crowd cheering on these metal dinosaurs that can still rip any baby-band 2 or 3 new ones.

because neither blitz nor d.d. had lost any of their grit, dave linsk and derek tailer are superb guitarists and tim mallare sure gelled with verni's rythmic overflow. THIS is thrash metal! and i'm not talking about stylistic definitions - although OVERKILL are right there defining the famous bay area thrash style, although they hail from new jersey - or encyclopaedic music details. what i refer to is that unbroken punky, kick-to-the-teeth spirit that will keep thrash metal my favorite music genre of all time. what rockabilly might've meant to the youth of the 1950ies, that's what thrash metal is for the youth of the 1980ies... and still has not found a suitable replacement within rock 'n' roll. THIS is pure rebellion - a straight "we don't care what you say! fuck you!" attitude that got lost so quickly in punk, but was revived by thrashers. that all-out, all-there energy they want to share. it is hard to describe and most certainly is too subjective to be of any merit to anyone who doesn't share at least basic interest in thrash metal with me here, but let me tell you, there's the "fuck you!" that a frustrated teenager will say to their parents just to spite them... and then there's this eternal "fuck you!" that is going through art, in all eras, in all disciplines, in all styles - that knowing refusal, that which is rebellion. just to say "no!", not because you want to be an ass, and surely not because you want to change things around, but only because you feel that you have your own place and you will sure as hell not let it be dictated by anyone and not taken away from you. this is yours, whether "they" like it or not.

and so i stood there, a huge grin splitting my face wide open, listening to the summoning call of "wrecking crew", sharing the anger of "under one", singing for the underdog in "hello from the gutter", spitting it out with "thanx for nothing", panicking to "elimination". and even their hats-off to the old punk days from their latest album, "old school", did not seem forced or detrited.

and to finish this off with an excerpt from "old school" that i think sums the attitude of the entire show up pretty nicely... but before that i bow my head and hope my heart keeps on skipping a beat everytime i hear a fucking good thrash tune.

"[...] we played it fast, we played it loud, a bit too much, a bit too proud, the only way we knew to do it right [...] here's to the old school , didn't matter if you looked cool, we drank some beers and broke some heads, we never gave a shit [...]"

JAMES BLUNT ::

JAMES BLUNT / SIRUPOP
szene / vienna, austria
07th may 2005

ok, ok, so i confess - this is partly self-promotion. not self-promotion like "hey, i am james blunt!" - because i am not - but self-promotion like "hey, i did a great job with james blunt!". yeah, so this was james' very first concert in austria and his first european tour. that's why i am very glad that he could play his first show at the szene wien, because not only do they have a great sound at the venue, but it's also their reputation and the crowds they draw that really make for a very fulfilling experience for most artists, i could imagine. after all, usually szene stands for high quality. most of the times, even if you don't particularly like the artist in question, you can be sure that it's an artist or band or whatnot that excels at what he/she/they is/are doing. so, that's good, because even though anybody can hear that james is exceptionally good at this singer/songwriter thing, it is still a good thing to have a trusted source confirm this. and the crowds that go to concerts at the szene most of times go because they are into whatever it is they want to watch. some other venues draw bystander crowds or lifeless peopel. at the szene you can be sure that people will enjoy what they are seeing and hearing and will go with accordingly. the szene has a capacity of roughly 500 pax, james had about 150 people at this show. i think that's rather good, considering that this was his very first austrian gig and he's not the most well-known artist. yet. the audience was applauding anc cajolling loudly after each show, went along with james' little jokes and funny remarks, cheered the band and by all means had a tremendous good ol' time. so, yeah, that was as good a first concert as we could have wished for. in case you want to know some more about james blunt - here's his homepage.

oh yeah, about the support band, SIRUPOP, they are from austria and have recently signed their very first contract with emi music austria. in my opinion, this is a band to watch out for. if anybody had listened to me, they would be signed to warner music now, but no... everybody had to be smarter. well, they will rue it, when SIRUPOP comes flying. recorded their first album recently, release is scheduled for 30th of may, if i'm not mistaken.

AWESOME MACHINE ::

AWESOME MACHINE / MANNHAI
arena / vienna, austria
27th apr 2005

i really wanted to post some pictures with this entry, but i can't seem to get the pictures off my v220. darn it all... if i manage i'll put the pics up at a later time.

swedish stoner-powerhouse THE AWESOME MACHINE were in town and i was really looking forward to this concert in more than one way.
first of all i'd always (well, at least since i know the band) wanted to see THE AWESOME MACHINE live. and i had missed previous opportunities for a variety of reasons.
and then there's the fact that i had missed just 2 very good concerts in the days before, so i really felt the need to go and see a gig. the concerts in question (the missed onesd) were DIVISION OF LAURA LEE and THE FUZZTONES - don't be a bore and check them out when they come round your area to play.

shocking fact: there were only about 30 people at the gig! sure, i know that stoner rock isn't particularly wide spread choice in musical taste these days, but AWESOME MACHINE are pretty well known to those who prefer this kind of music... i was expecting there to be more people in the crowd.

that was unpleasant. but there was a pleasant surprise as well: MANNHAI supported THE AWESOME MACHINE. this was my first introduction to MANNHAI. i had somewhere read about them, but never heard a single note. to sum it up: finnish riff-rock with a slight but highly agreeable sense of 80ies arena rock. quite enjoyable. a couple of friends who had known the band before were also quite surprised, saying that MANNHAI didn't rock as hard on cd.

i guess i don't really have to go on much about how good THE AWESOME MACHINE were. i was kind of pissed off about the sound, though. for more than 2 thirds of the concert the guitars were barely discernable, the bass was just a huge humming drone - all riffs and melodies lost within one massive grumbly wave of distorted wash-out.

nevertheless, all in all, good show, good music, good fun.