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.