December '97
Digital Hardcore
Showcase:
Atari Teenage Riot at the Roseland
I arrived as ATR's set was starting, missing Shizuo and Ec8or's sets due to really evil weather in St. Louis. The show wasn't even close to sold out, but ATR put on a full show. The three regular members (Hanin Elias, Carl Crack, and Alec Empire-- all clad in black) were joined by a female knob twiddler who doubled screaming background vocals. They kept the patter to a minimum.
It was one of the loudest, fastest shows I've ever seen; ATR play twice as fast live, lit by strobe light and jumping around like maniacs. Happily, I was not on any central nervous system stimulants. I think I enjoyed it; I hadn't slept for days. During the last number they invited the fans on stage so they could scream along. Afterwards there were hugs all round. The only damage I suffered was a mysteriously broken fingernail, pleasantly surprising since I was expecting to get my ass kicked.
When the revolution comes I get stylish black clothing too, or some heads get cracked (just kidding).
Swoon 23 at Satyricon
Much Sanrio love was to be had at the Swoon 23 show. Go Badtzmaru.
Even though they weren't the headliner, Swoon 23 started playing at about midnight. I must be getting old, 'cause I had to go home right afterwards to sleep. Luckily, the band was more awake than I was. With an assemblage of beer bottles, cocktails, soft drinks, and a bottle of Robitussin, Swoon 23 played the wee hours away. Mmmmm.
Underpants Machine, Shadow Mortons,
Minus Five at Berbati's Pan
Despite the fabulous fish and chips dinner I missed, I was happy I ended up seeing this show, if only to see the whacked out big screen TV that makes every band seem like they're playing in a made for TV movie. It's really freaky watching the band playing on TV when you're watching them play live, especially since you'd have to make an effort to *not* see the stage.
Underpants Machine played good surf stuff even though they were dressed Gap-ily and threw in a few holiday numbers for good measure. Just goes to show practicing is more important than style. Veronica says she wishes they would change their name.
Shadow Mortons were very drunk and very fun. They spent the first few songs pretending to be English. I had never seen Rebecca Gates play a loose set; she was great and this was the first time I've seen her really genuinely look happy. Plus, as always, she was wearing some excellent thrift Lurex. The set consisted of what mostly seemed to be covers, including "I Can't Let Go" (also to be heard on Sloan's 'Live at a Sloan Party'). Plus they had all star go-go boys. How could you go wrong?
I had mixed feelings about Minus Five, mostly because of song choice; the covers they picked weren't songs I was into. A few songs were brilliant, including a song about Boeing-something-or-other and a GBV cover, most were OK, and a few were just plain boring. The singer said that they were usually known for their non-rocking stuff and they were all trying to rock out for the evening-- maybe that's what the problem was. Their patter was pretty funny, and at one point they were trying to convince us that Portland didn't have a rock soul, but several drunkards yelled 'Portland rocks!'. They were like "Oh yeah, 'cause you're yelling, we're so convinced Portland rocks, yeah."
Think I'm lame? Read the disclaimer
before shooting your mouth off.
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Keep cool and dry. misseuropa@attbi.com
Copyright © 1997, Suzanne Baunsgard/Androgyne Amalgamated