Christdriver/Bloodhag/Baba Yaya
@
The Breakroom
April 17, 1999
Seattle, WA

Ahh...Bloodhag having put a smile on my face, then came the mighty Christdriver. [check out steve weatherholt's interview with christdriver's eric greenwalt in this month's profiles. --ed] Two tons of solid noise. When these boys play, the National Weather Center sends out a hurricane force warning. Board up your windows, nail down the tables, and stuff as many earplugs in your head as you damn well can, because Christdriver will strip you clean! It had been quite some time since they last played. When the band took the stage and began slowing spinning the flyer prop on their first number, readying themselves to head down the runway for takeoff, I positioned myself--leaning in towards the stage, ready for that gale force wind of noise to hit. Christdriver proceeded to lay down their oppressively heavy music (think Godflesh without the melody--wait, what melody?), interspersed with cut-up samples of dialog, ambient noise and various slides and films projected behind the band. Their shadows splayed against the backdrop--flickering, hovering like angels of death. If Bloodhag were the sounds of some lesser god having a coughing fit, Christdriver are easily the screams of the same god waking up from some unknown nightmare.

Then finally--after thirty minutes of doom laden aural psychosis--the eye of the storm came shining through overhead. In their epileptic fit of noise, the band had blown some equipment, giving the audience a brief reprieve from their torrential onslaught. And with no wall of banshee noise to keep me up, I proceeded to fall face first to the floor. Picking myself up off the ground and pulling free the blood encrusted earplugs, I used the break in the storm to make my way out and to the safety of higher ground, leaving Stevie alone and lashing himself to a support beam, waiting anxioiusly for the eye of the storm to pass and for Christdriver to again rain down their sonic terror.

-Craig Young
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Links:
Front Line Assembly

Front Line Assembly hits the road to promote their new release, Implode (what else?), with the Seattle stop listed as being the second night of the tour. But if the word is true and the previous night's outing had been cancelled, then this was their first show, though it was probably more like a familiar get-together than an actual "first night" onstage. The album hadn't been released yet, so the new songs were really new for the slammin' kids in the audience. And the old favorites? Well, let's find out...

Mark: Post concert note. We're not in the car three minutes and Jeff is already reliving the Love and Rockets concert. Like the last four weeks hasn't happened, like the last three hours never crossed our path.

Jeff: Goin' through the motions, man. It didn't seem like they wanted to play at all. Scenesters playing to a bunch of kids.

Mark: I feel like the guy with the post-doc degree and the bow tie. Tell us, Mr. Ashley, how did their use of the heavy metal guitar make you feel? Come on, let it out.

Jeff: G.I. Joe fronting for Anthrax.

Mark: Well, that sums it up.

-Jeff Ashley / -Mark Teppo
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Links:
Parliament Funkadelic

Nothing is sweeter to the ear than hearing Michael "Clip" Payne's voice, Garry Shider's guitar and Lige Curry's bass in the intro to "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)." This soothing sound guarantees that within the next 30 seconds the place will be jumping with the crowd singing, "Make my funk, the P-Funk, I want my funk uncut." It never fails. Clinton still hasn't hit the stage yet but the band always manages to keep the crowd entertained with its tight musicianship. Comprised of saxophonists Greg Thomas, Scott Taylor and trumpet Bennie Cowan, with the steady backbeat by Ron Wright and Frankie "Kash" Waddie, the P-Funk horns provided a punctuated and polyrhythmic jam that kept the audience groovin. It was during "Funkentelechy" that the griot of funk, George Clinton, hit the stage. Dressed in a flowing garb with the image of the Statue of Liberty, Clinton and his wild multi-colored hair riled the crowd with his presence and addressed them with "Someone say that there's a party going on up in here."

Indeed there was. Second generation funkateer Treylewd (George's son) assisted his pop with a playful but political rap about our good ol' boy in office, "Did you ask the girl to lie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" Always a high point is the tribute to late Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel and tonight to Hendrix with "Maggot Brain." "This one's for you Jimi," said Kid Funkadelic, looking up to Al Hendrix as he began the eerie, haunting but beautiful guitar lead of this somber song. The mood was lightened with the bow-wow-wow, yippee-yo, yippe-yay of "Atomic Dog," "Flashlight" which showcases the moves by Carl "Sir Nose" McMurray and the classic "Knee Deep" with the scat by Greg Thomas and the segue of the lovely Belita Woods' vocals in the background singing "Sentimental Journey." If you need a catharsis, go to a George Clinton and The P-Funk All-Stars show to free your mind (and your ass will follow). You'll find yourself in total submission to the groove.

-Hope Lopez
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Kultur Shock
@
Crocodile Café
April 3, 1999
Seattle, WA

Kultur Shock is often billed as "Gypsy Balkan Funk" for three good reasons: 1) At times they strut and rap with all the bad assitude of the Freaky Styley-era Red Hot Chili Peppers. 2) Their accents, traditional instruments, and multilingual playlist mark them as recent émigrés from the Balkans. 3) They are gypsies.

Maybe not Gypsies in the ethnic sense, but certainly in the spiritual sense. As gypsies move from country to country following good weather and opportunity, so does Kultur Shock visit a variety of musical genres from which they borrow without putting down roots. Funk, blues, rock, folk music from far off lands, and even a few licks of jazz, provided this night by a guest saxophonist, [that would be the lovely jessica lurie. --ed.] combine as seamlessly as a late night youth hostel conversation where no two people speak the same language but everyone laughs a lot anyway. They convey a sense of joy which can come only from having lived through sorrow, and tonight was especially joyous because they were celebrtating the release of their first CD, Live in Amerika.

The crowd was packed a lot tighter than when I saw them open for Plastic People of the Universe at Sit-n-Spin (that's to be expected when Krist Novoselic's Sweet 75 is the opening act), but people still found room to dance, which is what Kultur Shock's jumpin' tunes insist you do. The set careened from runaway locomotive rock to haunting folk ballads to their showstopping deconstructionist cover of "Wild Thing," which singer Gino Srdjan Yevdjevich announced would "be playing on MTV next week." The subtleties of sarcasm are hard to detect through an accent (English is Gino's 6th language) so I couldn't tell if he was serious or if this was just another ironic taunt in the spirit of the evening's introduction: "We are Kultur Shock and we're here to take your jobs."

While it's this attitude which makes Kultur Shock shows refreshingly confrontational, it's their infectious high spirits and energy which alternately get people dancing in circles holding hands or jumping up and down with their fists pounding the air. A carnival atmosphere surrounds this merry band of travelers who seem to be just passing through. They throw themselves into their music with a reckless abandon that doesn't care if there's anything left for the sunrise because by then we could all be dead. As long as you have a good time, drink some Slivovitz (in abundant supply this night) and above all dance, then they have succeeded. And tonight they did.

-Robert Zverina
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Meshuggah/Sick Of It All/Slayer
@
House Of Blues
March 23, 1999
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Links:
Meshuggah
Sick of It All
Slayer

Sick Of It All followed Meshuggah and I thought they played a very well-received set, the kids seemed to enjoy them a lot. I guess I grew bored with the whole New York Hardcore Scene years ago and although I respect Sick Of It All, I guess I am just sick of it all. They were fast, loud and hardcore. Luckily I was getting to interview Meshuggah through the bulk of their set. Slayer wrapped up the evening with a blockbuster set, everyone just seemed to be waiting for the thrashers to hit the stage. The pit was packed and the kids were flying. Slayer hasn’t lost a step in the eyes of their fans, they were bouncing off the walls for them. Unfortunately, I wasn’t with a bunch of Slayer fans and I was tired too! So we left after about five songs, but they were playing a gamut of material, from early to new. I noted they announced one song from Diabolicus Musicus and I recognized a couple of songs from Reign In Blood. If you are looking for a great copy of Reign In Blood get the new reissue from American with the bonus cuts. I have no doubt that Slayer proceeded to tear up Disney. Did you ever think that Slayer would play at Disney? I didn’t. Just hope that Disney continues to bring good metal to Orlando.

-Sabrina Wade
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One Minute Silence/Spineshank/Biohazard/Sepultura
@
House Of Blues
March 19, 1999
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Links:
Biohazard
Sepultura

The show opened with One Minute Silence. They played a generic heavy rapmetal similar to Korn. Musically they were not exceptional, but showmanship is where they really excelled. If you need an opening band--these slimy limeys are perfect--except that you had really better be good because they will blow you off the stage. The lead singer reminded one of the mutant offspring of Ian Dury and Shannon Selberg of the Cows. Letzee he insulted Mickey Mouse (let’s decapitate Mickey and f*ck him in the mouth), pulled 14-16 year-old girls up on stage to bathe him with bottled water and flash all their body parts (yes, everything) to the excited audience, had other band members streak through the set and generally caused about as much chaos as he could. The bass player with dreadlocked pig tails was an experiment in non-stop energy. He actually played a real mean bass as well. The drummer bounced and pounded like a maniac even took out an innocent drum stool. They brought tears of joy to my eyes. It was the last night for them on the tour, so I imagine they really went nuts. Members of Biohazard and Sepultura joined them for a few songs.

Spineshank was next and I was a little disappointed. Spineshank play a technoish rap-influenced industrial metal, which wasn’t too bad, but they have no showmanship at all. They were extremely boring which was only made more apparent when they followed One Minute Silence. They could use a few tips from One Minute Silence on showmanship.

Ah, but Biohazard is near, nothing to fear. The last time I saw Biohazard was on the Exploited’s Massacre Tour many, many moons ago. They’ve changed a bit, new guitarist...Rob Ecchevaria, formerly from Helmet. Who was a show all by himself, leaping about, streaking through the other band’s sets, leaping from the Marshall towers and playing hard & precise heavy metal guitar. Their lead singer is protypical Brooklyn--tough and mean, but with that oh-so hidden heart of gold Provolone. Biohazard are always a great live band. They put on a fabulous live show. Highlighting material from the debut album all the way through to the forthcoming cd, New World Disorder, which should be a real winner if the rest of the songs are as good as the ones played at the show. There are few bands that perform as well as Biohazard. Biohazard is the Brooklyn Bomb.

Sepultura was next. The bar was abuzz, Derrick Green (the new vocalist) had been taking periodic strolls around the bar to vast numbers of carefully guarded eyes. He was definitely a center of attention, but no one wanted to admit it. Everyone wanted to know if Sepultura could still be great without Max Cavalera. The answer is hell yes. Derrick Green is a bonafide front man--he is huge and imposing with bouncing dreads and menacing eyes and also has a gift for handling audiences. His banter was always appropriate and he’d get the audience going and give them more than they expected. His vocals are more-hardcore influenced than Max’s, but it seemed like he had more power than Max did. They played older material from Arise, Chaos A.D. and Roots and the newer material from Against. The sound wasn’t as thick without the second guitar, but it was still quite heavy. Andreas Kisser just tore up the guitar and riffed so fast and hard that no one could deny that he was always the guitarist of greatness in the band. Igor Cavalera proved that he is one of the best drummers in metal. Sepultura did three encores--one including Biohazard, Spineshank and One Minute Silence all playing various drums (tribal, bongos, trash cans) in a pretty spectacular drum fest led by Igor the Great. Have no fear, Sepultura is just as good as ever and Derrick may even excel beyond Max if given time. I would add the extra guitar just for the hell of it.

This was a real interesting show fueled by end-of-tour insanity and comraderie and not restrained even a bit by the Disney cops. Disney put up with more language and nudity than I thought they would. Their bouncers were fair, I only saw a couple of people taken out and they both deserved it. A couple of fights in the audience, the bouncers watched closely, but didn’t interfere because friends stopped the fight before it got to the point where the bouncers would step in. These are good things, I’ve seen clubs shut down in Orlando because the bouncers weren’t this good. They know when to let ‘em go and when to shut ‘em down. The bands just let loose all night. Kudos to One Minute Silence, Biohazard and Sepultura.

-Sabrina Wade
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Sebadoh
@
The Showbox
April 5, 1999
Seattle, WA

Links:
Sebadoh

Whether it was staged or Jason Loewenstein really missed his cue, the set opened with Lou Barlow dedicating the first song to their absent bandmate who was apparently missing in action at the bar. The sweet and strummy "Tree" sounded great with only one guitar but the partial lineup bespoke apathy more than excitement and set the tone for an evening which for the first-time listener never elevated itself above what my date (a longtime Sebadoh fan, mind you) described as generic alt pop.

But it was immediately apparent that most of the near-capacity crowd were already fans of their new release The Sebadoh which dominated the setlist. Within the first few notes of each song cheers of recognition rose from the crowd. But although the floor was packed there was no crush near the stage, the disciples of these indie rock icons preferring to stand in place heads abob and hips asway.

I found the crowd's enthusiasm hard to understand. It was like watching a foreign movie without the subtitles--it was OK but something was missing. I didn't know what that missing something was until "2 Years 2 Days" from 1993's Bubble & Scrape when the song as they played it merged with my memory of it. Knowing the music beforehand was the subtitling necessary to get the most out of the performance. I wish I'd had a chance to give The Sebadoh a listen beforehand. It would have made all the difference between another ho-hum show and a moving experience.

What makes the album great (in addition to the trio's inspired songwriting) are the subtle effects, the electronic percolating sounds at the edge of hearing in "It's All You" or the shivering tambourine which accents "Weird" (which to be fair came off well live thanks to the resounding refrain "paranoia's contagious / I'm coming down with it too / better throw your trust on the fire first / before I do"). Those effects, or at least the memory of having heard them, are the butter and pepper needed to season what otherwise comes off live as plain mashed potatoes.

Nothing beats hearing and falling in love with a band for the first time live but I doubt Sebadoh won any new converts tonight, which is a shame because their studio work is sublime. Everyone I know who's seen them says it's hit or miss with Sebadoh. In this case it was a hit for fans of the new album who heard the live performance filtered through their mind's ears, a miss for everyone else.

-Robert Zverina
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