Unsteady & Disconnected
Unsteady Freddie's Surf Rock Shindig feat: The Tarantinos and SPF4
Disconnected feat: The Rats and Frantic Romantix
@ Otto's Shrunken Head, 1/27/06
The Rats once played on a potentially cool bill @ Trash, but I didn't go because it was on a Sunday. And The Rats sounds like a cool name so what do I have to lose, right? For the longest their site said 1/28 w/Frantic Romantix and the Otto's site said 1/27, with 2 other bands as well. I finally asked them which it was when I was in the nabe. The bartender checked the calendar and said they weren't down for either nite. Uhm, okay. If they weren't playing on the 27th I was seriously considering coughing up the $10 to see Hair Supply @ Sin-e because, well, I feel I have to see them at some point. The next day the Rats's site said 1/27; let it be written, let it be done.
I pretty much had a feeling what The Tarantinos were going to sound like before I found their site. Which says "Don't be a...." and of course a dotted line draws a square in which their logo appears, promising surf, soul, spy, & spaghetti western. The intro says, Yes, Tarantino music is it's own genre. Ask any ad exec who saw Kill Bill. (Which must've come as a surprise to all the bands in existence before Tarantino put their songs--or songs of their ilkage--into a movie. I did wonder why the 5678s were playing all of a sudden because I was like, oh yeah, I remember when I was in college and Pizzicato 5 had that breakthrough so CMJ wrote them up and mentioned other Japanese bands to look into as well. When the 5678s played Southie--and sold it out--they put on their site From Kill Bill Vol. 1! I thought, Really? Well, who knew? In other words, I didn't see Kill Bill.) The Tarantinos' site also has a song list: songs that were in Tarantino movies, in Tarantino's favorite movies, or could be in a Tarantino movie one day. And those songs are what The Tarantinos played, as in they're a cover band. So it was Link Wray, Booker T, and Davie Allen, which was all well & good considering the decor. They're the Zambonis of surf/instro music, especially since everyone in the band has the last name of Tarantino. What a coincedence.
I was starting to get nervous as Unsteady Freddie hyped his upcoming surf-rock shindigs, radio shows, and talked about the next band during the set change. Wasn't this supposed to involve punk bands? Then again, the bartender did say that neither The Rats or Frantic Romantix were on the calendar. But I'm not complaining. It would be nice to broaden my scope a bit. Freddie was psyched about SPF4, saying he's going to blast his kidney stones by standing in front of the bass amp. Then he riffs on his kidney stones, making me think that he and Frank Wood went to the same monologue-writing class. "Somebody asked me how my kidney stones feel. I said (in a Dylanesque tone) 'How does it feel?'" But maybe it wasn't a stand-up show, because I was the only one laughing. But while SPF4 took a while to set up, Freddie said there was something else happening after his show. And when they took the stage, they faced the side of the little stage in the corner so I had to get up, cross in front of the band, and stand in the bottleneck outside the room. SPF4, from the New England area, was a bit harder-hitting surf/instro than the Tarantinos, but it still struck me as the type of music where you could go to the bathroom during the set and not miss a thing, and not just because you could still hear them loud & clear while in the bathroom.
It took a while for The Rats to set up and those dressed up for punk rock started gathering. But when they started playing all I could think was, Sigh, The NYC rock scene's latest bad boys, even though they did have a few good songs. During the next time-wasting set change, one of the Frantic Romantix' obnoxious friends, with hand-shaped sunglass frames, comes over and sits at my table. He starts heckling them, asking for his guitar back, and they heckled back, asking for their snowboard back. I almost wish I didn't see the bass player before their set, because in her tight black leather miniskirt, black tights, black pumps, handcuff earrings, and rock-store T she looked like she could be in Babyshakes--well, not their male drummer--because Babyshakes comes off looking and sometimes sounding like they could have potential except that when they play, they come off as hiding behind the banner of "But we're garage rock! It doesn't matter how good we really are! We're young chicks in fishnets and tight skirts playing music! That's enough for us and it should be enough for you!" At least SMUT's fun. The Frantic Romantix didn't even gel as a cohesive unit, perhaps due to the guitar player standing in front of the stage and, alas, in front of me. He took his shirt off and that's all I need to see in my face--a pasty whiteboy with spindly arms and fuzzy nipples.
It ended at 12:15, meaning I was there for 4 hours. They said, "Stay tuned for Just Paul!" Uh, no. I guess what's also telling is how long it took me to get this post finished. Because I have better crap in the hopper. And better hops in the crapper.
Disconnected feat: The Rats and Frantic Romantix
@ Otto's Shrunken Head, 1/27/06
The Rats once played on a potentially cool bill @ Trash, but I didn't go because it was on a Sunday. And The Rats sounds like a cool name so what do I have to lose, right? For the longest their site said 1/28 w/Frantic Romantix and the Otto's site said 1/27, with 2 other bands as well. I finally asked them which it was when I was in the nabe. The bartender checked the calendar and said they weren't down for either nite. Uhm, okay. If they weren't playing on the 27th I was seriously considering coughing up the $10 to see Hair Supply @ Sin-e because, well, I feel I have to see them at some point. The next day the Rats's site said 1/27; let it be written, let it be done.
I pretty much had a feeling what The Tarantinos were going to sound like before I found their site. Which says "Don't be a...." and of course a dotted line draws a square in which their logo appears, promising surf, soul, spy, & spaghetti western. The intro says, Yes, Tarantino music is it's own genre. Ask any ad exec who saw Kill Bill. (Which must've come as a surprise to all the bands in existence before Tarantino put their songs--or songs of their ilkage--into a movie. I did wonder why the 5678s were playing all of a sudden because I was like, oh yeah, I remember when I was in college and Pizzicato 5 had that breakthrough so CMJ wrote them up and mentioned other Japanese bands to look into as well. When the 5678s played Southie--and sold it out--they put on their site From Kill Bill Vol. 1! I thought, Really? Well, who knew? In other words, I didn't see Kill Bill.) The Tarantinos' site also has a song list: songs that were in Tarantino movies, in Tarantino's favorite movies, or could be in a Tarantino movie one day. And those songs are what The Tarantinos played, as in they're a cover band. So it was Link Wray, Booker T, and Davie Allen, which was all well & good considering the decor. They're the Zambonis of surf/instro music, especially since everyone in the band has the last name of Tarantino. What a coincedence.
I was starting to get nervous as Unsteady Freddie hyped his upcoming surf-rock shindigs, radio shows, and talked about the next band during the set change. Wasn't this supposed to involve punk bands? Then again, the bartender did say that neither The Rats or Frantic Romantix were on the calendar. But I'm not complaining. It would be nice to broaden my scope a bit. Freddie was psyched about SPF4, saying he's going to blast his kidney stones by standing in front of the bass amp. Then he riffs on his kidney stones, making me think that he and Frank Wood went to the same monologue-writing class. "Somebody asked me how my kidney stones feel. I said (in a Dylanesque tone) 'How does it feel?'" But maybe it wasn't a stand-up show, because I was the only one laughing. But while SPF4 took a while to set up, Freddie said there was something else happening after his show. And when they took the stage, they faced the side of the little stage in the corner so I had to get up, cross in front of the band, and stand in the bottleneck outside the room. SPF4, from the New England area, was a bit harder-hitting surf/instro than the Tarantinos, but it still struck me as the type of music where you could go to the bathroom during the set and not miss a thing, and not just because you could still hear them loud & clear while in the bathroom.
It took a while for The Rats to set up and those dressed up for punk rock started gathering. But when they started playing all I could think was, Sigh, The NYC rock scene's latest bad boys, even though they did have a few good songs. During the next time-wasting set change, one of the Frantic Romantix' obnoxious friends, with hand-shaped sunglass frames, comes over and sits at my table. He starts heckling them, asking for his guitar back, and they heckled back, asking for their snowboard back. I almost wish I didn't see the bass player before their set, because in her tight black leather miniskirt, black tights, black pumps, handcuff earrings, and rock-store T she looked like she could be in Babyshakes--well, not their male drummer--because Babyshakes comes off looking and sometimes sounding like they could have potential except that when they play, they come off as hiding behind the banner of "But we're garage rock! It doesn't matter how good we really are! We're young chicks in fishnets and tight skirts playing music! That's enough for us and it should be enough for you!" At least SMUT's fun. The Frantic Romantix didn't even gel as a cohesive unit, perhaps due to the guitar player standing in front of the stage and, alas, in front of me. He took his shirt off and that's all I need to see in my face--a pasty whiteboy with spindly arms and fuzzy nipples.
It ended at 12:15, meaning I was there for 4 hours. They said, "Stay tuned for Just Paul!" Uh, no. I guess what's also telling is how long it took me to get this post finished. Because I have better crap in the hopper. And better hops in the crapper.
posted by heather @ 3:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home