I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 26, 2016] Shellac

My friend Andrew asked me if I wanted to go to see Shellac.  They were a band I liked in the 1990s and had kind of forgotten about, although I did get and enjoy their album from last year, Dude Incredible.  And I thought that they would be a fun band to see live.

Shellac is known as Steve Albini’s band.  Albini is a famous record producer and famously cantankerous dude.  But people love the clarity and crispness of the sounds he gets.  On the Shellac albums, the guitars are so sharp and piercing that they feel textural.  But he also doesn’t mix things super loud, so nothing is overloaded.  Things are sharp and crisp.  And that is the same for the drums.  Drummer Todd Trainer’s snare drum really pops and the rest of his kit is just as sharp sounding.

On the other end is bassist Bob Weston.  Weston has one of the best bass sounds I’ve ever heard.  Deep and resonant, clean but not pretty.  While the guitar may be the most notable thing about Shellac, it’s the bass that sounds so impressive on those records.  And the three together make loud aggressive sorta punk, with Albini’s spoken/screamed lyrics.  This was definitely a show to bring earplugs to.

The sound of Shellac is quite minimal and, appropriate, so was the stage show.  Before the show Andrew and I joked that the blue gels covering the lights would be too much embellishment for the band.  And indeed, when they came on stage, there were eight white spotlights that lit them from the back.  And that was it.  It was all about the sound.

Somehow, the band sounded exactly as crisp and clean as they do on record.

I enjoyed watching Albini strap on his guitar–like no one I’ve ever seen, he wraps it around his waist rather than over his shoulder–freeing up his arms and taking the weight off his back.  Clever fellow.  Perhaps the biggest surprise was just how pleasant Albini was.  He is legendary and known for being unflinching, but he was polite and thanked us for coming right from the start.

But the music!   The songs have starts and stops and, man, were they tight–utter silence when they all stopped perfectly.  Albini’s guitar was piercing and he did some interesting things to generate sounds–playing tapping harmonics, bending the neck of his guitar and flicking the switch between pickups and generating an electronic sound almost like it was cutting out for a second.

Trainer’s drumming was simply incredible.  Fast and loud but without flashiness.  He played some rally fast snare parts and a lot of cymbals, but mostly he kept a perfect beat and really anchored everything.  He was fun to watch too, since his kit was right at the front of the stage.

And then there was the bass.  Sounding just like on record–loud and rumbling and distinctively Shellac.  Weston doesn’t do anything fancy, but he holds a rhythm perfectly.

I didn’t really know what songs they’d play, and I was pretty happy with the set.  I recognized most of the songs and, as with many bands that I like, I wasn’t sure which songs were new or old.  They started the set by playing four older songs (including the 2 minute “Copper”) before playing anything from the new album.  “My Black Ass” really showed off the bass.

I was delighted to hear them play so much from 1000 Hurts.  To hear those opening spoken words of “Squirrel Song” : “This is a sad fucking song,  We’ll be lucky if I don’t bust out crying,” was pretty cool.

For “You Came in Me” he introduced the song saying it was “about sexual intercourse.   Many songs allude to sexual intercourse or are metaphorical about sexual intercourse  This is about sexual intercourse.”

Actually the biggest surprise came when the Weston decided to take some questions from the band.  Our other friend said they did this, but it seemed unlikely.  And yet there it was.  Weston asked if anyone had questions for the band.  At first the questions were kind of lame–what’s your favorite part of Philly, but then people got more creative: If you could be any kitchen appliance what would it be?  Weston (unhesitatingly): “immersion blender.”

Some people asked about their gear.  What kinds of guitars they used and, more specifically, why there was only one knob on his bass: “it’s a volume knob, the only one I need.”  They both play Travis Bean guitars and from the look of it, they have only ever had one guitar each–both have had the pain scraped away from many many sessions.  I also enjoyed when someone asked him what kind of earplugs he uses when he goes to shows. He said the name (sorry, I can’t recall the brand), and then Albini chimed in: “if I love a band I’m willing to go deaf for them.  If I don’t love the band…I leave.”

During “Riding Bikes,” there’s a distant scream heard on the record.  Live, Bob stepped away from the microphone and screamed at the top of his lungs, just lie on the record.   We were encouraged to scream as well.

Less encouraged was the person in the front row who was saying or shouting something to him while he was starting a song. He looked at the person and said, “Please don’t do that.  When you say things out loud I can hear you.”  For “Compliant,” Bob spoke/sang the lyrics.  And for “Surveyors” he added the backing chanting as well.  And then for “Steady as She Goes,” first Weston walked off stage left while still playing his bass and then Albini walked off stage right still playing his guitar.  This left Trainer on stage by himself.  It was sort of a drum solo since he was the only one we could see, but the other two were still playing so it was not a solo.  It was pretty neat to get to focus on just the drums for a bit.

Another very funny moment during a Q&A was when someone asked which Ninja Turtle was his favorite.  Weston said, “I’m 50.  Next question.”  When another person asked him what his favorite hockey team was he said he hated hockey and then sort of took it back and after dithering with the question and discussing whether Trainer liked Hockey (he liked the North Stars), Bob asked for the question to be repeated.  And he quickly answered the Black Hawks.

I was thrilled when they played “Prayer to God” one of their more memorable songs (it’s all about praying to God to kill someone) and in all the years of listening to that song I never imagined seeing it live.  After “Dude Incredible,” Bob noted that the chorus goes “hand over hand over hand” and he said that a little kid (!) told him he thought he was saying “hamburger hamburger” so that’s what he says now.

They had a ton of fun playing “Wingwalker” in which both Steve and Bob pretended to be planes (sticking their arms out to the side).  The song was pretty long with several pauses.  But by far the longest song was “The End of Radio.”  It’s long on record, but he stretched it out even more here, maybe over ten minutes.  The song begins with some snare drum and Steve asking “can you hear me now?” Weston plays a slow three-note bass line over and over again and he slowly walked to the back of the stage and seemed to lean against the back wall–practically out of sight playing the riff.  Meanwhile Trainer stood out front with his snare drum.  He threw his stick up the air (it bounced off the rafter) and walked around playing just the snare.  All the while, Albini recited the dialogue (which somehow included the snare) about the end of radio.  As the song continued, he sang parts of other songs and bemoaned the state of radio.

They ended with “Watch Song.”

When the set was over, Steve told us that we could hang out and chat with them and that they’d be selling merch over by Bob–in what they call Weston world.  They didn’t have any med or large shirts though, so only if you were very small or very big was it worth your time.  Unless you were a small man who wanted a women’s fitted shirt.

They played two encore songs afterwards and that was it.  They started packing up their gear.  It was a great show.

I didn’t stay to check out Westonworld–it was already closing in on 11:30, but it’s fun to know that they were open to hanging out.

• Canada
• Copper
• My Black Ass
• Squirrel Song
• You Came In Me
• Riding Bikes
• Ghosts
• Compliant
• Steady as She Goes
• All the Surveyors
• Prayer to God
• Dude Incredible
• Killers
• Wingwalker
• The End of Radio
• Crow
• Watch Song