[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Mr. Phylzzz
Mr. Phylzzz were described as a “two-piece loud-ass noise rock band from Chicago, IL.” And indeed, they were a two-piece and in the way of man two-piece bands, they were loud-ass.
Mr. Phylzzz (pronounced Flyzzz) consists of Clinton Jacobs (guitar/vox) & Danny Sein (drums). Since Sein is behind the kit (and seriously pummeling it), it’s up to Jacobs to be the entertainment. He pretty much never stood still. He ran back and forth around the stage, he climbed into the audience, he waved his guitar around, he looked very intimidating. And yet he had a completely childlike (comically so) speaking voice.
Were the songs simple? Sure! Did they rock? Yes indeed.
There was a real classic rock feel to many of the songs (probably because of Jacob’s falsetto). A song like “Pretend Friends” is only a couple of notes, but they are catchy. And after the verse (single notes really fuzzed out) the song gets huge when Jacob plays the whole chord.
And there was much entertainment at the end of the song when Jacobs and Sein crashed the chords/cymbals at the same time and Jacobs roared his guitar during the pauses.
Incidentally, Sein was wearing a shirt and tie and Jacobs had on a suit–although the jacket was ripped from the bottom up to the sleeve for maximum free movement.
“Kitty” was a heavy heavy song in which Jacobs switched between growls and falsetto.
They have recently released a new album and they played mostly songs from it. “Dirty Hands” had a noisy opening that resolved into a simple heavy one note riff on the low string. Even when things slowed down like in “Mr Entertainer,” the menace never really went away–a loud chord was just around the corner.
Jacobs introduced “Modern Life” as “an old Chicago jazz song” (it’s not).
On record “Pick Scrape” is 7 minutes of instrumental noise. But live it turned into a chance for Jacobs to improv. And, amusingly, Melvins drummer Coady Willis came out to join them. So it was a band with two drummers and one guitar.
The one really bad thing, and I don’t know if this was their choice or the venue’s, but they were bathed in an unchanging red/purple light for the whole show. I mean, that’s death for photos, but it also really sucks to see a band bathed in red for 30 minutes.
Of course, it suited their noisy chaos quite well, but still.
They were a great, intense opening act.
- Pretend Friends ©
- Kitty ¶
- Dirty Hands ♠
- Damp ♠
- Mr. Entertainer ©
- Modern Life ♠
- Pick Scrape ♠
- Insisting ♠
♠ Fat Chance (2023)
© Cancel Culture Club (2022)
¶ Real Live Suicide (2017)
I Just Read About That... 
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