SOUNDTRACK: RunHideFight-The Key Studio Sessions (August 23, 2018).
I listened to the single from RunHideFight and then found this live-in-studio session from 2018. This session is about 20 minutes long with 9 wonderful garage rocking songs.
Lead singer Geeta Dalal Simons is the driving force behind this band. She writes the songs and she plays a double neck 12 string guitar/12 string sitar.
Geeta Dalal Simons singer for RunHideFight grew up in West Virginia. She says, “As a first gen, Indian American woman; I was busting up all kinds of cultural/gender norms by not finishing a pre-med track, having a green Mohawk and tattoos, playing in punk bands at skate parks, openly dating before marriage. I was so angry and I desperately wanted to be heard and seen by a world which resisted that.”
Music was her outlet, continuing through her move to Philadelphia and her immersion in its indie community during the 90s and early 00s, when she played with Khyber regulars Swisher, Los Angeles, and Rockula. She stepped back from the scene for about a decade when she had children, but returned last year with a vengeance to form RunHideFight, a project born out of Simons’ heartache at her mother’s passing, her frustration at Donald Trump’s election, and the generally frayed-nerve state of the world.
“He’s A Jerk” sounds even better live than it does on record. “Big Muff Pie” has a great slow bass line from Christine Weiser (who has a terrific bass sound all through this recording). “Because I Love You” sounds even more raw than the recorded version. “Get Lost” keeps the original songs rocking in this garagey sound.
The “Send Me a Postcard” cover (original by Shocking Blue) has a weird (funny?) intro from John Terlesky. It’s a catchy cover and has a nice moment for drummer Jon Kois to get a (very) little solo.
“Eat My Heart Out” has another cool moment for Kois when the toms almost overpower the song.
Geeta introduces “What Are You Talking” over a fantastic bass intro from Weiser. It’s simple, but it sounds great. She says, “I’m gonna sing you a little song about what it was like growing up in West Virginia, looking like me.”
Simons’ family is of Desi heritage, and she grew up in a region that is — to put it bluntly — kind of blindingly white. And not the most tolerant, either. The racism she experienced as a young person was once again out in the open, and on the aforementioned “What Are You Talking?,” Simons directly confronts her own experience — culminating in a howling recollection of a classmate bullying her over her brown skin, saying “hey girl, how are you ever gonna wash all that dirt off your hands?” In the song’s cathartic conclusion, the taunt is screamed to a hammering rhythm: “that’s not mud / it’s just you.”
It’s a fantastic song.
“Mom of the Year” has an abrupt ending which segues into the final song, a cover of The Saints’ “Lost and Found.” which even gives Terlesky a chance to sing. And at four minutes it’s the longest song of the set.
The most recent update on the band that I can find is from June of last year. Perhaps they’re on a long hiatus. I’d definitely see them live if t hey played out again.
[READ: July 1, 2020] Cinderella Liberator
Rebecca Solnit rewrites the Cinderella story in this fantastic book for children and adults.
I love the introduction of the stepmother. She made Cinderella do all the work because
even though there was plenty for everyone, and plentty of people to do the work, her stepmother believed there was not enough for everyone. And she wants the most for her own two daughters.
On the plus side, because Cinderella has to do everything, including the shopping, she grew strong and capable and she became friendly with everyone in the marketplace.
Then comes news that the king’s son–Prince Nevermind–is holding a ball (“which is what they called dance parties in those days”). The sisters get all dolled up for the ball but Cinderella was not invited (“there is nothing worse than not being invited”). When she finished helping them, she said I wish someone would help me. And there was a knock at the door and a little blue woman was standing there. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 