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Archive for the ‘Tomahawk’ Category

Mr. Bungle (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, September 6, 2023)

Posted in Battles, Helmet, Mr. Bungle, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Tomahawk on September 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2023] Mr. Bungle

Back in 1991 when the self-titled Mr. Bungle album came out, it was the perfect release for the era of weirdo music.

Sure, Mike Patton was the singer from Faith No More and they had a couple of huge hits, but he was a weird dude to be sure and Mr. Bungle is where he came from.

I enjoyed that self-titled album a ton and really liked their follow ups as well.  Each album was weird and genre-bounding.

Then in 2020, they “reunited” for a re-release of one of their early demos, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny.  This “Demo” version was a reworking of that album (and other songs) and featured Scott Ian (Anthrax) on rhythm guitar and Dave Lombardo (Slayer) on drums!

I was pretty excited for it.  And then when I heard it I was a bit let down because it was pretty much all hardcore and speed metal without much of the genre hopping that I loved about the band.   True, there were some great tracks on it, and it rocked really hard, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

When Mr. Bungle announced that they were going to tour, it turned out to be a tour of this album.  I was torn about whether I wanted to go.  But it didn’t matter because the tour was only in Brooklyn and California, so the heck with that.

But recently, they announced they were running through some of these lesser East Coast cities and Philly was a stop (as is Montclair, NJ!).  I was torn between being really excited–any opportunity to see Mike Patton is a good one.  Plus Dave Lombardo is a master.  I have never seen Anthrax and seeing Scott Ian live would be pretty awesome.  Finally, Trey Spruance is a weird, amazing guitar player.  Sorry Trevor Dunn, I had no thoughts about you. (more…)

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Battles (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, September 6, 2023) [MR. BUNGLE]

Posted in Battles, Helmet, Mr. Bungle, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Tomahawk on September 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2023] Battles

Back in 2007 my friend Lar told me that he saw Battles in concert.  I was really impressed by the video he sent and really liked their unusual sounds.  The band was originally a four-piece.

Sixteen years later and I have finally seen Battles live.  I had kind of forgotten about them, even though I did really like their first few records.  But seeing them as the opening act made me even more excited to go to this Mr. Bungle show.

Battles is the working of two guys.  In my opinion, it is drummer John Stanier who is the star of the show.  Even though Ian Williams is the guy making most of the actual music, Stanier is right up at  the front of the stage with Williams and he is incredible to watch as he smashes his drums with everything he’s got.

Basically, Stanier (who used to play with Helmet and Tomahawk, so you know he has heavy bonafides) sits to our left with his small Tama kit.  He’s got an electronic pad that adds all kinds of good stuff.  And one cymbal which is insanely high up in the air.  It’s almost comically out of the way.  Why?  In 2011 he said (more…)

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Five Dials Number 6: The Obscenity Issue (22 May 2009)

Posted in Advice, Alain de Botton, All Songs Considered, Art Spiegelman, Battles, Books about writers, Craig Taylor, Culture Shock, D.H. Lawrence, Essays, Five Dials, Free Speech, Helmet, History, Morality, Paul Maliszewski, Play (Drama), Poetry, Pornography, Religion, Sex, Steve Toltz, Tomahawk, Violence, War on May 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BATTLES-“Ice Cream” (2011).

My friend Lar told me about Battles way back in 2007.  I listened to the concert he sent me, and it was great. But my memory of the band was that they were really heavy (the drummer was in Helmet and Tomahawk for cripessakes).

But they’re not so much heavy as noisy and crazy.  And this track is a head-spinning amalgam of keybaords, unsettling rhythms, processed guitars and singing from Argentinean techno producer Matias Aguayo.  The lyrics sound like they are not English, but they are (with heavy effects on them).

The song is weird, indeed. But after just one listen, I was totally hooked.  It’s catchy and bouncy and very sunny and it’s a real joy to listen to.   I absolutely must go back and check out their debut Mirrored.

Listen at NPR.

[READ: April 28, 2011] Five Dials Number 6

Five Dials Number 5 was an excellent issue that I enjoyed immensely.  They followed it up with Number 6, which deals with a subject that I was very passionate about in the early 90s: censorship/obscenity.  When I was in high school and college, the PMRC was the big bogeyman for advocates of free speech (of which I am one).  I still advocate passionately for freedom of speech (now that I’m in a library, the issue can be part of my daily life), but it seems like there are so many more important issues in the world, that stickers on a record seem kind of silly.

Nevetheless, as this issue reminds us, those who control what is said control what we hear.  And that’s true for music and books, as well as our everyday news.  So, free speech should never be taken lightly.  Although this issue looks largely at obscenity in England, they also pull up some good information from Jello Biafra as well.

CRAIG TAYLOR-A Letter from the Editor: On John Mortimer and Obscenity
John Mortimer appears later in the issue. He was the lawyer who defended Lady Chatterly’s Lover against accusations of obscenity.  And Taylor points out that Mortimer’s attitude was that he “understood the silliness of censorship.”  And with that attitude, he was able to work to convince juries of that silliness.  The rest of the issue looks at important cases of censorship over the years, from The Dead Kennedys to NWA (it’s nice to be reminded about how “dangerous” they were when they came out).  He also laughs at the lame attempts at putting adult content on network TV (Fudge you!). (more…)

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