“Glasgow is a very frustrating place; very insular, parochial and predictable in their tastes. The amount of utter shite indie-pop garbage that is spouted is ridiculous…..When every second person on the street, at gigs or in pubs looks like a Franz Ferdinand reject with straightening irons and an eating disorder who’s been kicked through a Top-Man store, it’s hardly surprising this mass brain-washing has diluted the live music being heard… We mean what we do. If you really want to make psychedelic music it has to come from a very real source and experience. If you’re jumping on the latest fashionable band wagon then those who understand the music will suss it out in no time at all.”
-John-Paul Hughes from Helicon.
HELICON
Helicon live in London at Paper Dress Vintage: picture by OKK
Welcome to a quick tour of four fabulous bands in Glasgow that deem further investigation. Starting things off is Helicon a personal favorite of mine and one I have played on several occasions, including recording their live set in London for broadcast on the Kool Kitchen radio show. They are described as doom-mongering behemoths of Psychedelic Rock, as sincere as the quote above from band member John Paul; the band completely means business in creating layers of rich textured sonic reverb.
A good place to start is with their epic track, “The Point Between Heaven And Hell”. If not already, this should be a classic in the shoe gaze cannon of must have tunes. Like all the best songs, this is a journey that twists and twirls like the title, someplace in the imagination between heaven and hell. For your perusal, the song by Helicon to make your ears tingle with delight!
Glasgow’s premier fuzz-noise-terrorists St Deluxe, is harkening back to 90’s old school blessed out indie. There is an enthusiastic quality to this energetic three some fused with moments of pure riff/pop joy, teenage punk riot and dense, shoe-gaze fog. To listen to them fulfills my yearning to return to the hey-day of Creation Records and a UK chart that still had elements of real indie in the rock. They have also been known to make appearances live and on recordings with Stephen Lawrie from The Telescopes.
Their song “Evil Dead” is a nice introduction, immersed in horror and zombie film imagery laced within the lyrics. I always enjoy any references to B movies in songs, so the theme is rather compelling in the fast-paced, guitar pop tempo. To check out the scary nostalgia here is the track.
HIS NAME IS CODEINE
Although His Name Is Codeine are not officially based in Glasgow (from Elgin), when asked about bands to be booked for a gig in Glasgow their name came up. Tenuous geographical connection, I know but will make it work anyhow! This band is murky, with some moments of sludge-psych/gaze, oozing a Cimmerian shade of subterranean depths of sound.
A closer look at their song “The Measure Of Your Misery” off their latest album The Only Truth Is Music, reveals all those elements intertwined with a slightly jangly sad song. Like a snake it slithers in a slinky manner, hypnotizing the listener into a warm sonic cotton woolly ball. Sometimes there is true pleasure in wallowing in the forlorn and I find this so here; but don’t take my word for it, check it out and judge for yourself.
THE CHERRY WAVE
The Cherry Wave is a shoe-gaze band from Glasgow creating structures of echoing drenched fuzz and distortion while also incorporating melody into their dense tone-brume. In certain moments the band has an underwater warble that burbles slowly to the surface, mimicking the unconscious in a rock song.
The song “Drown” rams home the sub-aquatic nature of these musical ocean floor dwellers. Something about this track reminds me of a Crustacean crawling through sea weed. It’s a pleasant sonic trawl through dark muddy gaze. If ever there was a way to “Drown in Sound” this is it. If you like it uber-fuzzy, fishy and liquid lush, I highly recommend testing it out here!
There is an ulterior motive for writing this article, The Telescopes will be returning to play at King Tut Wah Wah’s in Glasgow on Friday October 25th 2013. Joining Stephen on stage as the Scopes will be St Deluxe and Cherry Wave will be supporting alongside dark psychedelia from Dead Temple. For those in Glasgow, you can check out some of these bands in exciting action or for those further afield enjoy the snippets collected here!
Nick Cave,an Australian national treasure whose musical talents have gained him an underground cult following alongside mainstream success, has maintained that his daily routine is no more exciting than a banker’s. He rises in the morning, dons a working man’s attire– his trademark suit– and goes in to the office. Only the “office” is a studio in his basement– Cave’s cave, if you will. Taking his work on the road, he is embarking on a Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds five-stop tour of Australia. The band has remained dormant while Grindermanreactivated in 2009 and produced “Grinderman 2,” and as Cave completed and released his second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro. The group also attracted further “mainstream” attention when their song “O Children” appeared in the 2010 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. With Grindermandisbanding in December 2011, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ fifteenth studio album, “Push the Sky Away,” in conjunction with the tour, came to fruition and was released on Monday, February 18, 2013.
Set to join NCATBS on the Australian line-up is former Screaming Trees frontman, occasional Queens of the Stone Age member, and solo artist, Mark Lanegan. His most recent solo album, “Blues Funeral,” was released in February 2012 to positive critical acclaim. With a voice that has been described “as scratchy as a three-day beard, yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather” and “does mournful with such grace,”Mark is the perfect concomitant to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.Expect a real tango of caliginous and moody male crooning on these exclusively Ozzie dates!
Australian Tour Dates for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds + Mark Langean
Melbourne Sat. March 2 SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL
Adelaide Sun. March 3 THEBARTON THEATRE
Perth Wed. March 6 RED HILL AUDITORIUM
Brisbane Fri. March 8 RIVERSTAGE
Sydney Sat. March 9 ENMORE
Canada-to-Germany transplants, Rooftop Runners, is a downtempo, indie electro-pop duo composed of brothers, Benedikit and Tobias MacIsaac, who are no strangers to the performing arts as they are each recognized, respectively, as an internationally acclaimed choreographer and dancer.
Recently, the duo decided to head back into the studio to choreograph and direct an original music video (set to be their third audio/visual production) for a newly recorded version of “Energize“, a track originally appearing on Rooftop Runners‘ 2012 We Are Here EP, which was described as a “mix of menacing mood and moving melody.” What you get by the end of this second take, are dominating electro beats, combined with a dark, droning bass presence which seems focused on exposing some kind of abstract beauty in an ugly world.
The brothers’ dance training is clearly evident in the video as they flip and float past each other in synchronized moves across a dark and empty stage; ultimately, a three-dimensional blank canvas for their poetry of motion. The band personally describes their current sound as “trip hop,” taking on a more atmospheric aesthetic than the general ambiance of the original 2012 recording of “Energize.” The trip-hop flow is carried by soulful, falsetto vocals and minimalist instrumentation comprised of slinky bass beats, brooding electronica, and dissonant guitar work. Think of a lo-fi, stripped down set in the vein of New Order, where Rooftop Runners also clearly establish themselves as a pair wielding their own musical signature.
2012 saw extensive international touring by the group throughout the UK, Switzerland, Germany, and Canada, including a performance at Club NME and Rifflandia Music Festival.
A forthcoming, full-length album is currently in post-production, hopefully with a date set for release, come summer.
“Vajra” is a Sanskrit word that means “thunderbolt” and “diamond.” The New York based four piece under this moniker echoes the sheer power of the thunderbolt and the uncut edginess of the diamond in their evanescent gothic pop/rock. Hauntingly nebulous and metallically hypnotic, they weave Eastern Indian themes with melodic, progressive rock, creating foreboding and mysterious lullabies.
Vajra is the creation of singer and multi-instrumentalist, Annamaria Pinna, who formed the group while on a “self-imposed exile” in India (part of this debut was recorded in Mumbai). Vajra‘s latest album, “Pleroma,” was released on the Summer Solstice, 2012 (6.21.12). It is largely an exploration of Dualism (east vs. west, soft vs. pummelling, female vs. male) and includes appearances by Blake Fleming (ex-The Mars Volta) on drums, Doug Wright (The Dirty Pearls) on bass and Will Dahl (ex-Harley’s War) on guitar. Expect loads of sitars, tablas, and airy wind instruments in this rock-induced musical trance. The effect of the mantra manifests itself in many of the repetitive guitar riffs on “Pleroma”. The instrumentals paint a soundscape that projects Pinna’s fascination with eastern music.Out of nowhere, Vajra burst onto the scene, generating significant buzz after selling out their first show in November, 2011 (at The Bowery Electric in NYC). Virgin America selected Vajra‘s single “Erode The Will” for their In-Flight Entertainment Series in December, 2011, and the single was also selected for the Red Gorilla SXSW 2012 Compilation. The band was also picked as a Supercuts‘ “Rock The Cut” Ambassador.
Vajra has played to sold-out audiences and also performed 2 shows at SXSW 2012 and just completed a successful U.S. west coast tour, performing at Sylvia Massy‘s 4&20 Blackbird Music Festival. The up-and-coming heavy quartet have certainly etched out a unique place in the melodic metal rankings, offering a sound similar to Dead Can Dance, Fever Ray, Lacuna Coil, Melissa Auf Der Maur, and Azam Ali. Vajra will leave you spellbound.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club recently unveiled their sixth studio album, titled “Specter At The Feast,” which is set for release on March 19 via Abstract Dragon / Vagrant Records. This is their first headline run in the U.S. since 2010, in support of “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo.” The tour kicks off on April 22nd in their hometown of San Francisco at The Fillmore, then heads east and stops in NYC at Terminal 5 on May 4th and winds back to the west with a final show popping off in Los Angeles on June 1st at The Wiltern.
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB HEADLINING TOUR DATES
April 22
San Francisco, Calif.
The Fillmore
April 23
San Diego, Calif.
House Of Blues
April 26
Austin, Texas
Psych Fest
April 27
Dallas, Texas
House Of Blues
April 28
Houston, Texas
Warehouse Live
April 30
Atlanta, Ga.
Masquerade
May 1
Nashville, Tenn.
Cannery Ballroom
May 2
Boston, Mass.
House Of Blues
May 4
New York, N.Y.
Terminal 5
May 5
Philadelphia, Pa.
Theater of Living Arts
May 6
Washington, D.C.
9:30 Club
May 8
Montreal, QC.
Corona Theater
May 9
Toronto, ONT
Kool Haus
May 10
Detroit, Mich.
St. Andrew’s Hall
May 11
Columbus, Ohio
Newport Music Hall
May 13
Indianapolis, Ind.
The Vogue
May 14
Milwaukee, Wisc.
Turner Hall
May 15
Madison, Wisc.
Barrymore Theater
May 17
Chicago, Ill.
Vic Theater
May 18
Minneapolis, Minn.
First Ave.
May 20
Denver, Colo.
Gothic Theater
May 21
Aspen, Colo.
Belly Up
May 24
Vancouver, BC
Commodore Ballroom
May 26
Portland, Ore.
Wonder Ballroom
May 27
Reno, Nev.
Knitting Factory
May 29
Tempe, Ariz.
The Marquee
May 30
Tucson, Ariz.
Rialto Theater
May 31
Las Vegas, Nev.
Vinyl at The Hard Rock Hotel
June 1
Los Angeles, Calif.
The Wiltern
Dead Meadow
Dead Meadow is coming up fast on an early, roaming west coast U.S. tour in support of their label, Xemu, and all of the new label artists that they have planned for 2013 releases. February California dates will have Dead Meadows sharing the bill with up-and-coming Xemu artists, Matthew J. Tow and Strangers Family Band. Both supporting bands will be playing tracks from their upcoming albums, while Dead Meadow will be playing brand new tunes from their forthcoming LP, “Warble Womb.”
Day Six: September 13th – Cologne (Drunk and in Love!)
The Telescopes contemplating the doors of misperception at Kölner Dom Cathedral in Cologne with: Byron Jackson, Nick Keech, Dan DNA, Stephen Lawrie, Jim Beal, and Dan Davis. (Photo by OKK)
[This is the final chapter, continued from Part II, in OKK’s adventures with The Telescopes across Europe]. As arrangements were made to depart Berlin, a band member went AWOL. James Messenger decided to stay in Berlin with his new lady friend; he was drunk and in love. This was the second major obstacle, a loss of a band member on the tour. James planned to skip Cologne and catch a flight to meet us in Brussels the next day. This course of action was met with some disgruntled humour at James’ expense. When you commit to a tour, it is expected that you act professionally, honour the full commitment and not skip off on a jaunt and subsequently miss dates. In the end, James got off lightly and the rest of the band made do and soldiered onto Cologne. As with all the setbacks, it was handled with acute aplomb. These guys were tight as a unit and did interact exceedingly well with each other overall.
We stumbled out of the van just before night fall at The Tsunami Club in Cologne. This was another night I was multi-tasking as both DJ and merchandise girl. I had fun with my set; I was in the DJ zone! Dan, our video blogger, stepped in to replace Messenger for a short One Unique Signal gig. The Telescopes went on and even with one man down, the sonic boom was still there. But as Stephen would later remark, he missed Messenger’s energy. I would have to concur. Once you’ve seen his shoeless acrobatics, and then witness a gig without him, there is this wee gap present, like a shadow cut out of a missing person. Nobody can flail about quite like Mr. Messenger. The night was the quietest on the tour. Unlike Paris or Berlin, there was a misunderstanding between the crowd and band. It was dream pop they were looking for and instead they got music that melted their faces off and left underneath was a question mark of incomprehension.
Day Seven: September 14th – Brussels (Sound Bomb Shelters)
Telescopes gig in Le Bunker, Brussels with: Nick Keech, Dan Davis, Jim Beal, Stephen Lawrie, Byron Jackson, and Jim Messenger
There was time before we headed off to Brussels to have a quick expedition around Cologne and partake in some 5 minute, get-the-money-shot tourism. Aside from Lille, where we had too much time to see the sights, there were few opportunities to bask in the places we passed through. The Kölner Dom Cathedral, space age train station, and plaza centre were ticked off as we whisked past, until it was time to embark.
Messenger was there to greet us upon arrival at the venue. We were reunited and it felt so good! The show was held at Le Bunker, a former cinema. It was my favourite locale on the tour. The place had real grungy character. A proper crusty air permeated with step-like coliseum seats fixed within this WWII burnt out, bomb site decay chic. A subterranean garage of ripped walls, plaster and pipes were the perfect backdrop to house the maelstrom of both One Unique Signal and The Telescopes in full formation. The lighting at the bottom of the stage was provided by these square cube lamps. The shades of these lamps were composed of striking sepia photographs on the various sides adding a cozy space age atmosphere of candid unfettered experimentation. The final artist was pedal-to-the metal psych freak-outs, Sunflares, from Portugal and the most impressive other act I had seen on the tour. Their band name was apt; afterwards you felt as if you have been scalded to the bone by a massive blast of skin singeing sound. My ears and brain were extra crispy in the blow-out aftermath.
Day Eight: September 15th – Tilburg (Welcome to Lego Land) Home stay in Tilburg, Holland with: Stephen Lawrie, Dan DNA and Dan Davis (Photo by OKK)
We had time to explore Brussels but instead we engaged on a search for a forest to do some filming. It was a fruitless venture in the end as we drove rather aimlessly through woods and no commitment to a place could be made. The late nights, long travels, and any over pursuit of bacchanalian delights took their toll and manifested in a thin layer of tetchiness. For the first time, a grouchy dissatisfaction underlay the frustration of the forest hunt. Some days, the universe will endeavour to thwart the completion of an action; in dreams, it manifests in trying to make a call and not being able to dial the numbers, or running very fast but not moving an inch. A build up will occur, and one day of crankiness is to be expected on a tour at least.
When we breached The Netherlands, the distinct architectonic creations of the country impressed a surreal feeling on the eye. It was like entering a ginger-bread, tinker toy town of Legos. I kept expecting lollipop children to appear, Postman Pat to deliver the mail, and the Trolley from Mr Roger’s neighbourhood to zip by, tooting along the tram lines. We had entered the children’s story zone and I was afraid some sinister cookie cutter person would come along and snip us into cartoon characters next. Holland just doesn’t look real!
Tilburg was the final stop on the tour. There was no gig tonight. We picked up our wrist bands for Incubate Festival which enabled access to the shows. The festival spanned several days with a varied and good line-up.
Day Nine: September 16th – Tillburg (Endings)
At the venue Incubate Festival, Tilburg Holland with: Nick Keech, Dan Davis, Ola’s Kool Kitchen and Byron Jackson
The day started with everybody in good spirits. The end was nigh and this lovely bubble we were floating in would soon pop. I would work at the merchandise counter from early afternoon till we left. Unlike past shows of makeshift tables set up hastily, we had a felicitous spread. I missed all the shows as the counter was quite a distance from the stages. I caught The Silver Apples‘ live audio only because it was pumped into speakers nearby. On the last day, I worked hard for the money and it was the best financial turnout for sales. There were a lot of happy fans queuing for autographs with the CDs and records that they bought.
The departure scheme was to leave very shortly after the show as we had a small window to catch our booked Euro tunnel train. Only 40 minutes for the boys to talk with the fans and pack it up and leave. A very long journey occurred across the border to the UK and the equally long sojourn over the sprawling metropolis of London to get everybody home. This particular excursion overall was blessed with congeniality and pleasant company. The surprise here was not the expression of tethered patience but in how infrequently it did manifest. I was kidnapped by the best circus ever. I totally recommend hitchhiking on a Telescopes tour; it is such a blast of good fun! When I got home at 5am on Monday, I said to myself, ‘Vor you, zee tour ist over!’ and I smiled before I fell asleep for nearly 13 hours.
There are further videos and a blog recording more of these fine adventures. If you would like to check out The Telescopes/One Unique Signal Death Defying European 2012 tour video diary, here is the link: http://www.webdoc.com/OneUniqueSignal.
Some of the band enjoying an outdoor lunch in a plaza in Lille with: Nick Keech, Byron Jackson, Dan Davis contemplating his baguette and Jim Beal (photo by OKK)
[Continued from Part I] In Lille, we awoke to find a quick fix lunch, outside in the town. We had to change hotels again as there was no room for us to stay a second night. I suspect our rag tag musician ways did not fit in well at the charming, yet conservative hotel. The rescue service arranged cabs with the same drivers as yesterday, reinforcing the very provincial nature of Lille.
This time, we were moved to a cozy bed-and-breakfast opposite the large cathedral in town. The van would not be repaired in time. Instead, a new one was being driven from the UK, with plans to arrive late in the evening. There was no question of us going anywhere that day, rather there was a debate about whether to ride 800 miles the next day to do the Copenhagen gig, and then drive another 800 miles in the opposite direction, the day after, to do Berlin. Or the alternative, which would be to cancel Copenhagen and arrive a day early in Berlin with no accommodation. With heavy hearts, Copenhagen was dropped from the gig roster. Both cancelled shows were significant earners and subsequently a financial blow. It was the second day of idleness for a high-octane band in a limbo of non-performance, and the frustration of stagnant waters that usually run wild was in the air.
Despite these pitfalls, I had two nights rooming and hanging out with Stephen Lawrie. I had met Stephen several times over the last year, in London, at Austin Psych Fest 2012 and a particularly fond memory of hijacking him for dinner in my hometown of Chicago with a friend of mine from grade school who had no idea who The Telescopes were. Stephen is just lovely like that, someone you can hijack for a pizza with an old, clueless musical school chum. He is prone to whimsical flights of fancy with dark observational buffoonery that always fills me with a mischievous glee from my inner child. I had the rare opportunity to hear tales about the larger than life Alan Mcgee, and his Creation Records anecdotes. Then there was our trip to the supermarché together. We struggled to find the point of entry. It was a massive space in a shopping mall with a confusing 30 tills open. As if in an ancient maze and mystery school, we were confounded until we managed to gain entry slipping past a till. A very officious security guard stopped us and was going to frog march us out so we could go back in again from the proper entrance. I pleaded with him to be reasonable as we were tourists completely dazed by the planning and thankfully he relented and gave us a free pass…this time! Seriously, there was nothing better for him to do but to try and stop a wrong way entry into a supermarket? In England it’s a recession and they are just grateful for the custom and nobody bothers how you come into a store. We concluded he was a rather petty minded and unfulfilled person to need to exert such a ridiculous display of authority.
Later, we spent the evening in a cool room as the rest of the band were all in another very stuffy room drinking and working on their own video diary and blog of the tour. I asked Stephen about the fans. In the peak of The Telescopes‘ commercial popularity, Stephen received letters of devotion and shadowy poetry sealed in wax. He said the fame was an odd experience. He is a very down to earth fellow that just enjoys being treated like one of the guys, while still being a very kind-hearted gent to his fans.
Day Four: September 11th – Berlin (Ist das Kunst?)
Dereliction street art in Berlin near the place we stayed at on the first night. (Photo by OKK)
We packed everything in our new van, and bid adieu to Lille, and spent most of the day in transit with the longest journey of the tour; 464 miles, across 4 countries, to Berlin. An important factor on long road trips is the music. On our trip, there was a wide array of sounds. Stephen’s iPod played his influence; Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, Suicide, The Cramps, and Can. Other music played on our journey were strange rap, like Odd Future; quirky, post-punk girl band, The Rain Coats; Black Sabbath; The Queens of The Stone Age; and some experimental, electronic acts– a motley bag of musical offerings indeed!
As we approached Berlin, no accommodation was sorted. The place where we would be staying the next day already had a band in it. A shout was put out and eventually we were rescued by Jen Repin and Istvan Rouche; a big thank you to both of them here for coming to the rescue. It was wonderful to return to the funky air of Berlin after the stifling feel of Lille. I’ve been to Berlin many times in the past. My first visit was nearly 20 years ago, and what struck me back then was it being an edgy city, with many alternative squats and gritty punk rock feeling bars, still remains true. London in the early 90’s was very similar, but with the eradication of squat laws and the Starbucks and All Bar One gentrification of the economic boom, London lost a lot of its’ sub-cultural underbelly of watering holes. Berlin has retained that sense of subversion, brewing in a D.I.Y. ethos and a protest to corporate aesthetics in vibrant street art. Before unification, army dodgers from both sides came to Berlin to avoid compulsory service. For several centuries, it has a history of being a magnet for all the freaks to meet in Germany, and I find it a place of bubbling excitement and rough-edginess.
The place we were staying reflected that. It was a bar and a community arts centre, with a recording studio. It felt like a squatted premise, centred amongst a complex of derelict buildings. We were all piled into the recording studio and it was charming and cozy with all the rustic conveniences. The security internet login was ‘Ist das Kunst’, German for: “is it art?.” I felt we had come home. A long late-night group discussion ensued with our hosts as politics, art, and history were the topics altercated over. The universe looked after us as a lovely Berlin night ended with good company and a pleasant roof over our heads.
Day Five: September 12th – Berlin (Aufheben Baby!)
In Berlin at Bassy Club: The Kool Kitchen, The Telescopes’ merch girl. (Photo by OKK)
We moved into our accommodation over Acht Millimeter Bar, who were putting “The Telescopes” on a few doors away at the Bassy Club. Stephen went to a radio interview and bumped into Will Carruthers (from Spacemen 3, Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dead Skeletons) hanging out with the rest of the band.
My only task at this event was to run the merchandise table which is a very important source of revenue for a band on tour. As two prominent financial gigs were cancelled, I put my sales girl charm to use and helped fill the coffers up; spoke my best pig-French and -German in the respective countries, put a real passion into recommendations and product descriptions. The crown jewel in the merchandise catalogue was a rare Telescopes album in cassette format, only. Stephen had originally priced the item at 100 Euros claiming it was ‘One of One’, an original. Even though there was a secret, second tape we had hidden out of sight that Stephen had labelled ‘Two of One’. Eventually he raised the price to 100.01 Euros. After that, I said to Stephen that if anyone did cough up the full one hundred, I would insist on the last .01 cents or there would be no deal! There was a moment in Berlin when a fellow reached out his wallet and asked me for the cassette and my eyes popped out in disbelief. However, he had thought it said 10 Euros; upon realizing his mistake he retracted his offer. Stephen said if no one bought the cassette he would go to the woods and burn it into ash. When the tour finished, the cassette remained unsold and Stephen put it up as his profile picture on Facebook. It seems the future of the cassette is in debate as the burning has not yet occurred.
Berlin was a stellar night on the tour. 3 DJs, including Anton Newcombe, cult front-man of The Brian Jonestown Massacre (the celebrity guest DJ) proffered the evening’s soundtrack and he even doubled up as The Telescopes’ sound engineer. The merch desk was literally opposite the DJ booth, so I had ample opportunity to study Mr Newcombe’s set. The DJ detective ears within me meticulously made a mental note for any possible future plundering. As if there was a direct checklist connected from Stephen’s iPod to Anton’s brain, he played “Ghost Rider” by Suicide and “Vitamin C” by Can. Also some soul I didn’t quite recognize, “Ocean” by A Place To Bury Strangers and a humorously oddball, mathematical electronic cover of The Doors’ “Light My Fire,” the artist unknown to myself. The gig was stoking and I observed the celebrity DJ entranced. The crowd was engaged in the sonic whirlwind with intent emotion, and the audience turnout packed.
This event had the most decadent party night. Most evenings, we would hang out chilling in our accommodation with some quiet drinking, nothing like the level of Led Zepplins’ shark incident type hijinks. Tonight, the band were proper stars, convening for an after show carousal at Acht Millimeter Bar. When I was upstairs and I opened the window and looked out, the people from the outside spilling over from the bar would look up at me with great expectation in their eyes. It was a peculiar scenario. I was not used to such avid interest in my window unfastening capabilities. Personally I think it is a rather tedious point to fixate on. It seems even the dullest activity can be made interesting with a modicum of fame to a star collector. The guys stayed out drinking very late while James Messenger found himself a lady companion and spent the night elsewhere.
*Be sure to tune in next week for more adventures of Ola’s Kool Kitchen and The Telescopes from the “Death Defying Tour Of Europe 2012”!
The Telescopes with the van of death somewhere on the way to Dover: with Nick Keech, James Messenger, Byron Jackson, Stephen Lawrie, Jim Beal, and Dan Davis (photo by Ola’s Kool Kitchen)
Back in the days of late 60’s and early 70’s rock journalism, it was the quite done thing for reporters to accompany bands on tour and party with the entourage. Many an NME or Melody Maker reporter would be friends with the band. Whether it was Led Zepplin or The Beatles, they would be hanging out and partaking in the backstage life’s excesses. In modern times, the press is now carefully cordoned off. Journalistic impartiality dictates a line between the bands and the mainstream music press. Carefully sculpted features and interviews occur and the real feel of the bands, covered by fans and friends, is a distant memory. The exception is media-made by those of us fed up with the myopic news machine. We have decided to “Occupy the Media” and, through a D.I.Y. ethos, easy to use technology, and the freedom of the internet, we can create a professional alternative to rival the status quo dross force fed to us in the big press channels.
So that’s what I did. The circus came to town, asked me to join the ride, and I said, “No way baby……Let’s go!”
I was nervous. It was just me, a girl entering into the male-only tour zone. I knew everybody in the band, some more than others, but I hadn’t actually spent a week living with them before. I’ve also had experience travelling the world, Africa, North and Central America, the Caribbean, Australia, India, Europe, and especially south East Asia. I had plenty of experience living out of a suitcase for weeks in hotels, moving swiftly from location to location. These skills would come in handy but touring is very different to real travelling as I discovered.
Day One: September 8th – Paris
First day: Loading the van with gear somewhere in West London with: Ola’s Kool Kitchen. (Photo by Nick Keech)
The cast of characters for the tour party were: the main man behind The Telescopes, Stephen Lawrie; the members of One Unique Signal: Nick Keech– guitarist, Byron Jackson– guitarist and vox, James Messenger– guitarist, Jim Beal– bassist, Dan Davis– drummer; non band members: Dan DNA– extra driver, archivist extraordinaire documenting everything for blogs and video diaries; and myself– DJ and merchandise girl.
The tour is a strange existence. A carefully planned procedure, coordinating methods of travel with accommodation needs in slotted allotments of time. It’s about combating long hours of boredom on the road until you arrive and get released to have a short, sharp burst of glory on the stage. Like gypsies, you meet different people in every stop along the carnival and the only real consistency is the people on tour with you. As you are stuck together for long hours, it really helps if you all get along and can have a laugh together when things go amiss. No matter the best laid plans of mice and men, something always goes wrong on tour, and to avoid it spiralling into an agonizing situation, it really depends how the group handles disasters.
Upon arrival, I observed one of the first obstacles in the tour: Byron was very sick. He hacked up something nasty from the belly of his lungs. Like a real trooper, he rarely complained, and when not sleeping off various stages of pneumonia-like symptoms, he partook in all band-like duties. One thing you will be doing a lot of on a tour, especially if you are not a U2-caliber mega-famous band, is lugging around heavy equipment.
After several hours, we were locked and loaded on our way to Dover. We missed our initial Eurotunnel train time and were behind schedule. We popped onto the continent and headed along to the first gig at La Fleche D’or, Paris. As soon as we approached Paris, we became entangled in a massive traffic jam. It took over an hour at least to get across the city to the venue. Later we would find out it was the end-of-school holidays, and the French love their vacation time, so of course they swarmed into Paris on the same Friday night as us.
A rush ensued to unpack briskly as we were very late. I was deejaying and running the merchandise table that night. By the time I was fully set up, I was in such a fluster that I completely forgot to record the gigs. I did end up managing to audio copy most of the shows on the tour.
One Unique Signal kicked off the show, and I always feel they truly complement The Telescopes, sonically. Julian Cope featured their 2009 release, “Villains To A Man” as his album of the month. He described it as… “the many headed mole that is One Unique Signal wears a German helmet surmounted by an all-weather arc light, kevlar’n’steel shoulder epaulets and close fitting drainage boots, his weapon-of-choice is the archaic-but-reliable Binson Echoplex, his totem is the gatefold inner of ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES (molto guitars’n’loco drone), and his sparse Inner Soundtrack appears to have been informed by a simply repeated diet of HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL-period Hawkwind, the aforemenched Loop and plenny plenny Spacemen Three”. Live, OUS have their own vibe of melt-your-ears noise, space rock, filled with energy, passion, and bombs of sounds. If you are a fan of the “psychic fuzz,” these guys are not to be missed.
A lot of Telescopes fans turn up at shows expecting the shoegaze and dream pop of Creation Records. The current live show with OUS in formation around Stephen is an explosion of intense trashy, dark and dirty noise, full of soul. At times, something more in line with The Cramps engaged in an unholy exorcism, rather than Jesus and Mary Chain ‘Reverberation’. During a gig, there is plenty of action on stage to thrill the eye as well as audio excitement. Stephen has a tendency to fall to the floor and crawl about in a crustacean-like manner or lean heavily on his microphone emitting low guttural vocals. James Messenger with guitar in-hand jumps about without shoes– the gyrating “Sandi Shaw” of the group. Frequently, they do spill into the audience and crawl, flop and flip about, depending on the mood and height of the stage. Oodles of feedback acrobatics, balancing of instruments on speakers, and grating of strings occur while Dan, the drummer, keeps the tempo cool, like a jazz drummer amidst the maddening chaos surrounding him. It’s an exhausting roller coaster ride and its shell-shock factor always has a real ardent intensity. When I first saw The Telescopes in 2011, I observed that whether you dig the music or not, it’s very difficult to walk away from a gig and not feel anything whether it’s revulsion, exhaustion, or a wild abandon. The experience inspires deep feeling, the nature of which depends on the person viewing. Luckily there is a video of the Paris gig here to peruse in its entirety, for the curious and interested.
After the show, while manning the merchandise desk, I got my first taste of fandom. A sweet, French man asked me in English if I was friends with Stephen. He said, “I love his music and would like to talk with him very much.” I discovered one of my first duties as merch girl was to act as a go-between for eager fans wishing a meet with the band. It was one of my favourite tasks, to see how the show inspired such elation and to enhance that joy by arranging a personal connection to the musicians behind it. At some events, people would queue up to have records and CDs signed by the entire band. It was the magic and the love you’d feel radiating from these people always made me smile.
On this occasion, I was able to meet with Parisian friends and have an interesting discussion on French culture. Despite the French tendency to live well and deeply in the arts and marvelous food, there is a bourgeoisie complacency present that prevents a proper youth-defined subculture to flourish. It was pointed out to me that Paris is limited in its “gig venues”; it is filled with a conservative elderly population that would like to maintain the city as a museum. The country seems to reflect this reservation in general and with a predilection for fine living, there is not enough dissatisfaction to foster the counter culture of live music present in other places like Great Britain. If the British didn’t have music to quell the cold lackluster weather, expensive standard of living, and grinding work ethic, there would be continuous riots. It’s a hard-knock life here, and you need a zany sense of humour and some good tunes to survive it.
Day Two: September 9th – Lille
All our stuff on the street as we wait to be re-housed with Byron Jackson (Photo by OKK)
The next day we had our first major obstacle as we defied death on the tour. Next destination and gig date today was in Utrecht. All packed-in and rolling down the road towards Holland, the van had cultivated a strange noise. As you leaned your head against the window, it sounded as if it was singing a woeful tune of accelerating agony. Suddenly the van began to judder, we decreased our speed and it seemed to subside. Eventually after several stops to readjust the weight in the van, and a gradual lowering of speed until we were trawling along at 40 m.p.h., the juddering worsened until we started to veer around the road in a most uncontrolled fashion. We pulled over in a hotel parking lot in Lille and procured the French equivalent of road rescue.
It was Sunday afternoon in a country that took their days of rest very seriously. Eventually, a French fellow with a tow truck accompanied by his young son turned up to assess the situation. It felt like we had interrupted his Sunday afternoon with family. Between some very befuddled French on our part and his limited English, we gleaned that the tire had buckled which had to do with a much more seriously damaged suspension. Our French mechanic signalled that our vehicle was no longer roadworthy with an ominous, “Fin,” and Utrecht was lost in the Bermuda triangle of non-events. Everything was removed from the van in one junkyard heap, looking like a gypsy campsite in the parking lot. The van was towed away as fate struck a blow that left the tour on a pinnacle of uncertainty. The rescue service was providing a hotel in Lille for us while repairs, or an alternative solution, was hatched.
We killed another hour sitting amongst pedals, instruments, sleeping bags and the odd-piece-out, a game of Risk balanced on a chair. Amongst all the stress and negotiation, we kept our spirits up with laughter. My accent may be North American, but my humour is dark and totally British. I immediately took to the surreal banter with the boys; WWII japes and silly accents on offer through every country we travelled through. Every tour has at least one catch phrase. A particular running gag, which caused no end of mirth in repetition, was the German SS commander’s phrase “For You, The War Is Over” pronounced with a marvellous wobble in its annunciation. We’d just change the words around, and use it for every occasion. As the van drove away I heard, “Vor you zee tour ist over” and we all just laughed, keeping the communal anxiety at bay.
Finally two mini cabs and a people carrier arrived. We moved everything into them, and repeated that move into our hotel. With nowhere to be and nothing in particular planned, we went on an epic walk, for what seemed like ages, to the picturesque town centre. It was a long hunt before we found an outdoor restaurant to drink in the atmosphere of our continental detour.
Hann sem óttast Death Get ekki njóta lífsins!– Icelandic for “He Who Fears Death Cannot Enjoy Life”– is the mantra for the ethos behind the Dead Skeletons, who have embarked on their first tour ever with a small handful of dates across Europe. I was present in London to record the gig for future broadcasting and lucky enough to experience this blossoming band at the beginning of their tour life. Before the show, I met Jon Saemunder Audarson, or “Nonni Dead”, as he is more commonly known, is the front man who spawned the band in 2008 as part of an installation for a show at the Reykjavik art museum. I asked him if he was nervous. He said no, and told me he did yoga and that seemed to ground him before performing, I believed him, he looked like a man engaged in the yogic arts, lithe, bright eyed and very full of life. The air was filled with anticipation. The venue appeared heaving with a sell-out. Oscillation were the opening band and celebrity DJ Tim Burgess from The Charlatan’s all added a special luster to the evening’s proceedings.
With Dead Skeletons, the extra dimension is the layers within their presentation. It’s not solely about the music. It is an interactive experience that possesses a philosophy and rich iconic imagery. The empty stage was monopolized by an old TV with the Dead Skeletons and Dead TV logo, circled by what appeared to be some ancient runic script, blinking at the audience. Nonni opened the ritual by adorning the television with burning incense and proceeded to paint a large canvas where he drew a caricature-like dark passenger of death.
Thus the festivities begun, with the TV prominently glowing at center-stage as a strange ornament, and the rest of the band flanked a few paces behind and around it. Nonni was an exotic bird with turban wrapped around his head; a textile sash wax fastened around his waist with beaded charm around his neck and the artwork he created tattooed along his arms. He didn’t just create the art; it lived along his person on his very flesh. Nonni was like a shamanic snake charmer and his singing voice echoed a droning pied piper whisking you away to his cathedral in the sky. The show had many elements of a religious experience, incense, rose-colored visuals, and a high priest TV.
On stage, the sound was rich and I looked forward to a playback of the decent recording afterwards. Musically, I find it difficult to describe the Dead Skeletons‘ sound. It does have traditional elements including that of psychedelic music, shoegaze, drone, and space rock, but it has this beat that gives it a danceable quality, a kind of cross-over of something else. The front row of the audience reflected this well with hand gestures and gyrations in the vein of Balinese dancers, slightly anachronistic with the European audience performing them.
To sum it up for you, it was a neo-religious, art house experience. Like the Twilight Zone, a tantalizing of the senses and entering another dimension of sight and sound. A band needs to find and communicate with its audience in order to be successful. Many people were dazed afterwards, the general consensus exclaiming it was a very special event, indeed. Dead Skeletons have found a home in London where their musical vision has been very warmly embraced. For those who wish to relive the glory or were not able to see any of the European shows, fear not, for Ola’s Kool Kitchen will be broadcasting this London gig very soon!
Helicon live in London at Paper Dress Vintage: picture by OKK
Telescopes gig in Le Bunker, Brussels with: Nick Keech, Dan Davis, Jim Beal, Stephen Lawrie, Byron Jackson, and Jim Messenger
Home stay in Tilburg, Holland with: Stephen Lawrie, Dan DNA and Dan Davis (Photo by OKK)
TPR-Mag.com 