If I don't do this in chronological order I'm going to get lost. Duo-Fest was one of the longest (and most consistently amazing) days I've had in a long time and it wouldn't be fair of me to offer up an inferior writeup.It started innocuously enough. I got out of bed pretty jazzed, still riding the wave from our amazing Treetown show (link). Kicked casually around the house for a while with my coffee, rolled to the Music Loft for picks, speaker cable, a new jack plate... replaced the broken jack plate on my Tele with a metal one. Also got a new knob for my OLP in preparation for my upcoming hot rodding of said guitar.
I made it to Durham shortly after Reno. He'd found the BCHQ first (this was around 1:00 in the afternoon) and no one was there yet. That's fine, we were quite early, so we rolled to James Joyce and had a beer in the sun.
Talk of music, talk of family. Talk of houses and bands we're into and the endless interplay of friendship. Time passed in no time at all and we had to go. We left the sunblasted patio, the baked and simple streetside table...
Mission Control (Battle Rockets)
Bull City Headquarters makes me think of a less hedonistic version of the Spazzatorium. It's even in the same kind of neighborhood as the Spazz. The back yard reminds me of the back lot of Sociology (which I guess is the Spazz... now that the new Spazz has moved into that space).
We rolled in with our gear, got set up, and were ready to go at 3:00. We started off with "Forced to Retreat," which Mike and I had settled upon at the bar. It worked well as a lead-in song, just ambiguous enough in the start to draw people's curiosity, yet with enough punch in the middle to lock people in. I still maintain it's one of our most emotional songs, especially the outro.
We must have cracked a sarcophagus in the Valley of the Kings or built a mini mall on sacred burial grounds, because the curse hit us pretty hard this show. I couldn't get any love out of Big Blue, which prevented me from doing any texture vocals. Everything else was great (and the new jackplate on my guitar worked amazing), just an absence of my vocal lines. In retrospect I realize I probably had a dead XLR cable.
Go outside and hear some more music (Sawteeth McTweedy)
Sawteeth followed us on the outside stage. Great idea, I have to say, having a stage out back. The fest had an awesome rhythm, a perfect mix of inside and out... and we couldn't have asked for better weather. I stepped out and baked in the sun as Sawteeth played farmgrown songs about love & destruction - songs in which the house rots and collapses, leaving behind the sacred ground that is always borrowed, never owned. Bluesed-out guitar, often downtuned (I think one of the songs had the E tuned down to a C! It rattled more than a D usually does).
Their approach to the duo game is one of minimalism - delivering the drums, guitar, voice - leaving other parts implied. Very nice people, Mike and I talked to them for quite a while later in the day. Super real, super down-to-earth.
I missed the first half of their set because we were breaking down and packing out. Sorry, guys!
time traveler's atlas (Basalt)
Greensboro sent us Basalt, a band I'd like to hear more from. The songwriting came from the 80s, but not in a cliched or expectable fashion. Nicky writes like it's 1989 and she's been listening to the pop rock radio and wanting for it to be more, ya dig? She explores the jazz dial and loves their tonality, she loves the advanced chording and the way those women sing (it's like growling through honey). Still, she has the new waver jams stuck in her head. She knows where they were trying to go so she starts to write the music herself.
It's music that made me think what time travel would really be like... think about it, to actually go back in time and stand in a place you knew, but to stand there in 1987 surrounded by people who are now either 20 years dead or much older and to watch them go about their daily lives. Buying groceries, driving to work, oversleeping, missing phone calls... all the basic things that make up a day. The nostalgia would wash over you with equal (and overwhelming) tsunamis of loss, love, infinite hope and sadness and the shattering realization of all that will be (and how painfully soon some things are over). The completeness of the illusion, the completeness of the time travel brought about by this set, had me a little disoriented and thrilled as hell.
The lyrics introspective, the voice alternating between dark and hopeful, the chording complicated and thick with chorus that screams Cure records on an overcast day. Tracy's drumming is precise and simple - exactly what was needed for the purpose. With the kind of music Nicky writes you don't need Neil Peart on the drums... you need David Lovering. Maybe you could use Tito Puente, but then we'd be dealing with a three piece and that would be just wrong.
The most amazing hats in the world (Scientific Superstar)
Scientific Superstar are a rare band, in that their music is silly and cartoonish but impossible to be taken anything but seriously. Bass and percussion and a Batman's ransom of gadgets - including a homemade percussion stand that looks like a hobo's i.v. drip - relentlessly organized samples delivered with professional precision. I don't know where these guys learned their craft, but they're a digital/live hybrid of perfect balance. Are they Mr. Bungle whittled down to the essential core (and with all of Mike Patton's self-loathing ejected into space)? Are they They Might Be Giants with actual bass tones (and with all of the general suck of that band ejected into space)? Are they evolved from Frank Zappa like some kind of modern day dinosaur, hiding out in a warehouse and biding its time (ejecting all the fossils into space, establishing where exactly a modern dinosaur fits into western society)? I don't know where I'm going with this, but I really enjoyed their set.
More of this, please (Fortress of Swatches)
Ottovonbismark could't make it so Joe (of that band) brought us a different duo. Fortress of Swatches is Joe & his wife Selena (whereas Ottovonbismark is Joe and his twin). Very inspirational, if music that's kept within the family - so to speak - is this amazing then I want to hear more.
I got my wish. There were several husband and wife duos on the bill and the interplay was always seriously rewarding. I told Rachel that I wanted to buy her a drumset. I think she likes the idea... and there will be space at our new house!
Spastic, amazing, tight... louder than freight trains battling on an airport tarmac.
Yet loud is not the opposite of quiet... (Sequoya)
Hanging out with Mike Gray of WKNC for most of the festival. We had a conversation about how Sequoya was the perfect name for a post-metal band with five guitarists and a Hammond player. They were not that, however, they are Bonnie and Matt - Bonnie with the stories and the guitar and Matt with the bass and the banjo. Matt channeled the darkness with his banjo, bringing the haunted graveyard to bear on us all. Bonnie whispered and crooned, not tiptoeing but diving headfirst into human sorrow. These guys belonged outside for sure, shifting gently in and out of reality like ghosts as we watched, transfixed. Diabolically quiet, music so engaging that passive listening is impossible. We all met them halfway, there in the sunshine, as they brought countless skeletons up from the soil and laid them on the gravel.
A reversal of headstocks (Victor Victor Band)
Victor Victor band also played outside, which was a great place for them. During their set a little group of neighborhood kids wandered over and totally got into the music. I loved this, playing a family friendly venue that achieved said accessibility without having its teeth pulled! This calls to mind an outdoor festival I tried to get my old band Million Dollar Sunset on back in Greenville, only to be denied a slot in favor of a cover band to keep things "family friendly."
Who are these people who would rather have their kids listening to mediocre horseshit than having their minds challenged?
Anyway, it was totally refreshing to see kids there. My fingers are crossed that they remember the music they heard and that it moves them to listen to the Good Stuff when they're old enough to select their own ear candy. I'm also thrilled that Anjali (Reno's little girl) could make it to our show. She's never seen us play live and this was our first show that we felt comfortable bringing a 6 year old to. Thanks, BCHQ!
Anyway, Victor Victor band took a style I generally can't do - modern blues - and fixed it. The essential core of the band remains, like a star that's blown off its outer shell to reveal a dense heart of compacted neutrons. Husband and wife again (I can't get over these husband/wife duos! So tight!), locked in on some serious drum and guitar hero action. Danielle was in the driver's seat of this band - easily. She pushed the songs like a pro with a charging rhino of a kickdrum and pistol shots from her snare. She played keys while drumming on a few songs as well and, honestly, the keys tended to distract from what I perceived to be the nature of their band. The undeniable brutality of stripped-to-the-core electric blues works best when nothing is subtracted from the drumkit, especially when the drummer is as talented as Danielle. Perhaps if they invested in a foot-driven keyboard? Jamie, for his parts, was a perfectly technical guitarist with a pair of overdrives and a bit of a blues howl.
Don't bring Cheez-its to a vegan function.
I felt so clever to bring Cheez-its Duoz to the potluck, but apparently vegans don't eat cheez. Who knew?
Phon couldn't make it due to the tragic destruction of one of their number's eyeglasses.
Your home planet called, but we won't let them have you back. (Spacelab)
Holy crap... whatever happened next happened for a reason and I was thrilled speechless to hear it happen. Two unassuming dudes with two tables' worth of aural toys show up, start plugging things in and mashing buttons, and the most amazing and non-linear music I've ever heard happened. I leaned over to Duo Dave at one point and said "I'd love to see how these guys compose!"
It's true, though! The end result of all their sound-wrangling was directional melodic caucophany, the deliberate transformation of noise and feedback into coherent music. So many things were going on, uncountable layers, vocals shifted and digitized to the cyborg realm, semicoherent hooks wandering in and out with inimitable catchiness. I felt like a little kid watching his two older brothers as they discovered strange new toys through some Outer Limits door hidden in the back room of the Toys-R-Us... terrified to play along but thrilled by the innumerable mysteries of a world gone robotic.
The great aaaaa-whoom! (The Saint Peter Pocket Veto)
I have only seen these guys play twice, the other time was the Reservoir with The Bronzed Chorus, and I can dig what they do. More than anything, I'm just amazed they do it without the benefit of effects pedals. This is a super-spastic instrumental two piece consisting of a Brian Chippendale disciple and a shred addict on a ridiculous pink SG junior copy.
A lot of this happened.
RAT RAT RAT RAT RATATATATATATATATATA
BleeeeeeeeBAAAAAAdadawoooooo wah wah wah WAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
BOOM ta RAT ta BOOM TA BOOM ta
And then some of this happened (without a microphone, of course).
"MOE OH WE ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR NAAAAH!"
I do love unamplified yelling, I really do, and I liked their time tricks. Much like Fortress of Swatches, they specialize in abrupt tempo and time changes, often delivered mid-measure. Saint Peter are more into giving their audience whiplash, as their changeups are consciously jarring and abrupt. Expect to leave their show feeling like you've just been in the best car crash of your life.
the Hindu advantage (Beloved Binge)
Now I understand why Hindu gods have so many arms. It's because they've been watching Eleni play drums and can't do it with less than four arms. The entire religion is based on her musical ability, but don't tell her. I doubt it would go to her head, but it's a pretty huge deal and we wouldn't want to tempt her into using her powers.
I mean, holy crap... she can play rhythm guitar and drums at the same time (with brushes, no less!). Eleni also packs a keyboard, which she rests on her floor tom... and she can pull it off WHILE PLAYING A FULL DRUMBEAT. She may have been the best drummer there. It's a close call between Eleni and both members of Fortress of Swatches. It was the year of the drummer regardless. Though I'm a guitarist I watch the drummer in a band more than anyone else. Especially in a duo do you need a top notch percussion section.
I've been hearing about Rob and Eleni for a long time and their set was deeply rewarding. If anyone deserves constant touring, it's them. Their music is fun, unique, honest... and it just plain rocks.
tiny drumset and big amps (All Your Science)
I'm going to lose some friends here, but All Your Science really didn't do much for me. The documentary didn't help matters. A lot of people liked it, but I found it to be pretty condescending. Drummer Z-man, a total biketivist, passed judgment on everything from having toms in your drumset (not making this up) to buying more than three items at a time at the grocery store. I love bikes, my bike was my primary form of transportation when I lived in Greenville, but I caught a distinct holier-than-thou tone in his documentary that made me not want to meet him. He burned, at one point in his documentary, on people who play through full-size amps even though his own bandmate plays through a gigantic amp. I guess I just wasn't European enough to get it.
You should probably watch it yourself and form your own opinions. I attempted a google of it and couldn't find it. Eleni did a great job in the filming, editing. My beef was with the content, not the production values.
I'm going to approach the music on sheer technicality because I've figured out what I didn't love about it. The drumming was precise and Z-man made the most of his little backpack kit. Endemic to the size of his bassdrum is a lack of volume and a lack of punch, however, and his kick was badly overwhelmed by Lu's guitar, resulting in a drumline that was all snare and cymbal with the occasional "fwap" of his kick (which sounded more like a bodhrán). One thing he did that I liked, however, was his occasional use of his kick as a tom by hitting it with his stick.
The guitar lines were really good. Lu's a very good guitarist and she plays the most amazing old Silvertone. My problem with the songs themselves was in their composition. The composition came across haphazardly and often the songs ended illogically unresolved. Lu's guitar lines are very good. I think their songs could use a few rewrites and more percussive variety and they would be unstoppable. There are greater evils in the world than playing a full drumkit...
(such as?)
Oh, just for starters let's go with the human toll of improperly discarded computers? (link)
Well, I'll probably never play Durham again after writing that. I wanted to give my honest opinion, so I give it unapolagetically.
Ferocity and its discontents (Mecca Normal)
My initial reaction to Mecca Normal was one of discomfort and confusion... until I realized that Jean wanted us to get a little uncomfortable. She lays everything on the table, every conversational aside and every intimate detail, painting a brutally honest picture of her own life and inviting her listeners to draw their own parallels. I realized, as I came in tune with what she and David were doing, that this is something I want to do and that this is what I've been trying to do with the Where the Buffalo Roamed songs (one of my two bands - link). I don't go in the same direction she does but the brutal honesty, that there are no secrets or details too personal to lay on the line, that I can respect.
By this point in the night - I can pretty much pinpoint it - my conversational skills had wandered across the river styx (I'm going to say "with gold coin sunglasses," even though I already used that line once as Hawk Season). This was maybe the 7th or 8th hour of music and my poor brain was fried as hell.
Jean has amazing vocal control and power while David has an amazing sense of time... he is the rest of the band. He doesn't imply the other members, they live in him. This really locked in, with both members, on "I Walk Alone," their closer. This song, at the age of 25, is still as hard-hitting as it was when I was three. Jean throws down the mic and struts through the crowd, belting out the hook in a hypnotic and brutal chant, physically tiny yet a hurricane of ideas. David, for his part, laid into some brutally heavy distortion and ended the song with a ferocious Townsend windmill that turned his face red and threatened to throw him to the ground with its impetus.
All I could say to Jean when their set was finished was "How many lungs do you have?" I like to provide more intelligent feedback than that, but significant portions of my brain had turned to silly putty. If I had been firing all my cylinders I may have said something about her amazing hybridization of Patti Smith vocal devolution and Ramones liquid catchiness, equal parts cave woman and crooner.
Psychedelic helipad (Trophy Wife)
Delicious cassette tape anachronism, complete with tattoo. US Capital noise, fired from the deep and fierce core of DC heavily armed. Amps, drums, vocals unencumbered by microphones. Two soldiers surfing the edge of deafness, heavily armed and brutal but laughing. Combat is a game and they're just as happy to go against each other as they are to lock their instruments together into a superweapon and blast away at the side of a mountain.
Midway through the set (that is to say, ten minutes in) did a string break, so we got to hear bad jokes and a stream-of-consciousness journey through '90s music. Somehow I managed to open my mouth without having first jammed my foot in it and now a room full of music nerds knows I've seen Weezer twice... this is why I was trying to be as quiet as possible. My mind, at this point, was half swiss cheese and half bird bones.
These girls also live in the "too many lungs" club. I can't believe I could hear their voices over the PA and all those amps! The PA definitely wasn't able to keep up with this level of sound, but they pulled away from their mics and screamed anyway and DEAR GOD IT WAS LOUD. This is some Tony Plichta (Serpents, Descolada, etc) style megavoice.
Psychedelic bromeliad (Veelee)
These guys were the biggest surprise of the festival. In the preparations for Duo-Fest I took limited listens to everyone's pages but, by virtue of the sheer volume of bands to share the stage with us, I didn't give everyone's page proper attention. It's overwhelming, knowing you're going to be playing with 15 bands. My mindset was to give everyone a brief listen, but to really get to know their music at the festival itself. Veelee were a bit of an unknown quantity, allowing me to be completely blown away when they turned out to be amazing.
Matt and Ginger - primarily Matt on guitar/keys/USS Enterprise navigation console and Ginger on percussion. Both sing (beautifully) and harmonize in tight thirds, often weaving around the melody line to imply it. Something about Ginger's drumming really got me. There are better drummers out there, true, but she has a very unique approach. She tends to keep her accents at the end of a measure. Her staccato phrasing complements the vocal lines rather than being jarring, resulting in super-catchy music that makes me want to totally walk like an Egyptian. Less than a week later, when I caught them again at the Cave, I found some Lake Trout in Matt and Ginger's interplay! I can barely put a finger on what they are, exactly, but I love it.
Maybe it's all the Sound Opinions I've been listening to and maybe it's all the time I spend talking music with DUp, but I've really come to appreciate intelligently written pop songs. Catchiness and the ability to write a good hook is a strength and it's VERY DAMN HARD, considering all the hooks that have been set before. Kudos, Veelee. I'll come back and see you guys again and again.
Psychedelic olympiad (Curtains of Night)
...and the day will end as it began, with amps stacked on amps, with ex-metal drumming, with WMD-laden pedalboards. Watching Nora of Curtains of Night play was a rare experience for me... spectacular guitar work. I could't help but say to myself "You know, I can't do that!" It was a perfect match for my addled brain, I let the force of nature that is Curtains of Night liquify the remaining rational regions of my brain and I smiled the gentle smile of a recent lobotomee. Liquid psychedelia, like a tanker truck load of LSD dumped in the city's water supply, smooth and dark and evilly delicious... human nature explored from all its sides and reduced to inexplicable simplicity. Deep in our history, deep in a decayed yet living forest, the druids come across ruins from an equally distant past and they, being the most modern civilization they know, shake in fear at the enormity of time. Life surrounds them in the woods, from beetles chewing away in the branches of the trees to the stillness of a giant hart standing not ten paces away - absolutely stationary and invisible against the forest wall.
Summer camp is over and everyone is going home.
I made a few thanks and made my way to my truck. I didn't talk to many people on my way out, I knew how far my conversational skills had slid. I talked to Dave, Eleni, a few others... I don't even remember what I said. I meant to say things like "Duo-Fest was amazing" and "I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to split." I may have told Eleni I was the world's smartest falcon, for all I remember. I was 1:00 in the morning and I'd been at it since 2:30. My brain was filled to overflowing and I suddenly wished I lived right next door and could walk fifty feet, collapse, and sleep.
Along the highway... along I-85... along old 86, through Orange County... those same idiotic deer playing chicken by the road and a brutal wreck... or was that some other night?... through the haze of exhaustion to my home... I get home and I eat a gigantic bowl of chili... exhausted for another week, full circle... to finally finish this blog a week later (April 25th - 10:56am to be precise)... well, it just took that long to process...
I can't wait for the next Duo-Fest.
Next: April 25 (technically, that's today) - Jack Sprat (Chapel Hill)!
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