| The
Electric Six
Emo’s. Thurs. Oct. 23,
2003
When I heard this band for the first time I was amused. They
had me hooked with their metal-disco sound, their lyrics about
Dance Commanders, Gay Bars, and riots in Taco Bells.
The music backed the silly stuff and I was genuinely interested
in catching this show.
Live, the Electric Six fell into a schticked rock band’s
generality. The songs were not as tan as the studio versions
leaving the sound so, well, real. The other songs they played
just proved how walled-in these guys had made themselves.
The four or so songs off of “Fire” that have provocative,
funny vocals were eagerly awaited by the fans who had got
drunk to listen to the party songs that made them all laugh
the first time. But like crack, you can’t really get
back to that first bleem. In between what I surmised as a
strategically written set list to defend against the entire
crowd leaving after the album standouts were through were
some slabs of rock recall. There was the pop metal crunch
of Quiet Riot’s rock song structure riding atop the
bass groove of “Shattered” by the Stones. All
the while a straight outta the 80’s keyboard accompaniment
subtly pushed the Human League envelope. That might be the
best way to put it. The Electric 6 also made me think of Queens
of the Stone Age and the access they granted to the untrained
ear in the last two years. (I’m talking about that spoonful
of sugar that makes the metal sound go down.) Without the
populus having a context to put the Electric Six in, they
might have come off as successful twisters of genre. Ween
also has played a role because without them you’d have
to be into Zappa to appreciate the humor in the lyrics. Flying
out in musical references in a good way were Adam and the
Ants wild frontier git sounds and a song which made me think
of Joe Jackson’s “Look Sharp” album.
They played a self-proclaimed power ballad that the singer
stated the record people made them do. It was like a Dead
Boys song gone, once again, a little crunchy for access’
sake. Sadly I thought, who gets into a position like this
anyway? This thought was the most interesting part of the
evening. I watched as the singer deprecatingly commented on
playing the “dance material” soon. It was apparent
that these guys had seen a similar reaction when the new stuff
didn’t deliver and the rowdy crowd needed the choice
cuts. I felt that strange novelty-act vibe when the crowd
thinned on them as the set progressed. The collective attention
span needed more than real musicians playing tunes, that,
after all, is so pre-9/11. A ticker tape across the bottom
of the screen with a countdown to the funny party songs could
have helped. The singer mockingly waved at the crowd as if
to say “hi, you pre-fed jackasses.” He was feeling
it, that’s all, the void. Adding insult to injury was
the pit that erupted during the song “Dance Commander”;
one of the stand-outs I mentioned. All they needed was mud
and a rape and we all would have felt in place. They had the
fire already, “fire in the disco”…
-Kevin Stack
Spoon,
Richard Buckner w/ AA Nightmare, Fire Marshals of Bethlehem
Emo’s, Sat., Oct. 25, 2003
After a pleasant set by Austin all-star band the Fire Marshals
of Bethlehem, Richard Buckner and his own collection of local
luminaries set down on stage, took every pre-conceived notion
of what the set would be like, threw them out the window and
proceeded to reconstruct the career of a man once compared
unfavorably to the late Elliot Smith. Jacob Schultze (organ),
Andrew DuPlantis (bass), Jason Morales (guitar) and King Coffey
(drums, natch) all provided a backdrop of noise, accompanying
Buckner’s elevation from lonely songster to Psycheldelic
Cowboy God. A solid set of gravity-defying atmospherics driving
his tales of woe and alienation made for a more than mind-blowing
set.
Next came the battle cry of the Tick, Spoon. Still riding
high on the success of their latest release, Kill the Moonlight,
Britt Daniel and co. put on a very professional and highly
entertaining set. Relying mostly on material from Moonlight
and the previous disc, Girls Can Tell, Daniel herked and jerked
his way all over the stage like an electrocuted epileptic
while drummer Jim Eno and the bassist and keyboardist kept
the backdrop quirky, catchy and just a touch haunting. The
live rendition of Spoon’s most popular “hit”,
The Way We Get By (performed on both Conan O’Brien and
Carson Daly) came off even more paranoid and stark than the
recorded take and Jonathon Fisk truly smoked, but the whole
set was spot on, no lowlights rearing their ugly heads. As
for street credibility, does a cover of the Stooges’
Loose qualify?
Once little more than an approaching-generic indie rock band,
Spoon have grown up, truly finding their own unique sound
and quite possibly a niche of sorts. Time will tell.
-Trevor Wallace
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