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Missed your
band
By Mike McGuirk
I HAVEN'T DONE
a whole lot of thinking about the year that's about to end. Honestly,
there were very few revelations for me this year. It seems my life
was pretty easy, and I had a lot of fun, but the fun was had in
areas other than music for the most part. I didn't go to a whole
lot of shows and in fact listened to about half the amount of music
that I listened to in 2002. I don't know why – I think part
of it was that my stereo was broken for a good portion of the year.
My turntable began making loud humming noises that drove me insane,
and I could not fix it. So I bought a new one, which went pretty
well for a while, but one night I knocked it over by accident (it
was resting precariously on top of the other, broken one), and now
that one hums as well.
I certainly fell out
of the loop with the live scene this year. It was difficult to go
out and see bands for some reason, so I missed a lot of shows. Most
recently I missed Crack: We Are Rock at Bottom of the Hill, which
has about the only sound system in S.F. capable of doing their music
justice. Also on that bill was Neung Phak, which is a Thai-themed
pop rock band instigated by Monopause. I wish I had seen them, because
I like the record a lot. I also missed about five Burmese shows,
the new Coachwhips lineup, the new Zeigenbock Kopf lineup, a couple
Numbers shows, Nate Denver's Neck the last time he played, Sleetmute
Nightmute when they were here, Load band Necronomitron when they
were here, and Noxagt, too, although I was at the show – I
just got there late. I didn't see Revenge, which is made up of members
of Numbers, A Tension, and Coachwhips. I also missed Revenge S.F.,
which includes members of Kung Fu USA. A friend of mine told me
I had to see This Bike Is a Pipebomb because punk's all about the
kids and they were all teenagers. I missed those shows. I didn't
see Hello Noisy either, a band the same guy told me to see. There
was also a show the Gossip played that I skipped for some reason.
I was very close to seeing Double Dutchess twice but bailed at the
last minute both times. I did get to see them eventually, however,
so maybe they don't count. I didn't go to the Coachella festival,
so I missed the Stooges. I didn't make it to Nam's last show. I
got the nights mixed up and ended up missing Dynasty at least once.
Andrew W.K. came to town, but I was back east, so I missed that.
Friends Forever were here that same week, and so I missed them,
too. I have no excuse for blowing off the Television reunion that
happened and that I heard was great. I haven't seen the new Flying
Luttenbachers or the highly touted Get Hustle. I missed Animal Collective
and Avey Tare and Panda Bear when they were here. I missed like
six XBXRX shows but did make it to one thankfully; I left before
Peaches played. For some reason I feel like Deicide came to town
and I didn't go, but those shows are always $27 and I always get
there with Will York and he finds out he doesn't in fact have a
plus one and also it's sold out and I have to walk back from Pound
S.F. That sucks, but no harm done there. I didn't see the Roofies
reunion. I had a meltdown and didn't make it to the E-Zee Tiger
show I promised I would go to.
So the only thing I can
say about 2003, with regard to music, is that I really lost touch.
The only positive musical experiences I can conjure from my memory
either happened in another part of the country or involved Deep
Purple's Perfect Strangers (Mercury). I have come to the
conclusion that Deep Purple's 1984 comeback record is so much better
than everything else that came after it, except for maybe Royal
Trux's 3-Song EP (Drag City) from 1998, that there's just
no point in buying music anymore, or even listening to it, ever.
With "Knocking at Your Back Door," Deep Purple just maxed
out human capabilities within the parameters of rock music.
Sweet Nancy was so fancy
/ To get into her pantry / Had to be the aristocracy / So we put
her on the hit list / Of a common cunning linguist / A master of
many tongues / And now she eases gently / From her Austin to her
Bentley / Suddenly she feels so young.
Come on! Sexy, rich '80s
chick, "common cunning linguist"? You cannot beat
these lyrics.
The truth is, I recognize
these signs. These are bad signs. I'm becoming confused, lost amid
the sea of too much music, and I need something to hold on to, something
I can understand. Like a new Stone Temple Pilots best-of record.
I'm voting for a Stone Temple Pilots album as one of the top records
of the year. I don't even know what it is.
Top 10
1. Stone Temple
Pilots, Thank You (Atlantic)
2. Wolf Eyes,
Mugger (Hanson)
3. Lightning Bolt,
Wonderful Rainbow (Load)
4. Neil Michael
Hagerty, The Howling Hex (Drag City)
5. OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below (Arista)
6. Elvish Presley,
Black Elf Speaks (Bulb)
7. Total Shutdown,
Total Shutdown (Tigerbeat6)
8. Growing, Sky's
Run into the Sea (Kranky)
9. Dynasty, Dynasty
(Tigerbeat6)
10. Neung Phak,
Neung Phak (Abduction)
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last month's noise.
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