PERSEPH ONE
GTRS
@ rudyards houston tx 10-1-09
an early show to benefit girls rock camp houston. show started about 6:30 pm and was opened by GTRS. i had never seen gtrs play before, i recall they played last winter when the maryland group wilderness came to town but i missed that show. after a sloppy opening song they pretty much killed with a great set of psychedelic pop that owed as much to the velvet underground as it did the zombies. the thing that made this band for me was their use of backing vocals. it reminded me that not many bands are using them these days. it seems like forever (and in punk time its like 6 - 8 generations later) since bands like adam & the ants, the clash, the newtown neurotics and others were making a living based on awesome backing vocals. dead roses has this working for them as well. dead roses get this. as do gtrs. more bands need to understand this. drop the ego and let someone else sing. the surprising highlight of their set was a great cover of the dream syndicate song tell me when its over. it reminded me of how much i miss that early dream syndicate sound. where are you karl precoda? i was told this was gtrs next to last show in houston as they are moving to north carolina. a real shame for this town. but as i've seen in the relatively short time i've lived here - houston does not support their own.
PERSEPH ONE followed. she is a rapper who looks like she just stepped off the set of degrassi high and took the stage to a chattering audience that pretty much ignored her introducing herself and i was a bit worried for her - but only for a moment - because when the music hit she exploded out of the gates with these spiraling lyrics shooting mysticism and truths in all directions. there is a big problem in american music these days - it exists in rap, it exists in rock and punk.. wherever you look... people going on stage and performing yet they've got nothing to say. at least nothing worth hearing. what has happened? is this why the experience of the north american babylon has trapped us in our house of dread? perseph one has alot to say and i really look forward to hearing more. musically, it reminded me of stuff we used to hear from the on-u sound label. does anyone even remember that moment in time when the punks met the rastas at adrian sherwood's house and recorded those paranoid claustrophobic reggae sound system clashes during the downtime of public image ltd's metal box sessions? i found it most interesting when she finished her set rapping a cappella about venus and mars and the void and everything under and over and beyond the sun. oh, and regarding the degrassi high comment - she blows drake away.
we concluded the evening with MYDOLLS. this was a legendary houston post-punk band that existed from 1978-1986. the space upstairs at rudyards where the bands play used to be mydolls apartment. i wasn't really aware of mydolls in their time. i probably heard their name now and then in nj but i just didn't know. kirsten O has been playing their records on his post-punk show on KTRU (every tuesday at 7 pm CT - you should check it out) and that's where i first heard them. on tuesday this week he interviewed them and that is what led me out to this show. although the band ended in 1986 they get together every now and then to play benefit shows. their set consisted of an almost tribal post-punk that reminded me of the slits and gang of four and late period proletariat, although i doubt those bands were hearing each other at the time. lyrically they were very political (again - they actually had something to say!) but it was their next to last song that flashed me back 25 years and over 1600 miles away back to my high school basement bedroom in cranford nj. it was christmastime 1985 and i was listening to pat duncan's hardcore show on a thursday night on WFMU. he was playing nothing but hardcore and punk christmas music. there is a long tradition in punk of christmas songs and adopting christmas songs, this goes back to the politics inherent in punk. if you think of christmas carols as the original protest music i.e. the shepherds were sick and tired of being oppressed and paying taxes to the king and fighting the king's pointless wars. all they could do was hope and pray for a saviour to overthrow the system and lead them out of this babylon. that my friends, is what christmas carols are all about - ah, but i digress... so back to my story - i'm listening to this radio show and taping songs. i made a great 90 minute cassette of punk rock christmas songs. i still listen to this tape every year. for the most part i don't know who the artists on the tape are. but there was one song on this tape that still comes into my head on a semi-random basis. it was a song called christmas day and i've loved it for almost 24 years never knowing who sang it - UNTIL MYDOLLS PERFORMED IT! and it was an incredible punk rock moment. it was a feeling i've only experienced one other time in my life, that had something to do with the mekons and their 'new york' cassette. i'll save that story for another time. mydolls followed christmas day with a great cover of the fall classic totally wired. the good sized crowd singing the backing vocals.
-rich kimball
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