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ventaAcoustic bass! Performance drummer! Glockenspiel action! Three singers!
Yes, it's a Violent Femmes gig.
OK, imagine a three-man band - guitar/vocals, bass, drums. You know how it works, right ? The guitar/vocalist is probably in the middle, as the front man. The bassist will be off to the side, looking a bit shifty. The drummer will be at the back, in the gloom, and largely ignored.
The Violent Femmes don't work quite like that. All three members are lined up across the stage. In the middle is the drummer with the world's most minimalist drum kit - one "normal" drum (a quick google suggests I mean a tom), one snare drum, and one cymbal. To the right is the bassist, armed with a gorgeous, fat acoustic bass. Over to the left, and clearly the most ignorable of the three, is the guitarist and main singer.
Oddly, though, my initial reaction was disappointment. One of the songs I'd been looking forward to hearing was I Held Her In My Arms, and the line-up on stage clearly didn't involve enough saxophones to play it properly. Either a poor rendition, or none at all, was all I could hope for.
A few songs in, quietly and unobtrusively, three blokes wandered on stage to stand in the semi-gloom - a trumpet, a sax and a tenor sax. They came and went throughout the set (and I got my I Held...), and were utterly great. One guy, in particular, whose name I didn't catch (Peter Something?), was marvellous on the tenor sax. He looked as if he was in his sixties, and somehow had an air about him that suggested he was playing the sax in working men's clubs aged 17, and been doing it ever since. Something about his stripey shirt and grey hair convinced me that he was a cockney, too.
He had been introduced as "the best in England", which of course suggests that he is someone whom the Violent Femmes had just picked up for the UK tour (they're American). Somehow, this seems to fit with my idea of the band - a slightly ramshackle touring crew, bolstered by whatever high-quality musicians they can persuade to come along. This idea was somewhat reinforced when they roped in the bassist of the support band to play in Gone, Daddy, Gone to free up their own bassist to play the glockenspiel.
I actually didn't know much about the Violent Femmes' background, but on the way home ChrisC told me that they were originally "discovered" when The Pretenders heard them busking and invited them along as a support act. And somehow, that seems to fit. Although I imagine that their stage show is fairly organised these days, there's still the feeling that one of them might just start improvising and the rest would happily follow.
I did wonder, as I watched the drummer (and his two drums) thumping out simple lines, hamming it up, dancing round the drum kit (he drums standing up) and occasionally throwing the drumsticks as darts onto the cymbals, whether it was hiding the fact that he actually wasn't a very good drummer. Four minutes into the drum solo in Black Girls (during the which the rest of the band wandered off stage for a chat), I was convinced: anyone who can get that many contrapuntal lines going with only two drums (and two hands) is not a poor drummer.
The bassist, too, turns out to be unexpectedly accomplished - as well as toting an acoustic bass, which is bound to win my approval, and playing proper guitar-wank style solos on it, and being able to play proper guitar-wank style solos on the glockenspiel, he also whipped out various wind instruments for incidental bits, strange sound effects and, of course, proper guitar-wank style solos.
All of which explains why the main singer, with his gravelly growl of a voice and great guitar playing, tends to get a bit sidelined. He does have a very generous demeanour, though, stepping off to the side of the stage during the sax solos, handing over the limelight to the session musicians (who did eminently deserve it).
I don't remember when I last saw a gig where both the band and the audience just seemed so goodnatured - I don't know what it is that made them seem that way, they just did. Friendly, improv-style punk with a folk edge, and everyone came out smiling.
Incidentally, I was convinced I spotted![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
childeric's hair dancing away to Blister In The Sun, but was completely unable to see Childeric himself. Does anyone know if his hair goes to gigs without him ?
Oh, and bonus points to us for style: After a nice, but slightly confusing meal at an Ehtiopian restaurant, which had taken way longer to serve than expected, we walked through the doors of the Forum as the band came on stage. How's that for timing ?
The Violent Femmes have been added to the list of bands one should, if necessary, crawl over rotting corpses to go and see.
Yes, it's a Violent Femmes gig.
OK, imagine a three-man band - guitar/vocals, bass, drums. You know how it works, right ? The guitar/vocalist is probably in the middle, as the front man. The bassist will be off to the side, looking a bit shifty. The drummer will be at the back, in the gloom, and largely ignored.
The Violent Femmes don't work quite like that. All three members are lined up across the stage. In the middle is the drummer with the world's most minimalist drum kit - one "normal" drum (a quick google suggests I mean a tom), one snare drum, and one cymbal. To the right is the bassist, armed with a gorgeous, fat acoustic bass. Over to the left, and clearly the most ignorable of the three, is the guitarist and main singer.
Oddly, though, my initial reaction was disappointment. One of the songs I'd been looking forward to hearing was I Held Her In My Arms, and the line-up on stage clearly didn't involve enough saxophones to play it properly. Either a poor rendition, or none at all, was all I could hope for.
A few songs in, quietly and unobtrusively, three blokes wandered on stage to stand in the semi-gloom - a trumpet, a sax and a tenor sax. They came and went throughout the set (and I got my I Held...), and were utterly great. One guy, in particular, whose name I didn't catch (Peter Something?), was marvellous on the tenor sax. He looked as if he was in his sixties, and somehow had an air about him that suggested he was playing the sax in working men's clubs aged 17, and been doing it ever since. Something about his stripey shirt and grey hair convinced me that he was a cockney, too.
He had been introduced as "the best in England", which of course suggests that he is someone whom the Violent Femmes had just picked up for the UK tour (they're American). Somehow, this seems to fit with my idea of the band - a slightly ramshackle touring crew, bolstered by whatever high-quality musicians they can persuade to come along. This idea was somewhat reinforced when they roped in the bassist of the support band to play in Gone, Daddy, Gone to free up their own bassist to play the glockenspiel.
I actually didn't know much about the Violent Femmes' background, but on the way home ChrisC told me that they were originally "discovered" when The Pretenders heard them busking and invited them along as a support act. And somehow, that seems to fit. Although I imagine that their stage show is fairly organised these days, there's still the feeling that one of them might just start improvising and the rest would happily follow.
I did wonder, as I watched the drummer (and his two drums) thumping out simple lines, hamming it up, dancing round the drum kit (he drums standing up) and occasionally throwing the drumsticks as darts onto the cymbals, whether it was hiding the fact that he actually wasn't a very good drummer. Four minutes into the drum solo in Black Girls (during the which the rest of the band wandered off stage for a chat), I was convinced: anyone who can get that many contrapuntal lines going with only two drums (and two hands) is not a poor drummer.
The bassist, too, turns out to be unexpectedly accomplished - as well as toting an acoustic bass, which is bound to win my approval, and playing proper guitar-wank style solos on it, and being able to play proper guitar-wank style solos on the glockenspiel, he also whipped out various wind instruments for incidental bits, strange sound effects and, of course, proper guitar-wank style solos.
All of which explains why the main singer, with his gravelly growl of a voice and great guitar playing, tends to get a bit sidelined. He does have a very generous demeanour, though, stepping off to the side of the stage during the sax solos, handing over the limelight to the session musicians (who did eminently deserve it).
I don't remember when I last saw a gig where both the band and the audience just seemed so goodnatured - I don't know what it is that made them seem that way, they just did. Friendly, improv-style punk with a folk edge, and everyone came out smiling.
Incidentally, I was convinced I spotted
childeric's hair dancing away to Blister In The Sun, but was completely unable to see Childeric himself. Does anyone know if his hair goes to gigs without him ?Oh, and bonus points to us for style: After a nice, but slightly confusing meal at an Ehtiopian restaurant, which had taken way longer to serve than expected, we walked through the doors of the Forum as the band came on stage. How's that for timing ?
The Violent Femmes have been added to the list of bands one should, if necessary, crawl over rotting corpses to go and see.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 10:53 am (UTC)on a sidenote, i saw the Violent Femmes in concert years ago. great gig. I didn't know they were discovered by The Pretenders.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 10:58 am (UTC)I must admit I was quite surprised at The Pretenders idea. I'm not very well educated in my Pretenders, but they don't strike me as a band who'd pick up random scruffy punky buskers. I have a new respect for them.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 11:16 am (UTC)I want to hear them now ! Do you own any CDs of theirs ? If so, may I please borrow one ?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 12:15 pm (UTC)(It is, she says slightly shamefacedly, only a pirate copy made by
no subject
no subject
Date: 2004-12-06 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-07 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-07 04:40 am (UTC)If there we came to any serious conclusion about origins, I don't remember - and I've got spidering turned off, so can't search to find it. What are the explanations you've heard ?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-07 07:33 am (UTC)how's that for ironic?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-07 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-07 03:46 pm (UTC)I guess this inclines me towards the Romany idea, since it seems odd that the word would be current in Darlington, Co. Durham, but not the intervening areas, if it originated from Kent or Cheltenham.
I could well believe that the word originally was what Romanies called each other, and thus ended up being what others called them insultingly. I don't know, though.
I strut my stuff
Date: 2004-12-09 06:37 pm (UTC)Re: I strut my stuff
Date: 2004-12-10 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 02:50 am (UTC)With regard to the 'Femmes, I first got turned on to them in the early 90's and saw them in London around '97, this was with their 2nd drummer though. Their original drummer [Victor DeLorenzo] left the band in the 90's and has latterly returned around 2002, so the Femmes line up you saw is the original one.
Every Femmes album is quite different in flavour, but excepting their eponymous debut I'd strongly recommend "Hallowed Ground", which continues in a similar but more experimental spirit, and the decidedly jazz/gospel tinged "The Blind Leading The Naked."
Also worthy of specific mention is the compilation album "Add It Up", showcasing the Femmes at their very best - the split studio / concert recording of "Lies" segues seamlessly from the lp cut to an incendiary live re-reading, which proves conclusively that no man [or woman] alive can play acoustic bass guitar like Brian Ritchie.