Saturday, September 11
Warehouse Next Door
$7, all ages
doors at 9pm, show at 10pm
10pm: the plums (NoVA instrumental psych-pop)
11pm: nitroseed (mem. of earthride, ex-spirit caravan, from MD)
12am: darediablo (southern records, from NYC)
Darediablo In some ways, the generational disfiguration of rock and roll was inevitable -- since its murky birth, rock has borrowed, appropriated, subverted, and redispatched tiny bits and pieces of a million different (and varied) subcultures. The sloppy-but-beautiful result of all this mashing is sorta impossible to define with any degree of authority or clarity (really, watch VH1 for five minutes and see) but rock's intangible, ass-kicking essence still rambles on in the eternally damned souls and pointed index/pinky fingers of contemporary outfits like NYC's blaring, 70s-inspired Darediablo. Even if you've been shamelessly devil-horning to How the West Was Won all summer, Feeding Frenzy, Darediablo's oozing Southern Records debut, is a thick enough slab of instrumental rock to earn some vigorous head-thrashing and volume-topping of its own.
Darediablo have distilled rock and roll to an alarmingly pure state (never fretting over peripheral shit like lyrics, vocalists, or a fourth member) and they deliver their throbbing, gimmick-free sprawl without a single weepy apology or power-ballad-for-the-ladies. Hammond and Rhodes organs, guitars, and drums kick out the jams trio-style (keyboards at the front), and their muscular output sounds about as authentically rockist as possible in 2003 -- although, like any group of honest rockers, Darediablo owe a few nods to their blues/jazz/funk brethren (especially groove-heavy outfits like The Meters).
And much like label-and-city mates Ui, Darediablo have nailed down blunt New York jabbing. Feeding Frenzy's thrusts are unrelenting: Jake Garcia's thick, angular riffing may evoke lots of fond (if repressed) Deep Purple memories, and all three have chops-y tendencies that could be considered sorta prog. But Feeding Frenzy is more of a beer-in-plastic-cups party than a studied meditation, and the music is jumpy enough to get anyone dancing -- even if all your moves are preemptively restricted to fist-pumping and head-bobbing.
"The Hornet" shows off the band's raw, throwback power: mercilessly self-assured, the track opens with some heavy, distorted guitar play, until organs pulse in and stake claim of the melody. Chad Royce's drums push hard, Garcia solos nimbly, and keyboardist Matt Holford dutifully keeps shit in check; everywhere, kids in black t-shirts and ill-fitting jeans bite their lips and grimace happily. The big, crunchy guitar opening (and subsequent recession) happens a lot on Feeding Frenzy -- "Dark Horse" sees Garcia's pounds fall away to some comparably benign organ jamming, while "Slide Rule" comfortably intertwines guitar and keyboard. Darediablo can be a little trickier than they seem on paper, though: the instrumentation here is clever enough to satiate those who regularly storm through Guitar magazine, and their approach is varied enough (from heavy to relaxed to curiously harmonious) to keep casual listeners poised and curious.
They've got kind of a ridiculous name, a semi-hilarious album title, and a photograph of a silvery fish popsicle on the red-checked cover of their record, but Darediablo still nobly transcend every other meatheaded hard rock cliché by consistently pushing out thick, unadorned, intellectual rock and roll -- complete with compelling grooves, unremitting force, and lots of opportunities for bookshelf-shaking blasts.
-Amanda Petrusich (Pitchforkmedia)
Nitroseed (instrumental stoner/math metal from MD)
Featuring Gary Isom on drums (ex-Spirit Caravan/Pentagram/Iron Man) and Rob Hampshire on bass (of Earthride, ex-Unorthodox)
Nitroseed is an all instrumental band churning out one wicked doom drenched blues groove after another...these guys consist of members of Earthride, now I know that there is a lot of different bands that these Earthride and Internal Void guys are involved in, like Pentagram and War Injun, so forgive me if I don`t know who else is in this band...
Anyhow, these guys are right along the lines of your basic trucking down the freeway riff rock band, but without vocals. Most of the songs are medium tempo rockers, with fuzzed out guitars and bass, lots of wah wah pedal on both and little riff leads. Just basic sort of progressive hard rock stuff. Reminds me of some of the Southern sludge that comes out of the south, Clearlight would be the obvious comparison, but Nitroseed isn`t quite the same as Clearlight other than the fact that they are both instrumental bands.
All the songs on this CD do have a ton of parts and without the vocals do a good job on their own keeping the mind occupied. Good riffs, good tight rhythm section and enough doom grooves to keep any individual happy.
I dig this demo, and rumours have it that eventually one of these cats will step up to the mic, until then just enjoy the heavy path that these guys plow...If you like DC area rock, you will certainly dig this. Definitely along the same lines as Spirit Caravan or Earthride. -- StonerRock.com
The Plums (instrumental psych-pop from northern Virginia)
Plums are a collection of aging audio dissenters from Lord Arlington, VA. They play repetitive, instrumental rock-et-roll in the tradition of Pell
Mell, the Clean, and the Fall. Wait, do the Fall have a singer? Plums aren't sure. Comprised of drummer Many Spaceships (ex-John Howard, current
of Hat City Intuitive and SpanOrb), guitarist MWHamilton (ex-Freakbaby), multimedian PJ Brownlee (SpanOrb, Dang Gang Collective) and bassist Marc Masters (n/a), Plums are one of the few bands they know that practice once a
week in a basement. Plums are currently at work on their debut album, tenatively titled Watching Babies to Make Music to Watch Babies To (It's Now
or Later), or John from Occupied Westover.
