Music

A Viking Tornado

Joe Preston, the Great NW Treasure

by Julianne Shepherd

Mon Dec 16, Graceland, $4.

A PaciFIc Northwest touring machine that's been around since '95, Thrones consists of Joe Preston (Melvins, the Need, Men's Recovery Project), who's also the current guitarist of the Whip (AKA the New Karp). Preston uses a cornucopia of high-tech, custom-made equipment (pedals, synths, drum machine, tons of amps, some other stuff I would know about if I had gone to ITT), a bass, and a guitar. That's it. But he makes his equipment sound like the biggest, grimiest, low-frequency metal avalanche that ever rained down upon humanity. It's fucking awesome, and totally epic. I prefer to think it sounds like either (A) the birth of that humongous Orc leader from Lord of the Rings, or (B) a Viking tornado.

However, though male gearheads will trek for miles to experience the technical prowess and dervishlike precision of a Thrones performance, Preston's music has a strange quality to it--one that you wouldn't expect, because it's a quality often missing from such powerful, somewhat aggressive music. Beneath the large, sci-fi-metal-proggy riffs, vocodor-altered vocals, and voluminously complex drum fills, Thrones' music is secretly tender. And, in the same way that Peter Gabriel-era Genesis was feminine in its embracement of ambitious melodies, Thrones, too, is unafraid to balance its masculinity by going the operatic route (be it in tenor, baritone, or robot). It manifests itself in Preston's voice, which teems with a melancholia and gravity. And, while his lyrics are generally unintelligible, you get the impression he could either be letting out a call to arms--or a call to sensitivity.

Then again, this could be a case of his persona bleeding into my impression of his music, because in my eyes, Joe Preston is pretty much the source for really solid, tough sludge. He is tall and imposing, and bearded to the max, and yet on stage, he comes off like the gentlest man ever, always soft-spoken in between his songs. Sound like I idealize him? I do. But it's easy, 'cause Preston carries on the great Pacific Northwest tradition of playing heavy-ass music, and if you haven't seen him play, you're missing one of Washington's great unsung treasures.

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