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It was total foreshadowing, but before any of the bands played the Monkey Pub last Friday night, Briefs bassist Lance Mercer was explaining to me his longing for the days when going to punk shows was something thrilling and kinda dangerous, days when the performances were so untamed he never knew what to expect. After witnessing Veronica Lipgloss and the Evil Eyes' set that night, I don't think Mercer--or anyone else in attendance--could wax nostalgic about the bygone days of unpredictable punk shows. They were one of the wildest acts I've seen in a long time (and that's saying a lot, especially since this show came the night after the turbaned and bearded Osama Van Halen (AKA the Taliband) played a house party in the U-District with the lights out and the crowd falling into them--but I digress).
V. Lipgloss and her crew tumbled out of their van looking like they'd raided the dollar bins at the thrift store and dressed themselves in a blackout. With a mishmash of bathing suits, running shorts and veils, and cheap makeup smeared across their faces, they danced front and center to all the opening acts before getting into one sexy performance. First there was the San Francisco act's sound--a gritty, dirty mix of Joy Division drone and dark Gang of Four disco--and then there was the actual, or near actual, sex. The band's dancers flopped around, making out with and dry humping each other before they started kissing and groping the crowd--tonguing people on the neck, giving one guy virtual head through his pants, and splitting a couple apart so one of the boy dancers could make out with the boyfriend while another made out with the girl. A totally insane show that nearly required a shower--or at least a prolonged after-party--when it was over. This is the second time Lipgloss has played Seattle in less than a year--definitely don't miss the third.
Stranger Personals
In a more G-rated affair, Andrew W. K. came to town last Wednesday and stoked a substantial portion of Seattle's teenage population by following the new post-autograph trend of leaving the outgoing messages on their voice mails. During a pre-show appearance at Sonic Boom, the happiest, hardest-working man in party anthems signed posters and left his signature positive scriptures on numerous phones. A glowing Amy Dials let me listen to her personalized AWK greeting, which went something like, "Hi, this is Andrew W. K. Please leave a message and do what you need to do and party hard and have a good time." W. K. also took the time to throw a pie in the face of Sonic Boom employee Eli Anderson for his 22nd birthday, request some Hatebreed on the stereo, and take a Cold Sweat record from musician Nick Turner, the gentleman who was lucky enough to get his overdue utility bill paid by the entertainer after the last Graceland show when that was the only piece of paper available for an autograph. Taking the Sweat record with his requisite huge grin in place, W. K. just wanted to know, "Is it heavy, man?" (The verdict from Turner: Yes, it's heavy.)
Overall, last week was insane with great performances (and that's not even having space to get into Bumbershoot, which included my highlights of an awesome Shins set and the pants-pissing hilarity of Mr. Show comic Brian Posehn, who described the anticlimactic moment of meeting his hero from the metal band W.A.S.P. when he was a kid and getting told, "You want an autograph? Grow some tits!"). Two other memorable events were both at Chop Suey: the DJ /rupture and Kid606 show (a pairing that made me feel like my spine was getting jackhammered by the dissonant bass--their performances were totally mesmerizing, as they skillfully ground up and spat out everything from dancehall to pure static) and last Monday's Exploding Hearts benefit. For involving something like 11 bands, the Hearts tribute was an amazingly seamless offering of local punk talent that brought together a sizable chunk of Seattle's music community. As cheesy as it sounds, I think the show made most of us in attendance feel lucky to be living in such a supportive punk community--at least when it comes time to get together to remember and celebrate the music of a band that was well loved by a lot of groups here.
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