Last Friday night at the Crocodile, I was reborn. Just like I was reborn three years ago when I saw Pretty Girls Make Graves for the first time. Remember them–the band that pretty much kicked all laurel riders in the ass and in the process revived the local music scene? Things have been waning a bit in the past year, and the promise of great things to come has been boringly overshadowed by the farty 10 Years After Grunge jubilee. But SPIDeRBITeS? This is the band that is going to blow your mind. Seriously, they are THAT GOOD, and how could they not be–Ryan Davidson, formerly of eXBeSTFRIeNDS, is back, ladies and gentlemen, as Seattle’s most charismatic and talented singer. I shit you not. I haven’t been this excited about a band in years.
Also at the Croc that night was Big Business, and the emphasis on this act most certainly lies in the BIG. Former Karp and Tight Bros from Way Back When bassist Jared Warren and drummer elite Coady Willis (Murder City Devils, Dead Low Tide) had the room vibrating so hard I was wishing I’d worn a sports bra to the show. Do you miss godheadSilo, and are you, like I am, absolutely dying for Mike Kunka and his new band Smoke and Smoke (which also includes another Murder City Devils/Dead Low Tide refugee, Spencer Moody) to release a CD? Well, Big Business should more than tide you over until then. Otherwise, go to www.smokeandsmokepracticespot.com where you can watch the guys live in their practice space.
In the world of rock journalism, or whatever, there are some things you just don’t do. For example, you don’t throw a tantrum when you arrive at a club to find the band you interviewed has forgotten to put your name on the guest list. Take your lumps and be happy you had the chance to talk to the band at all. You steer clear of trashing a band in print and then having the gall to attend their show. They don’t want you there and neither do their bloodthirsty fans. The other thing you avoid, apparently, is standing up Deep Purple‘s bass player/super producer Roger Glover for a phone interview–even if the snub was unintentional, as it was in my case, stemming from not recognizing the oh-so-significant difference between the letters PST and EST until about three crucial hours too late. Of all people to leave hanging by the telephone, for crying out loud.
Deep Purple in Rock (1970) is one of my favorite records (even if I only heard it for the first time a year and a half ago), although the majority of the band’s fans would cite Machine Head as Deep Purple’s best. But Deep Purple in Rock is an album that lumbers and shatters, often within the same track (Vanilla Fudge only lumbered), and back in its day stood not only to announce the arrival of what would become dinosaur rock, but also to celebrate a band that had released three definitive heavy metal records before Black Sabbath made its debut, and that had a Top Five U.S. single (“Hush”) before Led Zeppelin finally shook the blues with Led Zeppelin II. However, both Sabbath and Zeppelin are widely agreed upon to be the inventors of heavy metal. Oh, how I would have loved to hear Glover’s take on that. But I’m the kind of asshole who misses such momentous opportunities. Goddammit.
You may or may not be familiar with the fact that the crew of the doomed Columbia space shuttle listened to Machine Head (“Space Truckin'” was their daily wake-up call) as they went about their important business in space. After the tragedy, Glover, Ian Gillian (remember him as J. C. in Jesus Christ Superstar?), and Ian Paice, all members of the classic ’70s Deep Purple lineup, recorded a new album called–ahem–Bananas in tribute. When the band, filled out by Don Airey and Steve Morse, comes to the Paramount on Monday, February 9, Machine Head will be played in its mutherfuckin’ entirety. Hopefully, and I’m just saying, Bananas will not.