The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower
w/Akimbo, Teen Cthulhu
Mon Jan 6, 2nd Avenue Pizza, 8 pm, $5 (all ages).
An innovative San Diego act with the memorable moniker the Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower is taking residence down the hall from the shredded cheese and marinara sauce Monday night at 2nd Avenue Pizza. Even though the venue is only about twice the size of a bathroom for the handicapped, this isn’t an act to be missed if you’re a fan of cross-pollinated punk.
The Plot is an expanding four-piece that marries punk and jazz in a cacophonous ceremony of saxophones, breathless screaming, chopped-up bass lines, polyrhythmic drumming, and guitars wound up to charge into noisy combat. What could come together as an abrasive, off-putting mess actually blends into an interesting coupling of normally discordant genres.
The Plot’s new debut full-length, Dissertation, Honey (Happy Couples Never Last), takes the act’s boundary-bashing even further, beginning the disc with a jazzy spoken word intro before cranking into a Fugazi/Refused-ish high intensity rant with tightly wound guitar work, staccato beats, wailing sax, and ominous bass rumblings. The rest of the album shifts between rest and restless, with Wurlitzers and trumpets adding to the calm interludes before the band embarks on its next speedy, avant-hardcore expedition.
The Plot was officially hatched a year ago, when Brandon Welchez (vocals, sax) and Chuck Rowell (guitar, vocals, melodica) were feeling stifled by the constraints of their previous band, Sasha, and decided to take more chances with their music. “I was just watching a jazz documentary and it inclined me to learn more,” says Rowell. “Before that, [my points of reference for jazz] were all Miles Davis or more run-of-the-mill artists, but then I started to see these guys (Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus) who were causing trouble and really stirring up music in the same way that the Circle Jerks and Black Flag did. With Brandon knowing how to play saxophone and me having inspiration, we both just sort of de- cided, why not combine punk and jazz?
“There’s a lot of jazz that can appeal to punk kids but they just don’t know about it,” he continues. “And they have preconceived notions about what jazz is and what it sounds like–so we thought, there has to be a way to show kids that jazz can be punk. The two don’t have to be separated, by any means.”
The band members’ sonic concepts are strongly DIY, though, and they clarify that they’re no Eric Dolphy protégés when it comes to tackling even the freest sense of jazz. “We’re definitely not these incredible, super-experienced jazz musicians,” says Welchez. “So we’re taking the punk philosophy that anyone can do it, and trying to extend that to other influences as well. Punk gave kids the idea that anyone could play three-chord rock, and we wanted to take that and say, well, fuck, even though jazz is really intelligent music, why can’t anyone do that too? I have a basic understanding of saxophone and Chuck knows his way around piano, so why can’t we do something with this as well?”
The Plot (which also includes drummer Brian Hill and Dan Maier on bass/vocals) continue to break from convention in their live shows, where they refuse to play places that aren’t all ages and often set up in the middle of the audience as opposed to on a stage. “We love playing on the floor and being immersed in the crowd,” says Maier. “We like to jump around and have fun and be energetic. We’re definitely not ones to just stand there and play.”
As for the all-ages credo, Welchez says, “We only play all ages because punk is kids’ music. I’d rather play to high-school kids than some 25-year-old hipster who doesn’t really give a fuck, and is there to be seen. I’d rather play to people who want to have fun. We try to share something with them other than, ‘We’re going to play for you, and you clap for it.'”
Overall, the Plot are committed to making music inclusive, whether that involves concocting new cross-breed genres, creating innovative setups for their live shows, or working with people outside the band, such as their spoken-word scribe, Kailani Amerson. “Collaborating with other people doesn’t happen very often in punk–especially if you’re doing it for the pure fun of the music,” says Rowell. (Hence the use of Welchez’s brother on trumpet on Dissertation, or inviting members of other bands to join them on stage.)
Although they pretty much stick to punk and jazz right now, Welchez says there’s nothing holding the Plot back from journeying into other musical realms as well. “All of us are avid record collectors, and we listen to all kinds of stuff,” he says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future there was an Arabic influence or a klezmer. It’s just a matter of saturating yourself in something so much that it just comes out.”