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Small
Axe CD-Release, the Sixfifteens
Valentine’s,
Friday
They’re
from Round Lake. They’re riff heavy. They’re heavy metal—the
sort that was made in those long-ago days before hair-bands
ruled that genre. They’re Small Axe. And they’ve got a message
for you. Well, we don’t really know that they’ve got a message,
but they’ve got a new CD out, and they’ll celebrate the release
of it tomorrow (Friday) at Valentine’s. We love A Shot
to the Body and A Blow to the Head—two of their
prior releases—and we’re beginning to wonder if their newest,
Ride to the Bottom, isn’t part of some Foucault-meets-Sartre
trilogy type thing. Even if it’s not, we’re sure it rocks
steadfastly, as all of their releases have. Head on over to
Valentine’s and rock en masse. The Sixfifteens open. (May
16, 9 PM, $5, 432-6572)
Red
Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age, the Mars Volta
Pepsi
Arena, Saturday
The
Red Hot Chili Peppers have been around so damned long that
Anthony Kiedis is threatening to write his memoirs. While
this might make a salaciously enjoyable read, one can’t help
but wonder if the world really needs another rock star ruminating
about his life. (Besides, all this was covered on VH1—or was
it E!?) Better Kiedis stick to what he knows—going ape-shit
all over the stage with the rest of the Chili Peppers, the
band that put the white-boy-funk into punk and got rich. The
market is flooded with Chili Peppers products now, from their
most recent album (By The Way) to Capitol’s recent
rereleases of their back catalog. Why resist? Also on the
bill are the hotter-than-hot Queens of the Stone Age—coming
off their most successful year ever—and Mars Volta. Featuring
Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez (ex-At The Drive-In), Mars
Volta have a “near-mythic” reputation as a live act. Will
they give the Peppers and the Queens a run for the money?
(May 17, 8 PM, $38.50, 487-2000)
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A
Global Threat, Clit 45, the Epidemic, Mr. Wednesday, Honor
Among Thieves
Valentine’s,
Saturday
Despite
a few considerable changes in lineup over the years, Boston-based
A Global Threat are still going strong since forming in 1997.
They played the Boston scene for a while, during which they
released a couple of EPs: The Kids Will Revolt and
What the Fuck Will Change. After a short Northeastern
tour, the punk-rockers recorded their first full-length album
on Atlanta’s GMM Records, 1999’s Until We Die. During
that time Step-One Records out of England offered to combine
their first two EPs to make a full-length album, resulting
in the LP version of What the Fuck Will Change. Also
on the band’s résumé are releases with labels like Punkcore,
Anarchist and Rodent Popsicle. Lately, A Global Threat have
been on tour with fellow Mohawk-sporting punksters Clit 45;
they stop in Albany this weekend to shake things up on New
Scotland Avenue. A Global Threat and Clit 45 will be joined
by the Epidemic, Mr. Wednesday and Honor Among Thieves. (May
17, 8 PM, $10, 432-6572)
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The
Hackensaw Boys
Club
Helsinki, Great Barrington, Mass., Sunday
We
really like the idea of a bluegrass band touring the country
in a 1964 GMC touring coach spreading the love of real, acoustic
hill music. Add to that vision the fact it’s taking place
right now (not in 1964), and that, even so, the eight have
names like Pee Paw, Shiner, the Kooky-eyed Fox, Skeeter, Salvage,
Charley Blue Eyes and Mahlon, and we’re delirious with joy
and expectation. That expectation can be tested when the aforementioned
outfit, the Hackensaw Boys, touch down at Great Barrington’s
Club Helsinki on Sunday. Advance word—and the evidence of
their latest live release Give It Back—suggests that
these young ’uns will make you holler “yee-haw” without irony
for the first time in your life. (May 18, 8 PM, $12, 413-528-3394)
O.A.R.,
the Lost Trailers
Northern
Lights, Monday
Back
when we went to college, every time we crashed a frat party
there was some wah-heavy hack band playing a way-too-long
version of “Fire on the Mountain.” How times have changed:
Since the explosion of Hootie & the Blowfish, the college
circuit has been throwing up arena-packing wonders with great
regularity. O.A.R.—who have been likened to the God of All
College Parties, Dave Matthews—came out of Ohio State University,
and their roots-and-reggae bounce has made them faves in quads
nationwide. Though they have yet to reach the status of megastars,
they’ve left the frat house behind and moved way up on the
marquis. Down below them on the marquis at this gig will be
the Lost Trailers. (May 19, 7:30 PM, $17.50, 371-0012)
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COBRA
VERDE
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Cobra
Verde with J Mascis, the Amazing Plaid
Valentine’s,
Tuesday
Cobra
Verde probably became best-known for being Bob Pollard’s backing
band as Guided By Voices, and their presence on GBV’s 1997
release, Mag Earwhig!, gave the critics something
to rave about (everyone wanted them to repeat the impact of
Bee Thousand, and Cobra Verde gave ’em the skills to
get close). In fact, one of that album’s great singles, “I
Am a Tree,” was actually written by then-CV guitarist Doug
Gillard. Gillard’s no longer in the band, and we’ve been digressing
for like a month, but when Cobra Verde play Valentine’s on
Tuesday, be prepared to be saturated with rock (we’re not
exactly sure how to prepare, there must be a Web site on the
subject). The purveyors of trashy-glam-retro-pop—the Stooges,
David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, T. Rex, and even early Urge
Overkill have been mentioned in the same breath with the Cleveland
lads—are touring behind their recently released Easy Listening,
produced by former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, a fan of the
band. Dinosaur Jr. guitar-freak J Mascis shows up on the disc,
and he’ll show up on the Valentine’s stage, too, as part of
Cobra Verde. The Amazing Plaid open. (May 20, 8 PM, $10,
432-6572)
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noted |
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ALBIE
VON SHAAF
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It
should come as no surprise by now that there will
be an interesting and unusual show across the river
this weekend, and Friday’s show with free-improv
duo Vic Rawlings and Mike Bullock fits the
bill. The two are members of Boston’s happening
improvisation scene—Rawlings plays an amplified
cello and “cracked electronics,” and Bullock’s on
the amped-up contrabass and oscillator—and they’re
coming to play a show at Troy art space 51 3rd
Street (8 PM, $5, $3 students and seniors, 281-3206).
. . . Guitar legend Kim Simmonds and blues-rock
pioneers Savoy Brown will play the Van Dyck
Friday, touring behind their latest, Strange
Dreams—Albany’s own guitar god David Malachowski
is also in the band (7 and 9:30 PM, $20, 381-1111).
. . . Valentine’s is the place to be Friday if alt-metal
is your thing, as Austin, Texas-based rap-metal
group Unloco will be performing behind their
January release, Healing; Factory 81,
Memento, the Sofa Kings and our own Great
Day for Up will open (8 PM, $10, $8 advance,
432-6572). . . . The Ironweed Collective—“a group
committed to social justice through the creation
of autonomous/self-sufficient communities of resistance
and through the destruction of hierarchies”—will
hold a benefit on Saturday at Albany’s Free School,
with music and poetry galore. Enoch (of indie-rockin’
Rockets and Bluelights), 187 Crew and Friendship
Is Terrible (those of you who memorized their
song from the back page of Screed last month
can sing along) are among the performers (6 PM doors,
$4 suggested donation, 436-0929). . . . One of Albie
Von Shaaf’s ensembles, Lowthief, will
play the Larkin on Saturday, as will Mitch Elrod’s
newest band, CountrySoulHouse (“zen roadhouse
rock”), with singer-songwriter Sean Rowe (8
PM, $5, 463-5225). |
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Columns
& Opinions
