Ghostigital, Big Business, Melvins at Toad's

Ghostigital, Big Business, Melvins at Toad's 10/12/06

I had heard a rumor that one of the guys from Ghostigital was the guy from the Sugarcubes, but I didn't know for sure. If I did know for sure, I probably would have been more excited prior to, but more disappointed during the show. As it was, I was pretty intrigued. It was not normally the sort of thing I'd like. Lots of knob fiddling, but the live singer made up for it. Einar Örn Benediktsson was actually really engaging. For some reason, when he came out, he had an oxygen tube in his nose, but it didn't seem to be connected to anything. He had two other guys up there with him. The guy in the middle had a speak and spell around his neck and a mountain of machinery in front of him. He seemed to be providing beats and to be manipulating the effects on Einar's voice. There was another guy off to the side, standing in the darkness, playing a Travis Bean guitar through some kind of crazy rack full of effects. He looked almost exactly like a younger Alan Moore. He seemed to be playing the effects as much as the guitar. It wasn't so dancey as to piss me off and it was weird enough to keep my attention.
I lost half an hour of my life to some piece of equipment that fucked up and they had to delay the show. It seemed like every member of every band except Buzz Osborne came out to poke and point flashlights at the thing before they got it working again.
Big Business is, essentially, the rhythm section of the Melvins right now. It's two guys, bass and drums. I was really impressed with the speed and power of the drummer. The songs were pretty good, riffy metal stuff. I was standing right under the bass player; he was a beast in a big weird muumuu. Dale Crover joined them on guitar for a couple of songs. There was no break between Big Business, the Melvins set began when Buzz Osbourne walked on stage.
What struck me most immediately was the dual percussionists. The drummer from Big Business and Dale Crover played synchronously and they did a remarkable job of it. I had been impressed by the Big Business drummer, but when Dale came out, he blew him away. He was just as fast, more powerfull and completely effortless, where the other kid was really working for it. It was a great effect, though, to have both of them. Maybe the most surprising thing about the performance was the professionalism. There was no fucking around. Besides the malfunctioning power amp, everything went perfectly smoothly. They didn't really talk to the audience, but they played their songs well and put on a good show. I don't know, I guess I was expecting come kind of mayhem and chaos. Instead, it was a couple of experienced, carreerist musicians just doing their job.
I don't know a lot of the Melvin's back catalog. I didn't understand the stuff for a long time. I though it was too slow or too weird when I first heard it all those years ago. I've come around, though, and really appreciate what they do. And it's cool to see how they've influenced 2 or 3 generations of metal. I think it's great that they've been able to survive and maintain the level of quality. In listening to the new album, I think it's as good as any of their best work.


According to the internet, this was the set list:

Talking Horse
Bloated Pope
Civilized
Oven
Set Me
DOH
Sky Pup
Let It All Be
Blood Witch
History Of Drunks
Rat Faced
The Hawk
You've Never
History Of Bad
Mech Bride
Revolve
Hooch
The Bit
Lovely

Pictures (some of these are really nice):
http://flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72157594326306512/



Also: I let Dan Sorrells use my pictures for a review he wrote for Delusions of Adequacy: http://www.adequacy.net/review.php?reviewID=7297