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The Ghastly Ones
The Infrareds
The Volcanics
On my epic long flight home Sunday after being bumped from two previous
flights I struggled with how I would review this show without sounding like
a total toolbag, but you know what, I'm just gonna go for it.
First off, I want to thank The Infrareds and most notably Rory for picking
me up at the airport and playing host for my visit. I first met Rory widely
on accident about 5 or 6 years ago when I clicked "next site" off someones
"Cowabunga Webring" link and landed on The Infrareds webpage. I liked the
sample, ordered the disk, liked it enough to contact the email and we've
been friends ever since. Truly great humans and an even better band. I
consider their album "Recorded on Microfilm" to be ESSENTIAL listening for
GOOD surf thats been released within the last 25 years. It was also great to
see some old friends like Jeff BigTikiDude and Clint and his wife. All of my
memories with these people are fond ones, and its an enjoyment to add more
of those memories to the proverbial collection. I also got to meet Ran
Mossesco and Kristena Hernandez from the lists...not only did I get to meet
them, but we rocked our asses off in the first two rows together. I could
not cross paths with them for the next 20 years and one day when I do, all I
have to do is say "The Ghastly Ones" and we'll just smile and nod at each
other.
The Infrareds: As I said, I had been spending the weekend with Rory so I was
able to see the bands routine for preparing for a show. We got to the club
which, as Jeff had mentioned, probably wouldn't have been the best venue as
it seemed to be rooted firmly in the epicenter of the Los Angeles Vietnamese
community. Just very out-of-the-way for a surf show like this, but I've
learned never to underestimate the "huh?"-factor of a surf-supportive venue.
The Infrareds went on first to a pretty mediorce crowd. I think timing was
their enemy as most people who finished the night there had yet to show up.
Now Jeff mentioned they were slow...personally, I think their speed was
great because I was able to really hear what Rory was doing. Rory has the
ability to double pick so fast that a lot of nuances and technique gets lost
at the machine-gun fervor he plays his guitar with in a live setting.
I like to own a band's album, and then go see it happen live. To really
appreciate what The Infrareds are doing, one should own and be familiar with
their stuff. There's no "Mr. Moto" here. All in all it was a great
performance. Truly impressed. It's definitely the fastest double picking
I've ever seen.
Next up was The Volcanics. The Nebulas played with these guys when we toured
cali back in...whenever. They were nice as hell and came up to me before the
show to say hi, and boy did I feel like a jackhole when I couldn't remember
which one was Benny and which one was Frankie. Oh well, after openly
admitting it, we were reunited again! They've since added a rhythm guitar
(excellent move...rhythm guitar players rule.) and the sound really fills
out. They bring a MOB with them when they come out and play and it really
drives others to get down on the floor and participate in the fray. A great
performance which was punctuated by me haunting the Ghastly Ones merch table
and trying to understand what The Ghastly Ones go-go ghoul dancer was trying
to say to me. Oh well. (She did no rump-shaking this night)
The Ghastly Ones started setting up their stuff, and you know, it just gave
me goosebumps to see the bass drum head say "The Ghastly Ones". I never
thought I would ever have the chance to see these guys perform again. They
set up, and like a good gear-weenie I started scouting their equipment.
Garrett the lead guitar player had a blond Bandmaster...and then I saw it.
A strat.*
I cringed. "It can't be!" I thought. The Ghastlies are KNOWN for their
Mosrite sound...how can this be??? 3000 miles for strat-surf!? Oh my ears,
they bleed! The upside was I did see a FuzzRite on the floor. OK, things are
looking up. A deep sigh, and I moved towards the drums. Norman was setting
his stuff up, a vintage Ludwig 4 piece with an 18" bass drum. One ride
cymbal, one crash, one high hat. Now I had never seen the Ghastlies in real
life, but Norman is about 6'3. Probably the only person in the room who
could kick his ass was Jeff BigTikiDude. Its a funny contrast to see Norman
playing this tiny drum kit, but you know what? It worked, and did it ever. I
didn't scout the bass rig because, well...who cares?
They opened with Action Squad, and the place just WENT OFF. It was like a
surf bomb went off. The entire floor in front of the band just erupted.
Norman is basically the frontman for the band and does all the talking as
well as all the voices you hear on the album, and he has a charismatic way
of just drawing everyone in when he goofs on the mic. The band started down
their set list, and were just firing. Here are the songs I remember hearing,
in no order resembling how they played them:
Action Squad
Diabolos Theme
Thunderhead (encore, at Ran's request)
Ghastly Stomp (encore)
Haulin' Hearse
Mysterion
Spookmaster
Surfin' Spooks
and the one that was just gangbusters, Los Campiones Del Justicio
Most everyone knew the spanish wrestler names sung during the song, so the
entire crowd was yelling them when the part came. I yelled myself hoarse by
the end of that one.
They were wearing long sleeve purple dress shirts with black crushed velvet
vests, black pants, black leather shoes and the most badass Iron Cross
necklaces with the number "13" mounted in front of the cross, followed by
their signature tophats. They had set up blue/green lights facing up at them
and made ample use of a fog machine.
In summary, they sounded EXACTLY as they would on the album, with the
absence of the organ. It always blows me away how subtle and low-key these
bands are when they play. I guess the music creates this image of intense
concentration, but Garrett just stood there, exerted no obvious strain, and
just gazed out at the crowd and smiled at people he knew, all the while
pegging these parts perfectly. It was an incredible show, and the highlight
came when I tried to use an Infrareds beer ticket to buy a Sam Adams, and
the bartendress said "You can't use a ticket with Sam Adams, its not
domestic."
This struck me as funny, because back in Boston I live two blocks from the
Sam Adams brewery.
"Oh really? I bet its more domestic than you are!" I yelled. I love too-loud
house music.
It was one of the top 5 shows I have ever attended. If you have the chance,
you gotta see it. Just AWESOME.
-Dano
*Please don't flame me for my opinions of the Strat. IMHO there are only a
couple of people who can pull off strat surf and have it sound good. Ivan of
The Madeira and/or The Space Cossacks is one. Why cheat a blues band out of
a guitar? Play a Jag, JM or Mosrite.
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Brian Neal" <>
Reply-To:
To:
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Ghastly Ones/Volcanics/Infrareds short review
from last Sat.
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 17:24:28 -0000
Jeff,
As always, thanks so much for the show reports. It really helps
us "geographically challenged" folks to hear how things went first
hand. I'm hoping Kristena, Ran, and Dano can chime in too!
You got me very interested in The Volcanics too. I'm eager to hear
what they cook up.
Best,
BN
.
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