A Night of Noisy Fun with Old Time Relijun

Chris Daresta

There is something unique about seeing a band in which you have no idea what to expect. Old Time Relijun is that kind of band. Even though I had purchased one of their albums before seeing the band, I was still unsure of what kind of show I would be witnessing. Old Time Relijun’s musical style lies in some other dimension in which sound can collapse in on itself at any time. A bizarre mix of many musical styles including blues, no wave, folk, and punk together form a totally unique sound. While comparisons to Captain Beefheart are warranted, mayhem is to be expected.

So when November 15 rolled around and a journey was made to Lenny’s to see Old Time Relijun, I couldn’t help but wonder if this show was going to be great or end up causing your humble narrator vast torment at the hands of those he had convinced to go with him. Thankfully, Old Time Relijun pulled off an excellent show. With a manic pace that recalls the music of the Birthday Party or the Contortions, Old Time Relijun launched into their set. The band consisted of Arrington DeDionyso on vocals and guitar, a fellow on stand up bass, and of course Rives on drums.

Instead of just being an hour or so worth of noise, Old Time Relijun were able to create a very danceable sound that was hard not to enjoy. Needless to say, it was worth it to get out and take a risk on this band. I suggest you do the same and pick up one of their many albums on K records.

Happy Holidays from WMRE!

Far from the comforting honky tonk hardwood floors of my normal Texas venues, October found me deep in the mouth of the New York City club scene, trading my comforting world of burntout classic rockers and drunken cowboy singers for a world of hard rockers. But deep in the cramped Brooklyn club, the sweet sounds of a Swedish accent and the bombshell looks of a blond singer awakened me.

The band’s name was The Sounds. Their sound seemed very similar to Blondie, only more modern and even more danceable, with the extra twist of being sung with the Swedish accent of the band’s homeland. It is easy to hear the 80’s style inspiration in their songs. But thankfully, the music they played was not just a flashback to the 80’s. It has a very unique style and feel to it, making it totally different than any type of music you hear today. There are some techno beats to it, strong rock guitar and drums, the energy of a punk band, and all this with good poppy lyrics; the hooks alone will leave you singing long after the music has ended. The stage energy opf lead singer Maja Ivarsson, the lead singercarries over into Living In America, their debut CD Every track (and I say that confidently) is worthy of a good listen. Even after hearing all the songs only once apiece, I was immediately hooked. The songs “Seven Days a Week,” “Dance With Me, Hit Me!” and the title track “Living in America” are ridiculously catchy, and if you are like me, you will be singing along with them before they are even done playing. As if the twelve good music tracks were not enough, there are also music videos of three of the songs included with the CD. I cannot say enough good things about this band. I strongly recommend checking out The Sounds in all their Scandinavian glory.

A few “tropical drinks” and some Chinese food later, The B-52’s were born. Athens, Georgia’s premiere new wave band, The B-52’s formed in 1976 by recording jams at a friend’s house and have (mostly) stuck together ever since. The band’s most distinctive feature is their trademark vocals, supplied by campy frontman Fred Schneider and the pair of sirens, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. Backed by Cindy’s brother Ricky on guitar and Keith Strickland on drums, the quintet self-released their first single, “Rock Lobster,” and hit the club circuit. Soon signed by Warner Brothers, the band recorded their self-titled debut album in 1979, featuring a rerecorded “Rock Lobster,” which became an underground hit, as well as the atmospheric “Planet Claire.” One year later, they released Wild Planet, which spawned the hit “Private Idaho” and the Cindy Wilson showpiece “Give Me Back My Man.”

The B-52’s momentum soon sputtered, however, as David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) produced, and sucked the life out of, their next EP, 1982’s Mesopotamia. To compensate, the band went overboard into electronic territory a year later with their next album, Whammy!. It added “Legal Tender” and “Song For A Future Generation” to the band’s repertoire, but they were still miles away from their early peak, and the worst was yet to come.

In late 1985, Ricky Wilson died of AIDS, and the band took it hard. After 1986’s lackluster Bouncing Off The Satellites, Strickland moved to guitar, but The B-52’s remained silent for nearly the rest of the decade. Surprisingly, they made a huge comeback in 1989 with Cosmic Thing; “Love Shack” devoured the charts, giving the band their first Top Ten hit, and “Roam,” “Channel Z,” and “Deadbeat Club” kept the album in the Top Ten as well.

In 1991, Pierson joined fellow Athenians R.E.M. to share vocals on their hit “Shiny Happy People.” However, The B-52’s fortune fell off the peak into another valley. Wilson took off, leaving just three 2’s for 1992’s Good Stuff, which wasn’t. They also contributed the theme song to the first Flintstones movie as The BC-52’s but then fell silent again for a few more years.

The 1998 greatest hits CD Time Capsule renewed interest in the band, and with Wilson back in tow, they recorded two new songs, “Debbie” and “Hallucinating Pluto,” for the disc. They’ve toured ever since, most recently releasing the anthology Nude On The Moon for their 25th anniversary. New B-52’s studio material, however, proves elusive. Wilson, Schneider, and Pierson have also hammered out solo careers.

-Nick Campbell-

All right. I said previously that I found rock and roll through Ween, and all that. Not to degrade Ween, but I found it again! (I think I should be a rock and roll bounty hunter) This time, I found it at a sparsely populated Variety Playhouse being filled out by the sounds of Guided By Voices.

Before I go further, I’m going to write quickly about what I hate about rock and roll these days. Most people are so damn afraid. Like Michael Moore said in Bowling for Columbine, our culture has become fearful. This attitude has seeped into America’s most blessed creation. I listen to the radio, I go to the shows, I buy the CDs, and what do I hear – I hear bands that don’t fuck off – I hear bands that have paid a producer way too much – I hear bands with an “image”.

And then there’s Guided by Voices. They’re old. They’re ugly. They’re way too drunk. They cover random Breeders’ tunes, they break guitar strings and amps and sit out the next song because they have to fix the problem themselves and the band doesn’t want to stop, they put out box-sets filled with crackly four-track recordings instead of re-recording the songs they’ve already captured. Despite these “setbacks”, there is still something so captivating about all of it.

It dawned on me, as they hit the stage again for their encore, that they’d rocked the hell out of a venue that was maybe a quarter full for about two hours, yet were back for more. Most other underground bands with similar name recognition and years in the scene would have been offended, or at least off-put, by seeing a mid-sized venue in a large city not even a fourth full. But it appeared that they genuinely did not give a shit – they kicked it old school like Gandhi! Amazing.

The show had all the wonderful clichés imaginable. Bob Pollard, the singer-songwriter and mind behind the group, was the definition of rock and roll. Through the entire show, he was never without his beer bottle and cigarette. He had all the poses, but somehow it wasn’t cheesy, even when he did the mic spin. You know, where you spin the mic, on the cord….. He made Mick Jagger look sad and geriatric. Truth be told, that was the most amazing aspect of it all for me – so many older rock and roll bands seem like they’re trying to hold on to some of their youth through the music. There was none of that here– Guided By Voices were doing what they loved, and playing for that reason alone–no bid for glory, no reason to fake it. For them, it seemed like there was nothing worth really holding on to other than the music.

All in all, it was so good that I waited alone outside after the show to shake the band’s various hands, but they took too long to appear and I got all nervous about being a corny fan – so instead I left a corny note on their van that said, and I quote, “Kickin’ rock and roll show! Peace.” (I write “Peace” at the end of things because I currently have long hair).

I have only this left to say: Guided by Voices – it’s rock o’clock, and with time travel this clock never has to stop! Peace.