THE BEST BAND YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF
by Jarrell Young
THE SET UP:
Two of the most talented and influential musicians of the industrial scene
came through Jacksonville July 3rd. But you wouldn’t know, because you
didn’t see them. They were once core members of one of the most well known
industrial bands in the last twenty years. But you didn’t see them. They
played a great show. But you wouldn’t know, because you didn’t go.
THE HISTORY:
When KMFDM broke up in 1999, two of the three founding members, En Esch and
Guenter Schulz began a new project called Slick Idiot and released an album,
DickNity. It has been out almost a year. You know En Esch as the tall bald
German guy with the dominating voice on almost every KMFDM album and put out
a self titled CD that featured collaborations with many, such as (the then
obscure) Ween. He was also an alternating member of Pigface and has a
(currently shelved project) called Barely Legal with the Crystal Method’s
Trixie Reiss. You might not recognize all-around renaissance man Guenter’s
name, but it is his guitar that you hear on such KMFDM songs like Godlike and
Drug Against War. He is an accomplished and published photographer, and has
put out a video, Face It, chronicling photographs of fans taken during a
seven year period at KMFDM concerts. He has done photography and music for
documentaries for the Canadian government in Guyana and has a small child.
But like I said, I bet you didn’t know any of this.
THE BAND:
If anyone is a fan of what KMFDM was back in the day and doesn’t like them
anymore because of their "new" style, well hey, look no further. En Esch and
Guenter and other band-mates Michael and Melanie have taken the flavor of
what made KMFDM fun 10 years ago and made it into their own baby. Original,
yet, familiar in a good way. They have taken the guitar riffs, made it less
metal, added some electronic beats ala’ Future Sound of London and Underworld
and injected the industrial history that made them famous. To humble and show
some sense of levity, there is some humor mixed in with either samples or
lyrics. While some of their songs insinuate they don’t take themselves
seriously, it is all but when it comes to musical performance. Mel, their
female vocalist on tour with the band, has a strong deep, powerful voice and
holds her own against En Esch; it’s not a whiny Goth voice either. She’s a
blues singer, how’s that for a touch of originality? Their back up vocalist
and drummer, Michael brings his own style, and a little of the Tim "Ripper"
Owens-Judas Priest fantasy to the band. Guenter plays for perfection,
methodically note for note, thankfully going without any Peter Frampton-like
solos and plays in tune with the band, not outside of it. And En Esch, is
well En Esch, co-collaborator, lyrics, drum pads, guitar and all around nice
guy. While they are still kind of unknown, they have recently signed with
Cleopatra (don’t let the name fool you, there are a few decent bands on that
label), and will have distribution through them and I’m sure follow-up tours
promoted by the label. They have plans for a follow-up with all new material
and a pending CD featuring remixes off DickNity submitted by fans during an
online contest late last year.
THE RANT:
Ah, to be a fan in the "industrial" music scene. We are a lazy bunch. A band
comes, a band goes, and that’s it. No Epitaph. I would have thought the
internet would have eliminated this laziness with a few keystrokes on a
search engine, but I guess I was wrong. Why do I go on this little soliloquy?
Because it sickens me that Slick Idiot came to Jacksonville on July 3rd for
the "HIGH LIFE FOR LOW LIFES TOUR" and I hardly saw anyone there. This band
wasn’t going to play in Jacksonville, they weren’t scheduled to at first,
but they WANTED to. This is the respect we give them. There were less than 30
people there. Most of the people were the members of Elara, who opened for
them. The others were people I have never seen before in a club. Those
"others" are called fans. Whereas the people I see regularly at the clubs
were absent at the concert. Where were you? Was your house on fire? Did you
actually have to work on the Fourth of July? What was the excuse? This makes
me ill. All I have heard the last few years is, "No one comes here, there are
no good concerts in Jacksonville". Well hey jackass, there was one here and
this is the fan support it got. Even if you don’t particularly like them,
how do we expect to get more concerts here when no one comes to them?
Apoptygma was on a Sunday and was almost 30 bucks and tons of people showed.
These guys played the night before a national holiday and a long weekend for
most, and tickets were only 10 bucks. I will admit, there was not a huge
promotion and info out letting everyone know, but I can safely say with
assurance that there were flyers around town from Orange Park to Riverside.
I also know that there were flyers for the band in Tampa and in Orlando.
They didn’t exactly fly under the radar. I saw several thousand people in
Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale (for the now verge of suck) KMFDM 2 weeks prior.
There were less than twenty in Orlando for Slick Idiot. Guys c’mon, I know
it’s the rage to dislike a band when the other guys go their own way, but
this was the heart of the band, not the corporate advisor that now fronts
KMFDM alone. I bet more people went to see Vanilla Ice.
THE CONCERT:
After some delays to get to Jacksonville, Slick Idiot came on a little late.
The band opened up with (obviously) songs off DickNity: It Wont Do, Merci
Beaucoup, Make me Believe, etc. They ended out with an encore of their
version of Godlike and Drug Against War. By far S.I.’s version was much
better than KMFDM’s live performance and rendition Godlike two weeks earlier.
En Esch and the guys played for about and hour, playing up to the crowd,
joking around with the audience and having some fun dealing with the sound
problems of the club and their equipment. For the amount of people that
showed, the Idiots played as if there were a thousand people there, which is
just cool. They could have trudged through the set by the numbers to get it
over with but they didn’t. I can also say that this concert had a first for
me also. One of the folks at the concert had brought their five-year-old
daughter to the show. She was up on stage with the band for the show, adding
"backup" lyrics and some dance numbers. What other band and concert can you
name that is fun for the whole family? All in all Slick Idiot performed well
despite mitigating factors. They put on a good show for the crowd and
interacted with them in a way that not many bands do these days. After the
show, they stayed around for quite a while, signing stuff, hanging out,
conversing with the fans, etc. Hopefully, the next time they come around,
you’ll come out and see them.
• You can purchase Slick Idiot’s album “DickNity” as well as Guneter’s
video Face It online at www.slickidiot.com. You can also download mp3’s,
live footage, the latest news, contests and tour info as well.
• You can frequent discussions on Slick Idiot and other forums for KMFDM
members past and present at www.kmfdmdogma.com.
• And finally, for info on their Cleopatra release, go to www.cleorecs.com.
__________________________________________________
E-Craft
Terrorfakt and Dj Hellraver
at The Social (Orlando)
8/17/02
First off, I have no idea why "Dj Hellraver" was even advertised
on this tour. I sure didn't see him do any Dj'ing. He was just playing mixed
CD's and sometimes and entire side of one CD. Furthermore, Terrorfakt, which
was the opening act was not even announced at all! Well, it's a strange world
folks. Anyway, I was again back in Orlando to see yet another Industrial
show, this time by the band known as E-Craft. It seems like Orlando is this
strange Mecca which draws industrial bands to play there. I don't understand
what the big deal is, maybe Disney? Who knows. At least these bands are
making Florida a part of their tour. There were a few Jacksonville faces
besides us who made the trip, which was nice to see. We arrived at 9:00 when
the doors opened, and waited till at least 11:00 before the bands started.
The club finally became crowded after a while which was a good sign. However,
someone kept testing the fog machine just a little to much, till you couldn't
see the person in front of you. It was sort of like being in a fire.
Since "Dj Hellraver" was such a HUGE dissapointment, I was quite
pleased when "Terrorfakt" took the stage. Garbed in camo pants, and hooded
sweats that hid their faces, this duo from New York pummeled the audience
into submission with their brand of instrumental industrial. The back of
their shirts read "New York Power Noise" but to be honest, this was not
really noise. It had some elements of the noise genre, but it was closer to
harsh industrial with evil samples layered into it. Labeling aside, the band
was still very enjoyable, so much in fact that I bought their CD. This is
definitely a band to watch out for.
E-Craft finally came on around midnight, and despite some minor
microphone problems, put on an entertaining and fun show. The singer was
definitely... energetic for lack of a better word. Imagine a german version
of David Byrne singing industrial music is the closest comparison I can come
up with. He kept making these strange hand gestures... but hey, to each his
own, right? Everyone has their own stage gimic. The band was also dressed in
matching uniforms each having a white armband with the E-Craft logo on the
side, which looked very militant. They tore through material from their
albums, "Electrocution and Das Unit" for about an hour, laying down some
great tracks such as "Puppet Nation, Electrocution, Fahrenheit, and Kill The
Fakes" to name a few. One of the keyboard players also doubled on vocal
duties on some songs, which gave the vocals more power. The crowd seemed
quite pleased, as people were dancing and flailing away to the pounding
beats. I hate crowds who just stand and stare, don't you? Overall it was a
fine show by these German lads, and hopefully they will make another attempt
at touring the U.S. again soon.
-Craig Harvey
__________________________________________________
Incubus.
6/27/02.
by Whitney Weiss
photos by Katie Helow
The last time Incubus came through Jacksonville, they were with the
Deftones, trying to expose more people to their Make Yourself CD, which as of
then was just boasting a hit called "Pardon Me." Though the band had many
other discs and years together under their belt, they were just beginning to
blip on a mainstream level. Later that year, "Stellar" and "Drive" brought
them more fans and attention. This past October, Incubus released Morning
View, inherited even more TRL fans, and this time around, they played the
Coliseum instead of the UNF Arena.
Despite their newfound level of success and the amount of underwear
and stuffed animals being flung at them, Incubus has stayed true to its roots
as a band who performs their own style of music, which mixes various genres
while continuing to be something audience members can appreciate on many
levels.
Sticking mostly to material off their last two albums, the group
performed all of their singles, which received enthusiastic response, and
mixed it up with songs that included tribal drumming courtesy of singer
Brandon Boyd, who, much to the delight of the screaming girls behind me, did
indeed remove his shirt halfway through the set.
In addition to his enthusiastic djembe-playing, Boyd stuck closer to
the Eddie Vedder than the Axel Rose frontman approach, hopping
enthusiastically around the stage in his Converses and adding quite a bit of
energy to the band's songs, which made them explosive live.
His everyman rock persona, which is that of a bona fide sensitive
artist, resonated most during the band's acoustic break mid-set. A couch was
pulled to the center of the stage, and Boyd, along with guitarist Mike
Einziger, proceeded to sit down and play, giving a casual and intimate vibe
not unlike having Incubus performing in your living room...except for the
whole arena full of people part. The group opted to play "Pardon Me"
acoustic, and for that were joined by their bassist, who also stayed for
"Drive."
The beginning of the acoustic mini-set was perhaps the best moment of
the concert. With only Einziger on guitar accompanying him, Boyd sang
"Mexico," eyes closed, magnified on the screen behind the stage. At the end
of the song, he wiped an actual tear from his face. Not a fake tear, or fake
sincerity. This is the same man who, later, during another slower, more
serious song, responded to a girl sitting on a boy's shoulders and throwing
her top at him by throwing it back at her and telling her to put it back on.
Incubus has the poise, the talent, and the ability to throw together
an excellent set. Their maturity and versatility guarantee them a longer
shelf life than many of their contemporaries, and I rest assured that they
will be writing and performing far longer than their underwear-monging
new-metal peers. The only negative thing about their performance was it
simply was not long enough.
__________________________________________________
Genitorturers
Jack Rabbits / July 12.2002
The Genitorturers impressed the Jacksonville crowd they played to with their
unique sound and stage show. This concert was one of the best that I have
been too in quite some time. Well the Genitorturers played songs such as 'Sin
City' and ended the show with a very well done cover of ACDC's 'Highway to
Hell'. Even though the show was all ages Gen used props from a red top hat to
a metal dildo. But if you missed this show do not worry. The Genitorturers
are going on a world tour this fall to promote their newest EP 'Flesh is
Law'. To get a list of the tour dates when they become available go to
genitorturers.com and you can also find what ever else you needed to know
about the Genitorturers on their website. But the show at Jack Rabbits on
July 12th is one I will surely never forget.
-Kent Donohoe
