[Lafayette, IN] At least here, the doorman remains the same… and one of the bartenders too… and the “Please Don’t Do Coke In Our Bathroom” sign. Unblah! This band was fantastic. The lead singer was dressed 80s nerd with the curly pompadour and pointy white shoes – he gyrated and he had his smoke machine. I am a massive sucker for synthy dark music so this all would have been enough for me, but this band was more than that. For one, the lead singer was also an astounding guitar player – and how many astounding guitar players choose to form a band like this? I wish they all would. They were kind of a more rocking Joy Division, a more synthy Bauhaus – but there was also something rich in their music – the band head nodded throughout, as if they were shoegazers. And I liked that the shortest band member was sandwiched between the two tallest band members and was practically reaching up to his high keyboard. This band’s sound is too reminiscent of 80s goth to be described as breaking new ground but what a welcome relief from all the new sound nonsense.

[Houston, TX] I remained discomfited by the exceedingly genteel crowd, but this band comforted me to a certain extent. Their members pretty much explained the people in the audience who had been of visual interest. They were a spare sort of semi-dark folk, which is a genre I love. Great fiddle, minimalist keyboard, heavy drums, and some echoing backup. The lead singer (of course, one of the mean cold hipsters who had shunned me outside, with his little moustache) was poetic and convincing. It turns out the lead singer was in a dark folk band notorious in Houston: listenlisten – this is him quieted down. I really liked them.

We saw the band at Roky Erikson’s signing before the show. Among Roky’s motley crew of hippie, chubby, loony fans (who like him because they’re like him), they stood out with all their youth and cool. They were like Roky’s scenester wingmen plus one hot girl. It wasn’t clear whether they were backing Roky or if they were their own band – they were both. It was also confusing because there’s a band from the 60s called The Baskerville Hounds. They told us their music was similar to Roky’s to the extent that they were dark too. They were really good – had the spirit of a Jack White band but less minimalist. Keyboard, 2 guitarists, backup vocalist, drummer.

[Portland, OR] We only saw his very last song but we enjoyed him very much. The list of people he has played with is impressive. He is emphatic about not being a one-man band but kind of is, though not in the cheesy way. He reminds me of Nick Cave. He’s gothic folk, maybe punk. One review described him as scary but I liked him right off – with his dark sarcastic air.

[Orange Country, CA] We were so close to staying on the couch instead of going to this show but Rockboy got fired up and waged a campaign to convince me to go – it wouldn’t have worked, because I’m old and tired, except for the fact that this band, amidst all of the various punk bands I’m only moderately familiar with, has always stood out as unique and gorgeous – so we went and was it ever worth it golly gee whiz – there was a bunch of speed metal bands who opened for them – one of them told the crowd between a song “We’re going to go ahead and speed things back up” which was amusing because the music had never stopped being ferocious as far as I could tell – then there was a young punker rocking out by the stage by himself with only the bare cement of a future mosh pit surrounding him – in one last glorious move, he picked up a beer can from the ground and raised it to his lips with his X-ed hand (X for ‘under 21’) – he was promptly gathered up by bouncers and dropped outside before he ever even got to see TSOL – it was very entertaining – in other mosh pit exploits, there was a girl who ran into the mosh pit which is always inspiring to me – and then she went one step further and took a guy out with her elbow – she stepped back out of the mosh pit and retrieved her eyeglasses from her back pocket to replace them on her face – even Aretha would have shown some respect – finally TSOL came on and it’s pretty much a blur of gloriousness from that point on – the lead singer is OLD now of course, and even kind of portly, but he was a raging maniac – bounding around the stage and commanding every person in the audience – I think this band’s sound is amazing – it’s some blend of speed metal, punk, goth,… – all of those genres can get boring and repetitive but TSOL’s songs are brilliantly written with unexpected turns and starts and pauses – dramatic and catchy too – they manage to be hard and beautiful at the same time, and to create an atmosphere in an instant – I can hear their CA roots too even if it’s just my own nostalgic fantasy – my euphoria was dampened when I went to the back and couldn’t pay my tab because a fight broke out behind me, and then came face to face when some sad hippie boy who was all bloody and was led out – I recommend “Thoughts of Yesterday” and “Sounds of Laughter”

[Indianoplis, Indiana] girl in black with feathers on her head, jerking herself around the stage wailing and whining – backed by three guys, two guitars, and a drum – she expressed angst very well, and sometimes used a loudspeaker to do it – kind of reminded me of a singer/songwriter version of Babes in Toyland which is ridiculous – I liked them a lot actually – dark, pacing and dancey – her voice is great – she’s familiar to me somehow, hopefully because of the music and not the personal torturedness

[Denver, CO] a top show – they were weird in just the right ways – their frontman was a white guy with a gold tooth, a baseball cap and thick-framed glasses – their guitarist and co-vocalist was a gothic man with slicked back hair and dark-rimmed eyes who made me want to laugh because he seemed to see the humor in being a gothic man – I had a bad view but there was an extremely short man playing a double-necked red velvet guitar and supposedly an old old man playing a lap steel – the more unremarkable bass player and drummer round up the group – just looking at them immediately made me think of Nick Cave and gothic country and rockabilly – and so went their sound, a gothic hyped up Americana with gospel influences – dynamic stage presence and a seemingly adoring fan base – the two vocalists together inspired all kinds of visions of debauchery – also got a visit from HBomb and TheSpunkyOne

equal parts stoner metal, 80s goth, shoegaze, and jam band (at least during some of the drum solos) – you’re probably picturing a bunch of guys on stage right now you big sexist – but no, an all-girl band, and girls of about 23 at that – breaking through all the barriers, this generation of girls are – and hotties, every last one of them, with the sort of style that redeems it – the shy one with bangs covering her face and a flannel shirt a la the 1990s on lead electric guitar with the voice of a sweet demon – the main vocalist also on electric guitar with Robert Smith’s hair in white and a longish tailored black jacket – pretty-pretty girl on bass in dead-center who ought not to have chewed gum through the whole show – and then the drummer. oh the drummer! when they were setting up, I thought, “there’s one bitter glum girl” but by the time she got going she was helplessly ecstatic, hands and grins a-flying – some people were born to be drummers and this girl is one of them – she is the driving force behind the band, leading her friends and the audience from slow melancholy wailing to driving thrash to genuine dance rock beats – they used echo effect on all of the vocals which is kind of cheating but definitely created an effect, reminded me of Siouxsie in spirit to some extent but of a much harder Mazzy Star most definitely – general aura reminiscent of The Cure with one song in particular completely replicating the dark ringing undertones – especially skilled at mixing tempos without seeming false about it and then drawing you into a lovely mindless repetitive loop of drone – their most memorable song, although maybe not their best song, was “Billie Holiday”: it began with one of them harmonizing original lyrics to the others spelling out B-I-L-L-I-E-H-O-L-I-D-A-Y – it sounds cheesy but it wasn’t – the song then progressed into a dark cover of “My Guy” – can’t figure these girls out in general I would speculate they’re clean upper class girls with solid music training and burner leanings but that would just be speculation – it is not speculation to say that I like them quite a lot – 3 other best things about the show: 1) crowd was distinctively hipster-folk (consciously but casually dressed: shabby chic pants, camouflage hats, belly button length beards, etc.) but probably because Akron/Family followed, 2) their email list asked your gender, and 3) a guy in the crowd raised his hands up in the shape of a heart and kept flicking it at pretty-pretty but she didn’t (or refused to) notice

formerly in Flat Duo Jets – night and day, fantastic guitar player and great singer, gothic rockabilly?, this raucous acoustic set was accompanied only by his junkie sister on a weird box-drum that she tapped and thumped very well – made me think of Italian operas (dark emotion in his voice), David Lynch (had a song that quoted Blue Velvet), Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus (gothic country), Jonathan Richman (mixed trinkling melodies with odd singing)

Burnt Fur were awesome. Why they were playing at Ramrod, a leather bar, I don’t know (on recommendation of a DJ that works there if the stories are true.) The band found a credible vibe between the Cure (which they credited as an influence) and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

The entire set was polished, high energy songs that walked the fine line between punk and new wave. Songs like Warm All Day were at one end of the spectrum while a track like Cats was at the vast other end. But it all worked.

The band traded off instruments and vocal duties and far surpassed expectations in the decidedly un-Ramrod crowd. A cover of The Glove’s Orgy sealed the deal. A magnificent performance.

this band was distinctive in a quiet way – there was a girl on guitar and singing in a slinky glittery dress of large black and gold stripes – she had on black nylons and no shoes – there was a clean-cut cute urban-looking boy in black on guitar – there was a drummer in something – their music was a gothy sort of dance-rock almost approximating a poppier Bauhaus which is a pretty dramatically positive comparison to make but there you have it – they both had good voices – too low key to go crazy over – oh and they were part of a Swedish showcase

by supposed show start-time, there were still two long long stationary lines (one for the badge/wristband people and one for the others) – then the lines were segregated into people-with-bags and people-without-bags – you might have thought they’d hold the show until people were admitted or that they would get people in before start time, but things were well underway by the time I got in – despite all of this, seeing Peter Murphy finally made the wristband a worthwhile investment – he looks like an old rocker but had the energy and magnetism of a young rocker – his coolness is so established that he and whomever his musicians were know they don’t have to try too hard – no fancy outfits – no real stage show – even with a little ragged t-shirt and a glaring bald spot, Peter Murphy’s voice-of-goth and innate sexiness transcended everything – he prowled back and forth on the stage and swept his arms into backbent wings – four foolish men were annoying me with mid-show banter but they bought me beer so – terrific show

Detroit. Based in a dark dance-rock foundation. Good grooves of the bass and lead guitarists\” riffs added interest and complexity. The I-Am-Defined-by-My-Freakiness lead singer\”s voice ranged from Nick Cave to standard indie rock. Something about them made me think 80s and goth though neither were quite their sound. Liked them.

this band was my favorite from a wealth of SXSW fantastics and I was even more impressed this time, some bands strike the personal chord and this band is one of them for me, the singer\”s voice is a tremendous creening wail and the fiddler fiddles like a mad genius and the whole band has the fierce energy that sets a crowd to dancing without their full consent, the drummer was on top of his drumset several times, they paint traditional bluegrass/country-type-songs black and then hype them up with a gypsy punk undertone, inspiring as recordings and even moreso live

the motivation for this outing – this band has twice been the “best show ever” that I missed and Rockboy saw – they definitely knew how to work a crowd though I found the mix of psychobilly and exhortations to chant “Hell Yeah!” disconcerting (it’s the name of their album – but still – I attributed their lack of cultural consistency to being from Denmark) – the lead singer, Patricia Day, has the most gorgeous honey-rich speaking voice I have ever heard and wooed the crowd with winning grins and a tight black dress – she also played a fat upright bass and regularly stuck a fat little tongue out of her mouth at the crowd – she paused midway through the show and yelled at a guy in the crowd, “Can you please stop choking him!?” and proceeded to fully berate him, telling him to cool his hormones, it was very exciting and set the audience to cheering – the other highlight of the band is the guitarist (and husband) and sometime bass guitarist/vocalist as well, Nekroman, who also plays with The Nekromantix – it seemed he must have emerged from the womb playing psychobilly music but I found the tattoos of vegetables on his neck distracting – their sound is great: although the instrumentation tended toward straightforward psychobilly, the songs were distinctively more melodic and gothic-lite than typical – a sound similar to Tiger Army’s but I might think that because they share a label – they also did a ska song that was particularly pleasing to me (they have three, says Patricia) – although they put on a good show (though bringing drunk attention-seeking girls on stage was a mistake) their sound was quite off to the point that her voice was muffled and the overall sound was scratchy – Rockboy felt that they were rushing through songs and had lost that raw passion that new bands have

this band exudes exactly the sort of smirking depravity and darkness that I like, the MySpace monologue that describes his upbringing and disposition simultaneously makes me roll my eyes and delights me, lots of homoeroticism, did I also mention that they were produced by Jay Reatard – the fourth musician out of all musicians from all times that I would marry without question, I was very disappointed that I missed both of their SXSW shows this spring, I was mildly disappointed that he turned out to be a curly-headed very cute clean child of age 23 tops which explains the shallowness of some of his lyrics but I prefer to believe it all masks glorious depths, he was accompanied by a keyboard wizard and a depraved-in-the-tacky-and-icky-way drummer, their best stuff in my opinion is the raging synth-punk heavy on the ominous organs, some of the recorded songs I\”ve heard are reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails but generally they\”re in line with a whole school of current bands like Lost Sounds, The Vanishing, and Destruction Unit, there was good variety in the songs and singing style – some less-synthy punk songs for example, lastly he voiced a desire to be picked up by a label so he could live in Hollywood which confirmed again an unattractive value system or a charming lack of indie-pretension

oozing with dark sexuality, the perfect holy sneer of a voice, fuzzed synthy background music, unfortunate cover of Nine Inch Nail\”s “Hurt” should have been left to wannabes like Johnny Cash, the Bauhaus and otherwise material was perfect

very disappointingly the sound went kaput with them and they\”re supposed to be one of the best local bands right now, the vocals weren\”t turned up enough, wearing old fashioned ranchero wear, from what I could hear they were very appealing, slow shuffling country-infused rock with creening off kilter vocals and flat chords, reminded me of a more Americana Gun Club, innocent darkness

my favorite band of SXSW – they almost made me cry, so unique and perfect taking the darkest country and wacking it up, think the guy\”s voice is big part of their charm – unique – though disappointed by his youth and cleanliness but these are things that cannot be helped, maybe a tad of gypsy there too, also can\”t help that they\”re from New York, I remember the fiddler doing a superb job too

mix of Tom Waits and Nice Cave; Rockboy hears Jim Morrison in the singer’s voice, I hear sex in the singer’s voice: incredibly literate with a wry humor and “subtle” neck tattoo; lead vocalist was dressed like a hobo and the rest were loungey in sharp clothes and sunglasses; drums, guitar, bass, guitar, percussion, saxophone, keyboard; nice and dark

went with protest because this would be my 3rd time but Rockboy reminded me he did what I wanted to do night before, they are an entire concept and a production but they\”re a boys band and a party band, the lead clearly worships Hunter S. Thompson/Fear and Loathing… what with his persona and silly monologues, held back from telling Rockboy that they are in essence a cover/dance band for the aging punk set as in the detested Brew who do 80s/90s Top 40 on 4th street

such a class act, really respect them this time, Cramps covers and others but more important is the attention paid to whole show what with lighting energy and satan\”s cheerleaders

I thought they were Hives-sounding (are from Sweden) until Rockboy nabbed it with The Cure, not half as entertaining as opener

sounded more Velvet Underground than Lou Reed, he was the force behind jumpy songs like “Waiting for My Man,” Lou fought with him and kicked him out out of jealousy, his solo work anticipated punk and new wave scenes, he wasn’t AS impressive as his bio made him out but definitely a #1 in-store

I knew of one song he did with Beck (‘Pullin’ Up Roots’), we decided to go because description of him was wicked and evil, he was a good DJ “Metallica, new wave” and it turned out he was an even better rapper, gothic men with black fingernails should not rap, show was entertaining for its uniquity, ended up being disturbing because he was clearly mentally unstable (thus genius) or at least horribly miserable, and though he clearly hated us (the crowd) he seemed slavishly hungry for our worship or was trying really hard to promote his albums by throwing them into the crowd, and pouring beer from a pitcher into upturned mouths

they have an incessant numbers of gigs and after hearing them at the roller derby I\”d discounted them as some sort of wedding singer group for the roller derby set but they had a schtick and did it ever stick, 4 Satan\”s Cheerleaders, one stump-armed upright bassist, a hard-drinking Irish guitarist, a standing-up female drummer and a charismatic poetic ex-heroin-addict lead male vocalist, lots of Cramps covers and same-old (as far as Austin punk scene) rockabilly stuff but the lighting and the sparks of everybody on the stage made it memorable

09.14.2004 Evening with Siouxsie Stubb’s B-B-Q, Austin, TX
My attempt to find anyone in the world as into Siouxsie as I am has so far failed. This will only be the second show in my history that I attend solo. However, as much of a bomb as my previous experiences with Siouxsie have been, her music still blows me away. This tour was rescheduled from dates in May and June, and at that time, I planned a road trip around seeing Siouxsie at the House of Blues in New Orleans on May 30, 2004. For the rescheduled dates, Austin seemed easier.

The most recent album by the Creatures is exquisite. Recording with percussion legend Leonord Eto, they put together a fucking beautiful collection of songs. Now they are touring with him. That alone forces me to go, even though my previous two dates with Siouxsie were pretty bad. The tour was originally scheduled for May and June, 2004, so I bought tickets to the New Orleans date on May 30, and my friends and I built a road trip around this date so I could be there. Cancelled due to a sinus reinfection. For the rescheduled dates in September, I decided the Austin date was easier to attend because the closest she is coming to the east coast is New York City, which is not really any more convenient than flying to Texas. The performance is listed as being a mix of Banshees and Creatures songs, but I am primarily interested in stuff off of the new album Hai!.

The show was billed as an intimate evening with Siouxsie Sioux incorporating songs from her time with both the Banshees and the Creatures. The set was devoted to Creatures material including an opening collection of songs from the new album. There were also a scattered mix of b-sides in promotion of the anticipated release of the Banshees’ four disc b-sides collection in November. Leonard Eto and Budgie took the stage alone for a five minute dueling percussion introduction to “Say Yes!” that fairly mimicked the version off of the album. Joining them onstage were two back up singers, a bassist, and a keyboard player, and of course, Siouxsie Sioux herself. She wore a dark kimono gown with white flowing sleeves. No geisha make-up, but a head piece in a Japanese style. She had on a pant suit underneath, stunning with cleavage. And despite massive sinus problems that closed her throat completely in March, she sounded the best I had ever heard her.

Mixing influences from her two bands turned out an inspired performance. The Creatures’ tribal beats snuck into Banshees’ songs “Kiss Them For Me” and “Happy House” while the Banshees trademark fuzz showed up early during “Standing There” and stayed late for “Take Mine.” The highlight of the hour plus show were the new songs, breathed to life with Siouxsie’s fiery vocals (and rather distracting arm waving) and the pounding drums. “Godzilla!” was monstrous. A reworked “Kiss Them For Me” almost sounded like a U2-pop song, and it was no fluke – “Another Planet” had the same All That You Can’t Leave Behind vibe. The main set closed with an extended Calypso version of “2nd Floor” that had Siouxsie on a drum kit with Budgie. Eto came back on the stage for the length of the encore, flavoring some old songs with a Japanese influence.

The Banshees have a b-sides collection set for release this year and all of their albums are getting remastered make-overs for 2005.

Setlist
Say Yes!
Around the World
Seven Tears
Godzilla!
Standing There
Miss The Girl
Face To Face
Christine
Killing Time
Shooting Sun
Kiss Them For Me
Another Planet
2nd Floor
1st Encore
Prettiest Thing
Take Mine
Pinned Down
Happy House
Not Forgotten
2nd Encore
Right Now

member of Ministry!!!, odd amped acoustic (I think?) with romantic lush vocals and stupid electronic organ backing, liked it overall

04.21.2002 Siouxsie and the Banshees The Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
Opener: Ex-Girls
As I have often told people since then, in defense of Siouxsie and the Banshees, the stage performance of Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie is something to behold. In whatever incarnation they call themselves, Siouxsie Sioux has a stage presence that stuns you. She takes over your entire vision and her voice is the siren’s call to wayward sailors. But all of that doesn’t truly redeem how bad this performance was. Aside from “Cities In Dust” not one song on this setlist was a hit track written after 1986. In 1986, I was 10 years old. So I had heard, mostly through Once Upon a Time and Twice Upon a Time the majority of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ most popular songs from their entire career. Note: these songs also did not make it on the setlist. Oh, I recognized “Christine” and “Israel” and “Switch” was pretty vivid. But what was missing was the core of my Siouxsie collection and frankly, this setlist sucked.

The only highlight was the opening chords of “Cities in Dust” and the rest was a painful spiralling mess of noise. I had gotten very excited to see Siouxsie Sioux live again, after a somewhat diastrous and unfriendly appearance with the Creatures and John Cale at the Huntridge in Las Vegas. I love her music, undeniably.

But

My friend and I flew to Chicago, not expressly to see her, but we timed it because of the concert itself, when Chicago is cold enough to be unpleasant although it was no longer full blown winter by then. Because the closest the band was coming to Las Vegas was somewhere in San Bernadino and that somehow was less simple than flying to Chicago. On advice from a cousin, we got to the venue easily and quickly on the red line and even had time for a quaint dinner nearby. It was cold outside, but the Vic was roasting and it was crowded and standing room only.

Then comes Siouxsie and I should have known she would pick a setlist that did not include anything I could sing along to. My friend hated it much more than I did, and vowed never to see Siouxsie Sioux again in any context (she had suffered through the Creatures with me as well.)

I was disappointed, but the trip was a smashing success otherwise. I found out recently that the setlist on their other performance in Chicago include three extra songs (part of two encores) and “Cities in Dust” actually came much earlier in the set. As much of a disaster as I felt this show was, sitting through another 15 minutes would have just been that much worse. Also, the tour was documented with a live DVD and a live CD. Yuck.

Setlist
Pure
Jigsaw Feeling
Cascade
Metal Postcard
Arabian Knights
Israel
Christine
Lullaby
Lands End
I Could Be Again
Icon
Night Shift
Voodoo Dolly
Nicotine Stain
Switch
Encore
Cities in Dust
Blue Jay Way