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Show The Day The Earth Met From The Tombs The-Roc- Getting Down ket Smog Veil 0000 alt Lake City has not been the kindest of towns to the IT Players, an eight- band comprised mostly of piece Chicanos from Chula Vista, Calif. The last couple shows they've played here have been in rooms too large to fill with people. 1 thought for sure that two Fridays ago would be the night for the Players to take the city by storm. The band was scheduled as the opening act for Mike Clark's Prescription Renewal Tour, at the Zephyr club on Friday, May 22. Although, like me, some of you may be asking, "who the hell is Mike Clark?" it doesn't matter, because it was Friday night at the Zephyr, and that place always fills up on Fridays, or so I able bands (The Strokes, The Hives, The While Stripes, etc.), most of which the music press are claiming as messiahs of "all music that is not rap" and then some, it's increasingly important to look back at exactly what they claim to be reviving and ask the question "why not just buy those records?" Detroit bands like The Stooges, The MC5 and Cleveland's The Electric Eels were releasing music that made The Strokes look like sissies (not a huge task) roughly 30 years ago when the band was indeed estabk lishing the garage rock genre for the first time. However, Cleveland's Rocket From the Tombs is long forgotten in the annals of rock lore and due for critical recognition. Formed in the early '70s by Dave Thomas, Peter Laughner (both of whom would later form Pere Ubu), John Madansky and Gene O'Connor (Later of the Dead Boys), Rocket created its own brand of volatile, j,stated rock music that helped lay the foundation for what would become punk years before anybody in New York even got around to pre-pun- it Existing mainly through opening gigs, Rocket opened for bands as diverse as Television (who Laughner temporarily joined) and Iron Butterfly, live members disbanded due to inner-ban- d friction as as severe (sometimes backstage fistfights) without having ever s. ieteased proper album. Several bootlegs of old rehearsal tapes and live recordings have been circulated for a time in both illegitimate End official releases, but remain rather obscure and the band has remained almost completely off the radar. At L' t, the situation has now been remedied by the Smog Veil which has finally released a reasonably available compila tion cf live and rare recordings by the band. Beginning with a c oar; a bark from Dave Thomas, the band rips into the Stooges' Power" and proceeds to' crack out a set seething with rabid, uncontrollable energy. Although several of the group's original 6or;!,s would later be swiped by both Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys, thf; tracks re airy shine here in all of their swampy feedback 'drehcned'gio "life Stinks like its author Laughner, who died in his mid-'ao- s cf pancrf ititis brought on by drug and alcohol abuse seems to tret:r constantly at the edge of self destruction. ''Thirty Seconds Cv :r T:I:y3" develops from an eerie guitar riff to a cacophonous $ ;i;ure cf noise blasting full force out of Laughner's guitar ampliS-- . ex. ; ; of songs like "Amphetamine" (from which VYiko's Jeff Tw would one day borrow lyrics for a song on the album Being There) dirjby that the group's abilities were not solely limited to 1, - Li-- :'!--- high-fidelit- y docu-iiueRti.t- he OOOOO OOOO 'nSDCD '. 99 Ugly 'Review ScClf G READ Karlos Perez sings 10:00 p.m. The bar was still pretty empty, by now the place should have been bustling with chatter as the cocktail waitresses swim through people to get to their customers, not so. 10:30 p.m. Some more people had strolled in, the members of Players had already warmed up and were waiting for the last minute to take the stage, but they couldn't hold out any longer, they were up. Despite the meager crowd, band members belted out the first tune "Cocodrilo Jodido" from the most recent album Movement. Next, the band took the crowd on a walk through the ghetto with "Concrete Jungle," a song n with an groove and some hardcore riffs at the end. Then the players played a long medley into what became a steady progression over which Karlos Paez, the band's lead singer and trumpet player, visited the choruses to some songs like Santana's "No One To Depend On," Joe Cuba's "El Pito" and Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up." A few of the highlights of the performance came when Victor .Tapia on Bongos and Congas on percussion played the intro accompanied by Luis Cuenca on the drum kit. They played fast beats as they were slowly joined by the rest of the band, letting the music reach a boiling point before breaking into song. The result turned into "Puro Feeling," also from Movement. Giovanni Mejia (guitar) traded licks with guest artist Jessica Lurie (sax). The band demonstrated its virtuosity by doing some call and response, in which each member had a chance to take a solo over one measure of a song based on 1 old-scho- another Afro-Lati- At the most people onto the dance floor, and the Players closed the set with a song called "Taqiierito" from Tijuana, Mexico. THE RED INTERVIEW talked with Karlos Paez after the set to catch up on what's new with the band. This current tour with Mike I "There's been no publicity, no promotion, it's getting better, though, we know how to deal with it from experience," Paez said. Reagan Branch, the horn player, left the band, but the band assembled a three-piec- e horn section for this tour. Terry Hovey played baritone sax and flute for the Players on this tour, and he filled me in on how the three-ma- n horn section and the Players got together. According to Hovey, he as well as Russ Gonzales (alto & tenor sax) and Robert Ackley (trumpet ) Afro-beare part of an band in San Diego, Calif., which is yet to be named. "Karlos, the lead singer of the Players, sat in with us at a performance in San Diego, and after the show he asked us if we wanted to go on tour with them," Hovey said. None of the members of the new horn section knew any of the songs, so they've been learning on the way. Hovey said that they almost have all of the songs down pat, and by the sound of things, I think he's right. ol 10:30 p.m. Some more people had strolled in, the members of Players had already warmed up and were waiting for the last minute to take the stage, but they couldn't hold B-Si- de at n-pie- out any longer, they were up. (WWW.RED j B-- S j . MAG.COM) s -- n n inii frntmrmmtn - - aw, 3r'- I r r thought for sure that night de would be the night for the 1 to to a crow huge Players play and start developing a larger Jan base in Salt Lake City, but apparently Memorial Day weekend sent the majority of Friday patrons out of town. For a band that plays from the heart with true musical soul, dedicated to working the way through self proand lots of shows on the motion road, the members of the Players have put in their fair share of hard work. I hope sooner and not later, their musical versatility, spanning across various genres, and conscious lyrics that actually comment on the state of the world today, will gamer them some much needed recognitic i outside of California. This mu ic writer is rooting for them. For updated tour info on the Players and more info on the band visit www.bsideplayers.com I ONLINE - the end of May. the Clark has been "slow." I - Players. Players will head to Europe to perform at a music festival in Switzerland and spend about a week touring Europe. It wasn't clear whether the new horn section would be going overseas as well, "everything is day by day right now" Hovey said. Mike Clark (drums) went on to play a psychedelic jazz fusion set with his guests Lurie, of the Living Daylights, along with Brian Haas and Reed Mathis of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Despite Clark's claim to fame as Herbie Hancock's drummer during Hancock's fusion period, the size of the crowd remained the same. solos. "Baila" got groove. n and played a mean trumpet with the According to Karlos Paez, the band doesn't write up a set list before shows, and a great deal of the performance is improvised, such as the call and response section of that song as well as other Afro-Lati- "bombastic noiSefi'sAo;:: Ui. ty any mssns a record, the tracks are all some-wh- it rr..:rky in their recording quality, but the compromise is well worth it The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From The Tombs sinful energy.and edge that made them and bands like the Stooges and The Electric Eels so damn cool to begin with. There's no shame in modem bands reviving, or even expounding, on a good sound, but really, why net just buy these records? Pick this up end hear what Lester Bangs said "real rock and roll ri ! thought. -- Mediocre. f if x Crowd by Luciano fashion-"Rock-and-Ro- Swell a id Marzulli Vargas leveland Rocks? Apparently it used to. In the wake of the recent outbreak of revivalist Classic; Damn Fine Phenomenal Set to A tSmalltk B-S- -- 1 W Giovanni Mejia plays one mean guitar when he has to. loured-mag.co- RED Magazine m junes, 2002 I RS |