There was numerical balance in last Friday night’s
garage rock mini-fest at Seattle’s Funhouse club: four bands on the bill, two
local and two from elsewhere, represented as a duo, trio, quartet, and quintet.
I had one camera and two lenses, and also had three beers, and “Schoolhouse
Rock” says three is the magic number. The mysterious beauty of math set aside,
Seattle’s Lovetan and the Apollos, Indiana’s TV Ghost, and Miami-based
headliners the Jacuzzi Boys offered up surprisingly-varied takes on the
venerable garage genre, and most thoroughly rocked out the Funhouse.
The Apollos are five Seattle University students who
continue on the great and honorable tradition of the garage, which is youths
getting together to play loud guitar-based three-chord rock n’ roll, drink
beer, and have an outrageous amount of fun. They are the band you’d want to
play at your raucous house party, and they’d probably break a lamp or
something, but then totally apologize and go to clean it up. A little musically
ragged here and there on the edges, sure, but it’s kinda charming. Bless you,
my children...we worship at the same Kinks-y cool altar.
Lovetan was up next, a duo (Matthew Ford on
drums/vocals and Craig Chambers on guitar/vocals) with some local history
(ex-Factums, The Lights, Le Sang Song, Intelligence). After the slop-rock of
the Apollos (that’s not a cut, in my book), Lovetan was distinctly more minimal
and edgy. It took me a few songs into their set for me to switch over and warm
up to them, but I did, and appreciated their weirdness and precision sludge.
Somewhere in the Pine Barrens, Lovetan drinks grain alcohol with Robert
Johnson, The Fall, and a mangy ex-circus bear, and it all makes sense.
The first thing I thought of when I saw TV Ghost set
up was, “That’s Ian McCulloch’s hair from 1982!” and indeed I heard Echo and
the Bunnymen in their sound, with strong Lux Interior channeling via manic
dramarama frontman/guitarist Tim Gick. Indeed, he put on such a wild
performance that he almost overshadowed the music, which was definitely taken
from the darker side of ‘80s New Wave and garage punk, a mix of heady reverb, sinewy
melodies, and metal machine music. TV Ghost provided the push the crowd was
looking for to get their skinny bodies moving to some hypnotic craziness.
And then…the sun came out. Not literally – it was
like a million o’clock at night by then – but the Jacuzzi Boys bring it with
them wherever they go, and not in any slick yucky Anita Bryant/Disney way,
either. The garage gleams gold from this Florida trio, who bring a slammin’
surf vibe straight from the beach to Your Local Club, without visions of
Speedos or Snooki, thank god. It’s a unique blend they have: goofy without
being silly, sing-a-long without being lightweight, thoroughly punk and totally
pop. The group barreled through their set, which I think was the shortest of
the night, and the girls came out of the woodwork or the bathroom or wherever
they were hiding to pogo along with the floor’s bro-fest. It might say
something about the band and their fans that twice I had girls apologize
profusely for spilling beer or bumping into me while I was shooting. No
problem, I said…rock on, ladies.
Lead singer Gabriel Alcala was cracking me up
with his song introductions: “This one is about cake,” “This one is about
mermaids,” and when he said, “This one goes out to Marianne,” I smiled the
biggest smile ever and said, “Oh! Thank you!” They then tore into a loud and
gloriously rockin’ version of “Vizcaya,” my favorite song off of their latest
album on local label Hardly Art, “Glazin’” (and the one I made a little YouTubefan video for, hence the dedication nod). Three was the magic number, again,
because tres Jacuzzi Boys made everyone smile and dance at the Funhouse. I’m
still singing “Coral Girls! Coral Girls!” around the house days later.
Wait a minute, honey, I’m gonna add it up…four bands
= one great, inspiring, sweaty evening, and you can take that to the Funbank.
© Copyright 2008- Marianne Spellman