Monday, April 26, 2010

Latest Flame Records Releases Fuc*Face Disk


Latest Flame Records, a Chicago label that ferrets out some of the best music in the Midwest has dug up a truffle. FuckFace performed from 1991 to 1996. The lineup included members of Die Kreuzen, Boy Dirt Car, The Crusties and more. They made music that fell into a category all their own. I know that some bands would love to be called unique, while others just want to be just like (fill in the blank.) Fuc*Face had up to four drummers on stage at once. On top of that, there was Karl, the metal percussionist. His job was to provide the uppermost notes that humans are capable of hearing. There were no snares, cymbals allowed on stage so Karl was the man that brought the crunch to life. He did that by banging on a veritable scrap yard of steel, aluminum and the like. Heck, he could get a good sound out of a folding chair if need be.
Backing this drum core was a pair of guitar players, a bass player and Dave the "singer." Dave used his vocals to pull you down so deep into the water, that you thought you would never come back up to the surface again. Yes, Dave would also smash his masked face with a metal rod, but it was alway in time with the music.

Fuc*Face will be performing a three city tour this July. This is in support of their new self titled disk. FuckFace recorded a full length CD in 1996, it was due to be released that same year, but issues with the label killed the deal. Latest Flame heard it through the grapevine that there was a FuckFace disk waiting to come to life, and they jumped on it. From there, the former members felt that it was important to back up the release with a few show. This will be no easy task, as the the members of FuckFace are scattered over continents.
The tour starts in Chicago, and ends in Green Bay. This is a third coast tour. So far the reviews of the Fuc*Face disk have been positive, save for the young lady who considered it to be one of the "top five strangest things she's ever had to review." If you know Fuc*Face, even that comment is a positive. Fuc*Face performs at the Miramar Theater Milwaukee July 10.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Muse and Passion Pit at Bradley Center Milwaukee October 6, 2010


Muse and Passion Pit are playing Milwaukee's Bradley Center on October 6, 2010. Passion Pit came to Turner Hall this past April, and now they back up a major tour de force in Muse. This looks like (can't really tell,) the first time that Muse will play Milwaukee. Unless they hit a small, off the radar venue, I think I'm correct.

Passion pit has one of those devoted, crazed, frothing at the mouth, fan bases. When Passion Pit and Muse play the together in Milwaukee, the combo might just be a perfect blend of fans. They may love each other, love to get sweaty, love to feel the pulse of a "brown note" coursing through their bodies.
I am confident in the success of this pairing of fans because I work with a fan of both bands, and she was completely out of commission the day after the Passion Pit show. I say the words "Passion Pit," and she just smiles. The smile is to hide the fact that she's drawing a complete blank as to exactly what happened at the show she attended. It was that good.
Muse has been around since 1994, and I had no idea of that fact. Muse and Passion Pit at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee will be a first time event for both bands. Okay, Muse has been around since 1999 and released five albums in that time. Yes, their first album came out five years into their rise to fame, and that explains my surprise when I read that the band started 16 years ago. And yes, their start was a bit of a spoof and flip off to the goth community during a "battle of the bands" contest that they actually won. Good thing that they won, because they trashed their gear at the end of that show.
They quit their day jobs, changed the name from Rocket Baby Dolls, to Muse, and began to build that very important base of rabid fans. It didn't hurt to have Dennis Smith, a famous recording studio owner backing you up. Smith knew the parents of the Muse boys, and recorded their first disk.
What will I want to hear when I go see this show? Assassin, off of Black Holes and Revelations is my hands down favorite tune. I challenged myself, and learned the drum lines note for note. The album didn't get the best of reviews, but none the less, I do like that song.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Rush Summerfest 2010 Marcus Amphitheater show


Rush will play Summerfest 2010 at the Marcus Amphitheater. This was the latest announcement for festival fans, and tickets have already gone on sale through a fan club offer. The regular Rush Summerfest tickets on sale will be April 17.

The band played at Summerfest back in 2008. Rush fans had some inkling of the tour stop well ahead of the concert announcement. Some fans just know.
Their tour is titled "Rush time machine tour." They plan to play the album Moving Pictures from start to finish. What songs are popular on that album? Tom Sawyer, Limelight, and YYZ. The band has 30 years of songs to choose from, but playing Moving Pictures will certainly be the highlight of the evening.

As I drummer, people ask me what I think of Neil Peart. Neil is certainly a great drummer. He is nearly robotic in his style. If you want mistake free drumming, look no further than Neil Peart. The Rush Summerfest show is part of his current travels. If you want to read about travel, you can also look to Neil. If you want great lyrics, Peart is your man too. If I were to knock anything about Peart, is his love of Ayn Rand's works.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Lady Gaga Tour Milwaukee Bradley Center Stop September 2


Lady Gaga plays the Bradley Center on September 2. She's white hot right now, and as long as she continues to come out on stage with crazy costumes, she may stay hot for more than a year or two. Why the harsh reality here? I'll be happy to lay it out for the Gaga fans.

She's popular here in the United States. She's not as popular worldwide, but close. In fact, the traffic her website receives is overwhelmingly from the US. The United Kingdom is less interested in her right now, and only six percent of her web traffic overall is from the U.K. If you want to be an international star, you have to be more popular than that. Yes, she's booking huge venues across the world as of this post, but just three short months ago, she played in a club smaller than the Rave in Milwaukee. I guess you have to start somewhere.

Her audience is mostly made up of the 14 to 20 year old crowd. That also means the parents have to pony up the dough to get their kids into the Lady Gaga Bradley Center show. Yes, there are adults that like her too, but those numbers are just not as high. Is she the new Madonna? Quite possibly. Will she settle the 32 million dollar lawsuit with the person who helped to create her image, most likely.

I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon, but this is a casting call artist and little more than that. She literally answered an ad, and was formed into the persona she is today. They test marketed this product, and rolled her out. They brought her back into the factory, adjusted a few things, and rolled her back out. Yes, she worked hard before being "discovered," and she has some talent, but we are looking at a product that was molded into the thing it is today. Most musicians, singers, and dancers do it. We see what people like, and work from there. Don't tell me that it's not true. We wouldn't be on stage if we didn't want to please the audience. You don't spend that kind of money on costumes and fake hype without a very thorough business plan. It's working. She's selling the product. She comes to Milwaukee in five months.