Disorder
Straight To Hell
Rockaway Bitches

Disorder

Three really accomplished cover bands, representing three famous icons of the late 70s and early 80s, converged on this venerable music venue in Asbury to recreate an evening of music of an era dear to the hearts of many. Both those old enough to recall the inception days of punk, as well as those young fans who know enough to revere the epoch gathered to honor the three groups of performers who had joyfully revived the sounds and sights associated with three giants of the time, Joy Division, The Clash and the Ramones, but each performed with a unique, artistic spin of their own.

Placing an exact date on the origin of punk will always be arbitrary and controversial, but one fact will not. The U.K. and New York share equal status in birthing this cultural and musical movement. Here in the States, it was primarily the Ramones who gave it primal form and gained it widespread recognition with their performances at now-defunct CBGB’s on New York’s Bowery. Opening the show and representing these originals at the Asbury event was an all girls quartet from New York calling itself Rockaway Bitch.

Rockaway Bitches

The show opened at around 8:30. The physically imposing lead vocalist bore an uncanny, if feminized resemblance to Joey Ramone, which she enhanced by wearing a pair of eyeglasses similar to his and sporting the same disheveled hair-do and of course motorcycle jacket. They performed 20 songs in all, from the unmistakable “Blitzkrieg Bop” through “KKK” to “Sedated” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.” And, of course, “Rockaway Beach” from which the band takes its double-entendre name. At the beginning of every song, the bass player, in imitation of Dee-Dee Ramone, screamed “1-2-3-4!” imparting the trademark “do-it-yourself” feel of the original band, which never sought to impress with their mastery of the instruments. With their black motorcycle jackets and denim outfits, not surprisingly, Rockaway Bitch proved to be the most photogenic group of the night.

Straight To Hell

Contemporaneous with the Ramones, across the pond in the U.K, one of the defining originals was the Clash whose leftist politics and eclectic style helped define the culture of the punk movement. So, up next, and after an interlude of live broadcast from a college radio station, came Straight To Hell, finely tuned cover band for The Clash, performing 18 songs, each one more masterfully than the next, starting with “Clampdown,” off the “London Calling” album (1979) and ending with “Police On My Back” from the “Sandinista” collection (1980). Along the way they performed beloved and recognizable entries including reggae-flavored and country & western-styled numbers from the Clash’s large and influential repertoire, rotating vocalists as necessary and as each song demanded. High points came during “I Fought the Law,” “Should I Stay” and “Death or Glory.”

The largest following of fans was there for the third and final band, Disorder, masters of the British post-punk band Joy Division’s oeuvre. In a stroke of unforeseen luck Joy Division came into existence in 1976 when its members made a blundering attempt to emulate the Sex Pistols, but instead hit upon an unexpectedly imaginative and disquieting musical style that has transcended all genres. Disorder caters to the cult of Joy Division devotees who have survived and grown more avid in the 35 years since the untimely death of frontman Ian Curtis and the disbanding of the band.

Disorder began their fourteen song regular set with an obscurity, “Warsaw” from Joy Division’s debut EP “An Ideal For Living” (1978). Moving through the dark and brooding body of work, they performed meticulous recreations of all the favorites: “Day of the Lords,” “She’s Lost Control,” “Isolation,” “Dead Souls” and more. True to Joy Division’s tradition, they performed with more power and energy, more emotional abandon, than the studio recordings would suggest. Exhausted, the band tried to end with the heart-breaking and melodious “Ceremony,” but were called back by a persuasive and enthusiastic audience, whom they succeeded in satisfying with the pitch-dark, lamenting “Twenty-four Hours.”

In the battle of Britain vs. the Bowery, both sides can claim victory as well as the formation of a gratifying alliance that bears witness to the battle-cry, “Punk Never Dies!”

Webster Hall

October 30, 2015

by Doktor John

New York, NY

Berlin-based electro-pop combo IAMX ended their North American tour, termed “Metanoia” after their new album of the same name, on Friday, the day before Halloween, on the big stage at the East Village’s Webster Hall, which was filled to capacity for the event.

Opening band, Mr. Kitty did a spectacular job of warming the crowd with an over-the-top level of energy and a voluminous, hook-laden wall of sound, while frontman Forrest Avery Carney gyrated frenetically on stage in an all-white outfit like a jittery male nurse in a lab coat and mini-shorts that revealed his lengthy, gazelle-like legs sheathed in white stockings. As satisfying as Mr. Kitty was, its effect was to charge up the crowd for an even higher level of enthusiasm for the headliner to come.

IAMX in the form of a quartet roared on stage on schedule at 8:30, opening with “I Come With Knives,” off “The Unified Field (2013), which starts low key then gradually develops into a crescendo. Vocalist Chris Corner was joined on stage by a drummer and two gorgeously and scantily clad keyboardist/guitarist females who also contributed backup vocals. For better or worse, the stage lighting was kept low and monochromatic in reds, blues and purples, in keeping with the dark nature of the music, but I sure would have liked a better look at the whole quartet, Corner, himself as well as the accompanists. The packed hall responded with appreciation and physical agitation that lasted the rest of the night.

Strongly cadenced “The Alternative,” title track off the album of the same name, continued to intensify the mood and was followed by “Happiness,” ironically named from the latest album, “Metanoia.” Also off that album, which Corner represents to be an expression of his release from mental anguish associated with recent depression and insomnia, were “No Maker Made Me,” “Oh Cruel Darkness Embrace Me” and “Aphrodisiac.”

At one point Chris Corner exchanged his kerchief-like hood for a wide-brimmed hat, but maintained an all-black wardrobe throughout the performance.

The other 12 songs (17 in all) were off the various albums that constitute IAMX’s broad repertoire. The syncopated rhythm of “Tear Garden” off the album “Kingdom of Welcome Addiction,” contrasted with slow paced “Bernadette” off “Volatile Times.” Club favorite “Spit It Out” had the effect of increasing the rhythmic pulsation of the spectators who were too tightly packed to break into actual dance.

“Your Joy Is My Low” ended the regular set, but this audience screamed for more, so after a momentary break, IAMX regrouped on stage for an encore consisting of three more songs which of necessity included “Kiss and Swallow,” then ending with the slow and melodious “I Am Terrified.”

From the opening act, Mr. Kitty, to the last beat and final note from IAMX, the packed-house audience remained totally rapt and kept in constant motion by the compelling and unique rhythms.

House of Wax: Anatomical, Pathological & Ethnographic Waxworks

This up and coming Brooklyn institution has hit the jackpot with its latest exhibit, titled “House of Wax” for which a well-attended opening night party was held on a late October Friday night at their 3rd Avenue establishment in the borough’s Park Slope section. Custom craftsman and bone collector Ryan Matthew Cohn served as curator of the exhibition which featured a collection of wax figures which he was fortunate enough to obtain from a long-defunct German “panopticum,” actually a 19th century museum of sorts. He spoke at length about the provenance and historical significance of his acquisition. He led the crowd of attendees in a champagne toast to kick things off. VIPs were also treated to cocktails provided courtesy of Hendricks Gin.

Ryan Matthew Cohn

In the 19th century and early 20th century, before the advent of cinema and related media, entertainment-seekers and those in pursuit of knowledge outside their limited scope used to pay to attend waxwork venues where they could view highly realistic effigies representing everything about which they harbored morbid curiosity disguised as academic interest. This particular selection represents the assemblage from “Castan’s Panopticum” which was in business in Berlin from 1869 – 1922 and contains life-sized, anatomical abnormalities (with an emphasis on genitalia and private parts), exaggerated caricature busts of human ethnic examples, the death masks of famous historical figures (Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Mary Queen of Scots, et al.), a few versions of the pregnant uterus with various obstetrical predicaments, as well as internal and external disease processes and more. Think Madame Tussaud’s crossed with the Mutter Museum.

Two “Anatomical Venuses” in foreground, Ryan Matthew Cohn in background, left

Foremost, and occupying the center of the exhibition room are a couple of examples of what is termed “Anatomical Venus” — beautifully idealized, complete human female figures with their innards revealed, all lovingly rendered in wax sculpture. Professor Rebecca Messberger informed the listeners about the place of women, not just as the subjects of anatomical wax sculpture, but she also referred to the 18th century Italian sculptor, Anna Morandi, known as the “Lady Anatomist” who was a supreme artist in this medium.

Professor Rebecca Messbarger

This exhibit represent the fifth such setup at this fledgling Morbid Anatomy Museum since its opening last June, each of which has been more elaborate, more organized and more fascinating than the one before it. By presenting “House of Wax,” the Museum has captured the very essence of what the institution is all about, its “core” mission, which from this perspective appears to be education, entertainment and bemusement of an audience of gutsy, curious and unconventional museum-goers.

Metanoia

Nothing is quite as effective —not love, not drugs —as emotional or mental breakdown to inspire artistic expression. It is particularly fortuitous when that kind of affliction befalls a really talented artist like Chris Corner, the composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and video artist fronting the synthpop group IAMX. His sixth album, titled “Metanoia,” meaning a profound, spiritual, transformation, reportedly represents his recovery from depression and insomnia. Indeed, the fervor and creative vigor of this eleven-track opus bespeaks just such a wrenching transformation.

Fans of IAMX need not fear, however, that Chris Corner has changed his style of vocal clarity as well as ferocity. On the contrary more than any prior work, this album captures the inimitable power and frank beauty of his androgynous, wide-ranging and confrontational singing, whether fashioning delicious hooks, operatic flourishes or delicate autobiographical narratives.

All of this is incorporated in the most mesmerizing, irresistible dance grooves and complex synthetic rhythms. Dance clubs will treasure this repertoire, whether playing galloping, unstoppable juggernauts like “No Maker Made Me,” or the plodding, slow-paced “Hello Melancholia.” Noteworthy are the bluesy, yet danceable eighth track, “Cruel Darkness Embrace Me” and the wild, wanton and relentless “Aphrodisiac.”

Every track is written in a minor key, which confirms the emotional depression that inspired the entire opus. Some tracks feature a mournful female chorus, others cadenced scraping industrial noises. Did I mention that this dark, really dark —even deliciously dark music?

At least ten tracks feature memorable, seductive melodies and compelling tempos. It lends itself to exceptional listening or dancing pleasure. Gloomy as the entire album seems, if it purports to represent actual recovery, I don’t want to know what that depression was like.

NOIR
Arkham at Don Pedro’s

September 26, 2015
By Doktor John
Brooklyn, NY

Synthpop trio Noir made a late night appearance at the Brooklyn dive bar Don Pedro’s the last Saturday of September. Don Pedro’s is a suitable venue: long and narrow, with a bar in the entry area and a performance space occupying the back half, featuring a small, raised stage. Bare brick walls, one un-lockable toilet and another “out-of-order,” give it just the kind of broken-utilitarian atmosphere that suits the punk/Gothrock experience. Before, during and after the live music performance, a movie screen served as the backdrop to the stage. A continuous video loop was projected on the back wall of the stage and ran a grainy, black-&-white, silent flick from 1922 showing medieval peasants and sexually depraved monks engaged in witch-hunting, accompanied by subtitles in English and Danish. All the stuff that sets the proper mood.

Such was the milieu for Noir, fronted by vocalist Athan Maroulis, formerly of Spahn Ranch and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. He was accompanied by two keyboardists/back-up vocalists, Demetra Songs and Kai Irina Hahn, the latter a noted singer, song writer and performance artist in her own right, whose project, The Sedona Effect has taken NYC underground scene by storm of late.

Noir’s set consisted of nine songs, six of which were drawn from Noir’s 2013 album “Darkly Near.” The opening number, “The Bells” captures Noir’s style of catchy hooks and undulating melodies, sung over driving electronic rhythms. The next song, “My Dear” delved into even more serpentine, atonal progressions, rendered — like the entire set — hypnotic by the galloping, cadenced rhythms provided by the two synthesizers. The third piece provided an opportunity to introduce a decidedly industrial mood with the resurrection of the Spahn Ranch anthem “Breath and Taxes.” The crowd of thirty to fifty spectators responded with pleasure and recognition to this bit of musical nastiness.

The next several pieces “Time Phase,” “A Forest” and “When the Rains Came” were drawn from “Darkly Near,” and each again highlighted Maroulis’ unusual and undulant, sometimes discordantly melodious vocals. Before closing, there was a return to Spahn Ranch’s industrial-strength repertoire with “Vortex” and the concluding number, “Heretic’s Fork.”

The combination of originality in composition, vocal expertise and mastery of electronic musicianship held the crowd in thrall, and made it well worth it for us to have traveled out into the land of scarce parking spaces, the Brooklyn demimonde, for this highly enjoyable late night entertainment.

Social Distortion
Stone Pony Summer Stage
Aug 22, 2015

By Doktor John
Asbury Park, NJ

In the pantheon of alternative music, there has to be a celestial throne for Social Distortion because no other group draws such over-the-top, frenzied love and passion from the crowds as they do. By now, and in the conclusive pinnacle of their career and after seven albums stretching from the early 80s to the second decade of this millennium, Social Distortion stands as the definitive and successful apotheosis of punk rock. With their third album, titled Social Distortion (1990), their music began to blend punk with rockabilly. During the 90s their style took on more elements of country and western, developing into a genre that has been termed “cowpunk.”

The open air summer stage of the Stone Pony is an ideal venue for feeling the super charged atmosphere that Social D generates, in no small part due to the zeal and ardent enthusiasm of front man Mike Ness and to his sincere effort to reach out with appreciation and affection to the audience.

Nikki Lane’s fine country-alternative band from Tennessee served as a great opener and was warmly received by the crowd.

Nikki Lane’s group

The sun was heading down toward the end of their set and a perfect half moon shone brightly to the southwest around 8:45 when Social D roared on stage with “So Far Away” then “Let It Be Me,” “Story of My Life,” “Sick Boys” and “Ball and Chain,” all five in order off the self-titled album. The crowd responded by forming a joyous, but ferocious mosh pit, diligently moderated by attentive and sympathetic security staff.

Ness stopped to address the crowd and announce that this tour was in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their eponymous album, their third, and the first one with a major label (Epic). By the time that self-named album was released, Mike Ness and Social D had been knocking around for 12 years, starting in 1978, with the first single in 1981, and had endured a period of band member turnovers, an early tour with Youth Brigade, eventual entanglement of Ness in heroin addiction, breakups of the band, rehabilitation and eventual stability. He reminded us that he was now and forever clean of drugs and alcohol.

They returned to the celebratory album with “It Coulda Been Me” and “She’s a Knockout.” Mike stopped again to caution the fans about misdirected “resistance to change,” then just about completed the selections from that album with “A Place in My Heart” and “Drug Train.”

Once more, during an instrumental interlude Mike spoke to the crowd before turning to a selection from their fourth album, “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell” namely “Cold Feelings.” As had been demonstrated repeatedly during the concert, and again at this time, Ness performed with remarkable virtuosity on the guitar.

The mosh pit never quit during the show. Inevitably there was one fool who thought to turn the situation into one involving fisticuffs, but the security staff hustled him off the premises in a highly professional manner and before anything serious could occur.

Never one to neglect his roots and never failing to express his deep sense of admiration and appreciation for the greats who inspired him, Mike Ness led the band in a heartfelt, yet uniquely Social Distortion-flavored version of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses.” This was followed by yet another tribute, this time a cover of Hank Williams’ “Alone and Forsaken.”
An authentic country feel was brought out by “This Time Darlin” with its waltz-beat. He introduced “Far Behind” by way of telling how he felt it was better to leave people who antagonize you far behind rather than get into fights with them. There was no real intermission, although lights went down onstage once. “Don’t Drag Me Down” was played just before the finale, the June Carter Cash/Mel Kilgore classic, “Ring of Fire” which was performed in two segments.

Taking a pause from singing, while the instrumentals kept going low in the background, Mike spoke to the crowd, drew a half dozen kids ages 9 – 12 on stage and encouraged them to apply themselves in school for their future benefit. There was an exuberant resurgence of “Ring of Fire” and a jubilant conclusion to the show.

photo by E. Palazzo

Live!
Disorder
QXT’s

June 12, 2015

By Doktor John
Newark NJ

Joy Division tribute band Disorder pulled a late night performance before an adoring crowd of about 100 guests this Friday night at a famous Goth/Industrial dance club in the heart of Newark. QXT’s looks to have once been a Spanish restaurant near the border of the ethnic-Iberian section of town termed “The Ironbound.” (Hint: Read “QXT” as a compression of “Quixote.”) At some point it transformed into NJ’s premier club for the new generation as well as veterans of the darkwave/goth/punk/industrial crowd, and heir to the legendary, long gone Pipeline.

Disorder represents the joint project of , vocalist and Ian Curtis-sound-alike, Mike Strollo and of drummer Chris Mele. They are joined by guitarists and a keyboardist. Meticulous and highly professional, they recreate the most popular works of the iconic and star-crossed U.K. band, Joy Division with astonishing musicianship and jaw-dropping authenticity.

Joy Division is credited by many authorities on the subject as having been one of the two essential, post-punk bands to have spawned the genre of Goth Rock, the other being Bauhaus. Characterized by sparse, baritonal vocals, gloomy lyrics and a melodious bass line, Joy Division, is distinguished from the punk style by their use of electronics and by their emphasis on mood and expression rather than anger and energy. These, among many other particulars, are what Disorder excels in emulating. While Joy Division’s recorded music is cold and dark, their live performances were typically loud and aggressive. Disorder is true to that.

The band’s performance began around 12:30 AM, after a couple of hours of dance to the masterful spinning of famous DJ Erik Aengel, who by then had nearly exhausted the dancers, unleashing an irresistible cache of new, old and crossover tracks from the alternative repertoire. A particular treat he served up was a tightly crafted mash up of MGMT’s “Kids” with Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon.” The opening number, “Shadow Play,” with its drum and bass repetitiveness, captures all the ominous, frantic exasperation that epitomizes the deranged soul of Joy Division. Here it was reproduced with fanatical attention to detail.

Next, the upbeat but by no means cheerful “Disorder,” from which this band take its name. The adoring crowd seemed to recognize each song that followed, from the despairing “She’s Lost Control” and “Isolation” through “New Dawn Fades,” “Transmission” and the beloved “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Twelve songs in all.

Peter Ulrich, famous percussionist from those giants of world music, Dead Can Dance, sat in with Disorder on “Atmosphere” and “Dead Souls.” and performed enthusiastically on hand drums, a truly memorable enhancement.

It was unfortunate for a contingent of fans from New York and
Brooklyn who arrived just as Disorder launched its final, closing piece, a faithful version of “Ceremony.” It was not surprising, however to see a significant number of out-of-towners, because the music and memory of Joy Division tends to evoke devotion—enough to motivate fans to travel over inconvenient distances to hear a pain-stakingly precise tribute set performed by accomplished music professionals.

This is the print version in the Aquarian