Hello. I’m tired, and still sick. I’ve been sick for a few days now, it feels like my head is in a vise and my chest is filled with sludge. Neither of these two factors stopped me from going to Greenpoint tonight to see Uzeda and Shellac at Europa–Brooklyn’s #1 Polish dance club! Unfortunately, the club is so popular that the concert had to be over by the very un-rock ‘n’ roll hour of 10:00pm. So it started early, ended early, and did not disappoint. I didn’t take any photos, I stole these from the very talented Jodi Shapiro, please take the time to look at her work.
I picked up Ben and Ian at Mugg’s Ale House on Bedford, and together we drove to the club, which is on the corner of Manhattan and Meserole. Found parking right on the corner, and crossed the street. I didn’t want to stand outside in the cold/rain, so I went into Europa and sat at the bar for a few minutes while Ian waited for Connor to show up with his ticket. I eventually left the club and waited with Ian at the corner diner. Connor showed up at about 7:00pm, we introduced ourselves, he realized he knew me, we talked and went into the venue.
Europa is a very cool club, a pretty big room that seemed very full. We found spots about halfway back on the floor and Ian got the first round of Polish beers. Uzeda took the stage and really impressed us. I think Ian was expecting crap, but they definitely brought the typical Touch and Go sound with them: heavy, driving, and deconstructive. I’m pretty sure Agostino was using one of JimmyJames’ Electrical guitars. If that is indeed so, it sounded insanely good. They played for about forty-five minutes, and seemed to pick up on the crowd’s enthusiasm as they progressed. Definitely look for their albums if you haven’t heard them. Obviously, age is not a factor in the world of indie-rock, cause ‘dem fuckers are OLD.
I bumped into Todd Trainer in the bathroom, and Bob Weston at the bar. Smiley folks, they are.
The set transition was fairly brief. Yeah, they wore the Electrical jumpsuits like last time. Todd was front-and-center again. They started identical to last time, Todd raising his sticks to the air and staring down the crowd before launching into the first tune, “Ghosts”. Pretty early in the set they played “My Black Ass,” “Canada,” “Copper,” “In a Minute,” “Paco” and “Mouthpiece.” As far as the music is concerned, I don’t have much to say. They’re impeccable in a live setting. Steve coaxes the most insane sounds out of his guitar, and I’m not talking about the general razor-blade-cutting-SKNNG! sounds he gets, I’m talking about the fucked up harmonics and befuddling tones he churns out. Bob is a human metronome on the bass. Todd’s drumming is fucking insane. Most of the time it sounds like he’s playing out-of-time, but yet it fits perfectly. He also murders his skins, I don’t know if anyone hits their drums harder than he does. Also, they’ve clearly adapted some aspects of their live show in the past four years. There was much more in the way of joke-y mannerisms and inter-band banter this time around. Steve’s dancing hasn’t changed much, it’s still very erratic and awkward-looking. The hand gestures and “s’alright? s’okay” at the end of “Mouthpiece” was extended. There was gratuitous cowbell usage by Todd and Bob. Before the Q & A, the band finished the first part of the set with “Prayer to God,” “Steady as She Goes” and a couple other numbers.
Q & A was pretty hilarious. There were a lot of baseball related questions asked. Someone asked, “How do you keep Todd so thin?” Answer: “Smoking.” One guy asked a really vague question, “How do you know when you’re ‘in’,” and he received a long explanation from Steve about how to fuck properly. Something about how the guy must have been “missing the exit ramp.” Someone asked to interview Steve and he responded with a tirade about how he’ll talk to anyone because it inflates his sense of self-worth to answer questions specifically about him. Someone offered the band Snickers bars, and Steve asked if they were the king-sized ones or were they smaller. He looked at the smaller one and said, “yeah, this should fit.” Then Todd got pissed off at people asking baseball questions and started screaming about how stupid baseball is and why no one ever asked if Todd liked Keith Moon or Syd Barrett, questions that mattered. Todd, by the way, was wearing two blouses on top of each other. That boy’s got style!
The second half of the set was just as fiery and thunderous. They ran through “Rambler Song,” “The End of Radio,” the rarity “Killers” (from the Lounge Ax Defense and Relocation Compilation CD) an extended version of “Billiard Player Song” with some great improv during the bridge, “Dog and Pony Show,” “Squirrel Song” and closed with “Watch Song,” which included the three-man drumming outro.
After the show they stood around and sold shirts off the front of the stage. Connor, Ian and I stood outside chatting until I decided to go home. They took the subway back to Manhattan before going their separate ways.
