Friday, September 25, 2009

Killdozer/Urinals/Mannequin Men; September 25, 2009; High Noon Saloon

Killdozer is an important part of Madison music history. One of very few local bands to get noticed outside the city, they signed to Touch & Go before declaring “Fuck you, we quit,” thirteen years ago. After the furor that surrounded their reunion for the T&G 25th anniversary show and their appearance at last year’s Forward Fest I would have expected tonight to be sold out long before my brother asked me if I wanted to go only a few days before the show. When asked, a friend responded that while she couldn’t imagine me liking them, she didn’t think I would hate them. A little YouTube research revealed them to be witty in interviews and entertaining on stage. I decided I should go after watching a video for “Knuckles the Dog Who Helps People,” the title sounding vaguely familiar, like something Daniel Johnston or Jad Fair would have written.

Luckily, that is one of their “hits” so the odds were pretty good that they would play it tonight and I was not disappointed. In fact, it was all pretty entertaining. Singer and bassist Michael Gerald is a bit height challenged yet he popped into view over the large and enthusiastic, but not quite sold out, crowd every time he stepped forward to sing. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me, and I slipped through the crowd until I caught sight of the large chest in front of the microphone. That made me smile. The show preview I read said that guitarist Paul Zagoras (who at one time replaced original member and tonight’s guitarist Bill Hobson) would be sitting in on a few songs, but in fact he played the whole set with them. Only when they returned for an encore of all covers (I guess they were out of songs) did he stay backstage. Surprisingly for a band that is associated with sludge rock, their cover selection sounded more like classic rock radio and included Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Run through the Jungle” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Turns out Michelle was right, I didn’t hate them. In fact, I would probably see them next time around too. However that wasn’t the biggest surprise of the night. The way the order was listed on the High Noon site it looked like the Urinals would be first. When asked what time I would be getting there I claimed I didn’t need to be there right at the start of the show, “because I can’t imagine there’s any way I would like a band called the Urinals.” As much as I hate being wrong, I can’t deny how much I enjoyed them. Seriously, they were totally awesome. Super catchy one minute power pop played by guys who have resigned themselves to the fact that they aren’t going to make a living at it. And the drummer was wearing an “I heart Gravy” T-shirt. Much had been made about them celebrating their thirtieth anniversary as a band, but that stat is a little misleading. Yes, drummer John Talley-Jones and lead singer/bassist Kevin Barrett had been in a band called the Urinals thirty years ago, but they had played under other names since then, including the Chairs of Perception and 100 Flowers, reclaiming the Urinals name just last year.

I tried claiming that maybe urinal meant something different thirty years ago, but there is really no denying that it was a silly name chosen by some young boys. My only disappointment was that when I went to the merch table to buy the CD that contained “This Song is a Virus,” I was told that it was going to be on their next CD. I explained that I worked in genetics and that the line “this song will restructure your DNA” was fantastic. Maybe on their CD release tour they can make a stop in the basement. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility, when I MySpace messaged them and asked if they would ever want to do a house concert, guitarist Rob Roberge responded enthusiastically, “We love house concerts, but we haven’t been asked to do one in awhile.”

Openers Mannequin Men were no surprise at all, I knew I wouldn’t like them. I had been talked into buying a CD of theirs several years ago, and listened to it twice thinking the whole time, “Why did they think I would like this?” They weren’t any better live, though I discover that it’s really only half their songs I don’t like. When the drummer is singing they are a pretty decent band, but when the guitar player is whining, it’s time to go have a beer on the patio. Oh well, two out of three isn’t bad at all, especially when I didn’t really expect to like any of it.


Mannequin Men


Urinals




Killdozer



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