Shaking Things Up

Upcoming Salt Lake Concerts: Legendary Shack Shakers, Shooter Jennings, Jurassic 5

By Brian Staker, 9-06-06

	Charley Horse

Salt Lake City Upcoming Concerts: MAE, LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS, RELAPSE RECORDS TOUR, CHARLEY HORSE, SHOOTER JENNINGS, THE QUEERS, CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR, JURASSIC 5, BROTHER ALI/RAKIM

Mae, The New, The New Amsterdams, Vedera

Mae stands for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience, but it’s not as you might suspect some kind of hallucinatory psychedelic musical journey. Rather, the Norfolk, VA band has done their darnedest to conjure up every dimension of the roller-coaster ride that emo music can be, at its best and worst. They mostly evoke the former, and their second release, last year’s The Everflow, (Tooth & Nail), dispels any worries of sophomore slump by topping their opener in scope, ambition and sheer talent. It’s a brave rock band who risks opening an album with the hushed tones of piano ballad “We’re So Far Away,” but those who aren’t scared away by that quietude will be rewarded with nerve-wrenching pop rockers like “Someone Else’s Arms” and “This Is the Countdown.”

They set the bar high for their next effort, but for now ride the crest of a wave. The New isn’t a typographical lapse entering the title of The New Amsterdams, but a separate entity. The New Amsterdams take their name from a mid-period Elvis Costello song, and while monikers can evoke all kinds of influences, this one stands for clever songwriting. As a side project of The Get Up Kids’ vocalist/guitarist Matthew Pryor, he knows a few things about writing a catchy tune in his own write. Only a year in existence, Vedera aims to create an epic rock sound in the vein of U2 and Sunny Day Real Estate.

September 6, Avalon Theatre

Also appearing:

September 5: Englewood, CO (Gothic Theatre)
September 7: Boise, ID (Big Easy)

The Legendary Shack Shakers

How many rock acts are headed by a ‘Colonel’ these days? Even if his commission is only self-appointed, Colonel J.D. Wilkes commands the kind of grudging respect reserved for the musically insane, or insanely rocking. If you like the Supersuckers, this is your Mason jar of moonshine. Two of the four members of The Legendary Shack Shakers have accompanied Hank Williams III, if you are looking for Nashville authenticity, or strangely enough, roots rock with a punkish bent. Three albums down the road with this year’s Pandelerium, (Yep Roc) they don’t show any signs of running low on octane. Wilkes especially, publishing comic books and creating elaborate carnival style murals on unrolled projection screens.

September 7, The Depot

Also appearing:

September 5: Denver, CO (Benders Tavern)
September 7: Aspen, CO (Belly Up)

Facedowninshit, Fuck the Facts, Minsk, Unearthly Trance

It’s the Relapse Records “Contamination Tour.” These bands have their various takes on the metal genre that all might in some way be termed ‘dark.’ Greensboro, NC’s Facedowninshit purveys ‘Southern fried dirt metal.’ Something tells me that unlike that other Dixie-derived humorous music troupe, Southern Culture on the Skids, FDIS probably doesn’t dispense treats to the audience from buckets of KFC at their gigs.

Minsk is another band who have chosen a name that makes it fairly difficult to locate information on them on that World Wide Web thingy. Hailing from not Minsk but Peoria, IL, they leaven their doom metal with psychedelic leanings, even a saxophone on one track. Do Russian bands name themselves after small towns in middle America? Maybe they should, at least if they want to get the impression of some REAL mental malaise across. Fuck the Facts tempers their metal with a chick singer, but, hey, they’re from Ontario, Canada (not Ohio), so they can do stuff like that. Their album Backstabber’s Etiquette has one of the smartest titles I’ve heard all year.

September 8, Burt’s Tiki Lounge

Also appearing:

September 7: Denver, CO (Three Kings Tavern)

Charley Horse, Charlie Don’t Surf, Jett Black, Thunderfist

What with the Relapse Records tour and the Queers show, Burt’s little hole in the wall emerges this month starting to look like the cool place to be. At least if you like hard music, and as advertised, ‘Bacon in your beer for .50 extra.’ This is the show with patrons most likely to take them up on the offer. Throwrag lead singer Sean Zezo Wheeler was a Vegas strip performer and his family was known for their chain of Elvis car washes, but the real attraction of LA greasemongers Charley Horse may be former Nashville Pussy bassist and firebreather Corey Parks. Punkabilly with a roots rock aesthetic is followed in the same vein by Jett Black. Charlie Don’t Surf takes its name from an old Clash song. Local power punks Thunderfist are an appropriate open.

September 9, Burt’s Tiki Lounge

Also appearing:

September 7: Denver, CO (Lion’s Lair)
September 8: Fort Collins, ID (Starlight)

Shooter Jennings

Being born into musical royalty, regardless of the genre, is some heavy heredity. Regardless of the gift of aptitude, it ends up being some heavy boots to fill. You could be Rosanne Cash, Hank III, or at the other end of the achievement spectrum, Frank Sinatra Jr. Shooter Jennings is the only child of Waylon Jennings and Jesse Colter. Perhaps to rebel against his parents in addition to the influence of listening to Guns’n’Roses, the guitarist seemed to attempt to diverge from his Christening of Waylon Albright, literally Wayne II, by starting the fledgling LA circuit rock band Stargunn. Well, look at the luck Hank II has had, well, being Hank II. In that case talent, like baldness, skipped a generation. But not in this case; it took a detour to New York City (“New York City!” one hears ala salsa commercial) and rediscovered his country roots. This year, his second effort, Electric Rodeo, (Universal South) as befitting the title finds him updating the country sound yet adhering to his father’s gritty, hard-bitten style.

September 9, The Depot

Also appearing:

September 7: Butte, MT (Depot)
September 8: Missoula, MT (Wilma Theatre)

The Queers, The Hard-Ons, The Front **STAKER’S PICK OF THE WEEK!**

Not a queercore band like Pansy Division, the Queers are simply equal opportunity goofballs in the Ramones mode. Hailing from New Hampshire and the second wave of the punk rock invasion of the late seventies and early eighties, the band is almost a quarter century extant. They’ve had their share of tragedy along the way too, drummer Hugh O’Neill dying of brain cancer in 1999.

Their live set Weekend at Bernie’s captures such heart rending (not “rendering,” note wanna be writers; a rendering is a drawing) material as “Ursula Finally Has Tits” and “Kicked Out of the Webelos,” the latter those of us in this state with its emphasis on scouting can especially relate to. Oh the humiliation. It’s a real barn-burner tour for the Queers, across most of the US this late Summer and early Fall, hitting towns large and small that are still bastions of fandom for old-school punk rock. The Hard-Ons and the Front will get the audience hard and in the mood to punk out with their junk out.

September 10, Burt’s Tiki Lounge

Also appearing:

September 7: Denver, CO (Bluebird Theater)
September 8: Colorado Springs, CO (Black Sheep)
September 9: Fort Collins, CO (Aggie Theatre)

The Genitorturers, Mortiis

The Genitorturers are one band who didn’t name themselves merely for shock value. They are shocking, but not just for their name. It’s also their game. They are a paragon of truth in advertising that the US business community could look to for inspiration, in these days when you just don’t know who to trust in the marketplace. Anyone can make the wildest claims for their product and you don’t know who to believe. There are heavy metal bands out there naming themselves for all kinds of atrocities, but they would be hard-pressed to kill a fly, and wouldn’t know a homemade nuclear device if they tripped over it. Cannibal Corpse, go get a Happy Meal or something. Napalm Death, gimme a break, you vendors of neither.

But Genitorturers’ lead singer Gen is a real-life dominatrix whose biggest musical inspiration is perhaps the Marquis de Sade. It kinda restores your faith in human nature, doesn’t it? But once you’ve had your genitals mutilated a few dozen times the mystery is gone; besides, that’s so 1996. Prince Albert, Schmalbert. Another piercing and my unmentionables will look like Swiss cheese. What I do to be hip. But it’s got a good beat, and you can dance to it. Norwegian Viking metal band Mortiis gives proof that there is indeed an ‘I’ in ‘weird.’ Maybe they will cover Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge.”

September 10, Club Vegas

Also appearing:

September 9: Las Vegas, NV (Cheyenne Saloon)
September 12: Denver, CO (Bluebird Theater)

Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights, Paramore, This Providence

Buffalo, NY (as opposed to Buffalo, WY) emo band Cute Is What We Aim For hits their target in more ways than one, since they actually are cute, and they still manage to endear themselves, which doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand, since the new indie aesthetics dictate that nerdy is hot, you don’t wanna be able to play your instrument too well for fear of kiss-of-death label ‘math rock,’ and it’s smart not to be too clever for your own good.

The irony of their very name suffuses their entire oeuvre (which for now consists of their debut The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch (Fueled By Ramen). By now we’ve seen that irony is a double-edged sword; as long as you don’t take yourself to seriously and watch the sharpened blade it’s just clever enough. And you don’t have to be hot; in fact it’s better not to be, better just a little cute, since that’s within the comfort zone of the oh-so-cool post-everything generation.

September 11, Avalon Theatre

Also appearing:

September 8: Las Vegas, NV (House of Blues)
September 9: Tempe, AZ (The Clubhouse)
September 12: Denver, CO (Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom)

Jurassic 5, X-Clan

Actually an even half dozen, the Jurassic Five emerged in the early 90’s LA hip-hop scene and eventually became part of the reaction against the gangsta rap that had come to dominate the genre by the mid-90s. In addition, members Cut Chemist and Chali 2Na were part of the Latin hip-hop collective Ozomatli, and added their own eclectic direction to the band’s sound.

After playing big festivals like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and perhaps least likely of all, the Warper Tour, the J5 had to some degree crossed over into uncharted audiences; that is, non-African-American. Their third full-length release, this year’s Feedback, features Kanye West and the Neptunes guesting in an attempt at a deeper commercial foothold ala Black Eyed Peas.

September 11, The Depot

Also appearing:

September 8: Aspen, CO (Belly Up) (With Sound Tribe Sector 9)
September 9: Morrison, CO (Red Rocks Amphtitheatre)
September 10: Boulder, CO (Fox Theatre)

Brother Ali & Rakim

This date kicks off the Fall tour of Madison, WI rapper Brother Ali. On the strength of a self-produced tape and word-of-mouth rep of live shows in the Midwest, Brother Ali has for the past several years widened from a cult fanbase to becoming one of the possible futures of hip-hop. Especially with his association with the Rhymesayers collective, he has helped imbue the genre with a renewed respect, indeed reverence for music that is refreshing and at times breathtaking.

His 2004 Champion EP has been whetting everyone’s appetite for his full-length The Undisputed Truth, coming later this year. With a smooth, seemingly effortless, jazz-influenced flow, Rakim is considered one of the all-time greatest hip-hop MCs. As Brother Ali says, “the Rhymesayers don’t do shows. We throw parties.”


September 12, Suede

Also appearing:

September 13: Aspen, CO (Belly Up)
September 14: Denver, CO (The Roxy)

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