The Bowery Ballroom upcoming shows
Electric Six
Constellations / Fake Problems
- Venue:
-
The Bowery Ballroom
- Date:
- Sat 9/25
- Notes:
- 18+
- Doors: 8:30 PM / Show: 9:30 PM
- $20
- Electric Six
- official website
- myspace
- Formerly known as the Wildbunch, the Detroit sextet Electric Six mix garage, disco, punk, new wave, and metal into cleverly dumb, in-your-face songs like "Danger! High Voltage," which reached number two on the British charts early in 2003. Singer Dick Valentine, guitarists Rock and Roll Indian and Surge Joebot, bassist Disco, and drummer M. formed the Wildbunch in 1996 (keyboardist Tait Nucleus? joined the band later), releasing their debut single, "I Lost Control (Of My Rock & Roll)," and the eight-track An Evening with the Many Moods of the Wildbunch's Greatest Hits...Tonight! that year on Uchu Cult Records. They also released 1999's full-length on that imprint. The group switched to Flying Bomb for singles like 1997's "The Ballade of MC Sucka DJ," the Christmas single "Flying Bomb Surprise Package, Vol. 1," and 2001's "Danger! High Voltage," which became an underground hit, particularly in the U.K. - Heather Phares, All Music Guide
- Fake Problems
- official website
- myspace
- Although Naples, Florida is just five short hours from Gainesville—the birthplace of bands like Against Me! and Hot Water Music—the area isn’t commonly considered to be a punk Mecca; and with good reason. “Naples is a really thriving vacation spot, so the whole city revolves around people who come here for three months of the year,” explains Fake Problems front man Chris Farren. “So it’s a strange environment, but I think it’s a good environment creatively because it’s very… nice.”
Despite the fact that they’ve only been together for a few years, the group of four friends—which also features bassist Derek Perry, guitarist Casey Lee and drummer Sean Stevenson—have already logged more miles in the van as a full-time touring band than most acts years their senior. “Last year we played more than 150 shows and were away from home for something like 200 days, with recording and days off in addition to shows” Farren explains. In October, the band blew the minds of fans from around the world at last years Fest in Gainesville, and the band just finished up a largely sold out tour alongside Against Me! and The Riverboat Gamblers.
Recorded with Rob McGregor (Hot Water Music, Grabass Charlestons), the band’s full-length debut How Far Our Bodies Go has a timeless feel that pushes the boundaries of punk rock while retaining the youthful exuberance inherent in the band’s music. With it’s blaring horns, swinging tempos, and anthemic vocals, “Maestro Of This Rebellious Symphony” sounds like it’s about to combust at any moment; although “Astronaut” starts with an acoustic intro the song quickly erupts into the cathartic punk of “Crest On The Chest”; and the confessional ballad “Staying & Leaving As Living & Dying” evokes Saddle Creek artists like Bright Eyes and The Good Life.
A concept album about morality and driven by a love of life and a fear of death, How Far Our Bodies Go manages to tackle existential subject matter in a way that doesn’t come off as preachy or pretentious. In fact, metaphoric references to birth, travel, bones, weather, goals, and uncertainty litter the album, forming a patchwork of experiences that make up one complete life experience. “I need to swing, I need to move/You need to stand up, look forward and go,” Farren sings during “Life’s A Drink, Get Thirsty,” trying his best to move ahead amidst all this self-imposed chaos and confusion—and his catharsis seems to be working.
“In my lyrics I definitely like to say what I feel, but I don’t like to alienate people or create a niche so that you can only listen to our music if you share our beliefs,” Farren explains about the disc, which begins with birth (“We were born in our mothers arms but we have since grown”) and ends with imminent death (“I missed you, I barely hit you but you could have gone to heaven today”). “I don’t like to bring my problems to other people unless they’re really important,” Farren continues, elaborating on the band’s curious moniker.
Fake Problems aren’t concerned about fitting into any type of niche, selling a ton of records or wearing make-up in effort to perpetuate some kind of image. If anything the band’s image is that they don’t have one, instead choosing to put their energy into seeing the world, writing honest music and pouring their hearts out every night—and now that people are starting to take notice, well, that’s just a bonus. We can’t wait to hear if you agree.
- Constellations
- myspace
- The Constellations could have called their debut album After Hours. Sure, Martin Scorsese already used that name for his 1985 black comedy, but the two works share much in common. Both are wide screen spectacles rife with seedy scenes and eccentric personalities, propelled by a manic energy that hustles the audience deeper into the unexpected. But Southern Gothic was a better choice. Because The Constellations stomping ground is Atlanta, GA, and in the wee small hours of the morning, A-Town can get awfully bizarre.
The record is all about what happens in Atlanta from 2 AM until noon. Your tour guide on this madcap adventure is the magnetic frontman and vocalist Elijah Jones, the ringleader of the twisted circus that is The Constellations, who spent two years writing and recording the album with producer Ben H. Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley), along with some storied cronies from the local scene. Not that they set out with specific intentions. Far from it. “All of us wanted to do a record about Atlanta, but we never said it in words,” recalls Jones. “But the deeper we got into it, the more we realized we were writing a concept album.”
Atlanta has been providing the backdrop and soundtrack for Jones life since childhood. Now he wanted to share his hometown’s underbelly with the rest of the world. “Atlanta is a huge city, but it still has a small town feel to it,” explains the singer. “Everybody knows everybody, you run into the same people at the same bars every week. So it’s still kind of Mayberry, but with all the yummy stuff that comes along with being a big city—and all the bad stuff, too.”
“Atlanta is strange,” he adds, “because we’re all basically pushed together.” The hip-hop heads, punk rockers, and indie kids all rub shoulders and mix it up. Southern Gothic reflects that inclusive diversity in its far-reaching sound. “The record was designed to sound lyrically and melodically very thought out, and sonically very disorganized,” comments Allen. One expects nothing less from a singer who cites Tom Waits and Cee-Lo of Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley as his musical heroes, working with a producer who name-checks Fela Kuti and Gorillaz among their record’s key influences.
Check out the centerpiece, “Step Right Up (A Tribute To Tom Waits).” The foundation of this delirious nine-minutes-and-change comes from a cut on Waits’ 1976 classic Small Change. But it mutated along the way, with customized lyrics about the ATL. In this cavalcade of neon lights and shady characters, no names have been changed, because no one is innocent. Jones beckons the listener to keep up as he lurches from the Clermont Lounge to the Drunken Unicorn and beyond, his carnival bark underpinned with dizzy disco whorls and eddies, and anchored by a soulful chorus of irresistible exhortations. The extended percussion jam that caps the track calls down an ecstatic abandon on par with LCD Soundsystem. More cowbell? You don’t have to ask twice.
Yet there are many twists and turns ahead of “Step Right Up.” The eleven-song set kicks off with “Setback,” a psychedelic freak-out of wiggling synthesizers and vintage organ, shot through with a nasal drawl reminiscent of Beastie Boys, and a wordless chorus that won’t let go. For the salacious funk number “Felicia,” Jones drew inspiration from the laidback ‘70s vignettes of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. “December” opens with a baroque snippet a la some lost minuet, but detours into ‘60s folk rock harmonies as it picks up momentum.
The band’s name refers to the myriad musicians from the regional scene who either contributed to making Southern Gothic, or have since played in The Constellations live band. One luminary who drops in is Cee-Lo, whose verse on the electro-rocker “Love Is A Murder” prompted a completely overhaul the track underneath.
Another guest is suburban rapper Asher Roth, lending his playful rhymes to “We’re Here To Save The Day,” among the disc’s most insidious moments. On the one hand, this ditty’s sound is pure sing-along bliss, with a gleeful chorus delivered by Elijah’s niece and nephew. Yet at the same time, Jones and Roth drop rhymes that lampoon commercial top 40 hip-hop and chest-thumping poseurs.
Because Southern Gothic was created on the artists’ own time and own dime, as an experimental studio project, no thought was initially given to recreating the songs live. No, that only came after it turned out there was plenty of demand for The Constellations to do exactly that. “We’d put in fifty billion handclaps and shakers, all kinds of crazy stuff,” admits Jones. “That’s why we have eight band members.” Although the line-up would go through numerous changes, today its stable core finds Jones accompanied by a five-piece combo and the non-stop shimmy, shout and wail of two female back-up singers.
Well before The Constellations had settled into its current incarnation, their explosive shows were selling out all over the city. Wes Hoffman had been putting on parties at Atlanta hot spot Star Bar, and booked one the earliest Constellations gigs. “The first thing I noticed was the freshness of the music,” he remembers. Lyrics about Atlanta made things more appealing. But the key was seeing how fired up the crowd got. “I knew this band was on to something from how people responded.” When the group told him they couldn’t play a subsequent gig because their bassist was unavailable, Hoffman stepped in and learned the bass parts himself. He’s been part on the team ever since.
You don’t need an in-depth knowledge of the 404 to appreciate Southern Gothic. One of The Constellations’ biggest markets outside Georgia is Milwaukee. Their songs may reference specific sites, but the appeal is universal. Perhaps because we all know characters like these. And Jones, who grew up singing in the church and whose father was a Baptist deacon, recognizes how to exploit the tension between dark and light in everyone’s life. “People ask me, ‘How can you be into this weird after hours scene, coming from a Christian background?’ But you can’t just write about the good in life. There’s some bad shit in the human heart, and that part of it is just a little more interesting to me.”
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