Saw these guys last year. I've never listened to hardcore and these guys were a real fuckin' chore to get through. At one point I left because I couldn't stand the shit they were playing.

SecondEdition wrote:Were they assholes? I've heard stories about Gira hitting soundmen to demonstrate the kind of sound he wanted...and that in the mid-'80's they were all shit-drunk and nasty 24-7.

Their "rider" specified that they needed two 100-watt Marshall stacks, two SVTs. and a drum kit. I don't know if you've ever been in the 7th St. Entry, but it's no arena.

And this is Minneapolis in the mid '80s, so you would be lucky to find a single half-stack for rent. We got two half-stacks, one SVT and a decent Yamaha kit. They show up and tell us that they can't play, the drums are a "toy" and there are not enough amps. The keyboard player was "sick" and needed "medicine" I guess, so she opted to not play. I don't know the names of these people.

So, they tell the manager that they won't play. Manager says "Fine, don't play. There are a lot of bands that will play." So they decided to anyways but not before having fits, calling us and the club names, etc. Bass player spends hours changing strings and polishing his bass.

I like all kinds of stuff. I like noise sometimes. SPK, Whitehouse, very nice. These guys were so fucking boring. Loud, yes. Trying to be scary or something. Pathetic.

Anyhoo.

zom-zom wrote:

SecondEdition wrote:Were they assholes? I've heard stories about Gira hitting soundmen to demonstrate the kind of sound he wanted...and that in the mid-'80's they were all shit-drunk and nasty 24-7.

Their "rider" specified that they needed two 100-watt Marshall stacks, two SVTs. and a drum kit. I don't know if you've ever been in the 7th St. Entry, but it's no arena.

And this is Minneapolis in the mid '80s, so you would be lucky to find a single half-stack for rent. We got two half-stacks, one SVT and a decent Yamaha kit. They show up and tell us that they can't play, the drums are a "toy" and there are not enough amps. The keyboard player was "sick" and needed "medicine" I guess, so she opted to not play. I don't know the names of these people.

So, they tell the manager that they won't play. Manager says "Fine, don't play. There are a lot of bands that will play." So they decided to anyways but not before having fits, calling us and the club names, etc. Bass player spends hours changing strings and polishing his bass.

I like all kinds of stuff. I like noise sometimes. SPK, Whitehouse, very nice. These guys were so fucking boring. Loud, yes. Trying to be scary or something. Pathetic.

Anyhoo.

Hoo-boy. This must have been '85 or '86. (See, I am a big Swans fan, so this era of the band was probably in that time or so.) From what I've read, this sounds typical of Swans' dealings with clubs and their live shows in '85 and '86. Let me guess what the show sounded like: POUND-POUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUPOUPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUND"KEEP YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!"POUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH and so on.

I have a live album of theirs called Public Castration Is a Good Idea which sounds pretty much like that from around that time.

They didn't sound like that at any other time in their career.

This era of Swans ("A Screw", "Time Is Money (Bastard)", all the dollar sign 12"s and albums) is my favorite, but yeah, it is pretty one-dimensional. I just happen to really enjoy that dimension.

That said, I'd rather listen to SPK or Mark Stewart or Pan Sonic.

That Swans show was fantastic. I was maybe 17. How could it not be fantastic? My pubescent mind was blown. So were my ears. I wasn't sober enough or growed-up enough to see past all the doom and gloom crap. Still, one of my favorite shows.

ubercat wrote:That Swans show was fantastic. I was maybe 17. How could it not be fantastic? My pubescent mind was blown. So were my ears. I wasn't sober enough or growed-up enough to see past all the doom and gloom crap. Still, one of my favorite shows.

I guess I've got about ten years on you. Maybe if I was 17 at the time I would have thought it was cool. But after witnessing SPK and Whitehouse, it seemed very weak.

"POUND-POUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUPOUPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUND"KEEP YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!"POUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH and so on."

EXACTLY.

zom-zom wrote:

ubercat wrote:That Swans show was fantastic. I was maybe 17. How could it not be fantastic? My pubescent mind was blown. So were my ears. I wasn't sober enough or growed-up enough to see past all the doom and gloom crap. Still, one of my favorite shows.

I guess I've got about ten years on you. Maybe if I was 17 at the time I would have thought it was cool. But after witnessing SPK and Whitehouse, it seemed very weak.

"POUND-POUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUPOUPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUND"KEEP YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!"POUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH and so on."

EXACTLY.

Man, I missed SPK when they first came around, but Whitehouse was fucking amazing the first time they came through Chicago, I think at Exit. I saw the Swans a bit later, and I don't remember it all being thudthudthud, but I might be mixing up them with the first time I saw Foetus.

zom-zom wrote:"POUND-POUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUPOUPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH - POUNDPOUNDPOUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH-POUND"KEEP YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!"POUNDPOUND-SMASHSMASH and so on."

EXACTLY.

Aha! I am correct!

That was their most "intense" era live.

It was also - by far - their most tuneless.

Granted, if you were going to this era of Swans for tunes you'd need your head examined, but still. In the words of Prindle on the live album, Public Castration...yadda yadda: "For one thing, this may be the first rock album I've ever heard on which A SINGLE RECOGNIZABLE MUSICAL NOTE automatically makes a song seem 'melodic'! Also, you can't help but wonder how they manage to create this unholy racket. 95% of the time, it's not even CLOSE to musical! Are they just bashing on cymbals with fistfuls of chains? Is the guitarist just throwing his instrument up in the air and letting it smash on the ground in 4/4 time? Christ, one of the remarks I excitedly jotted down on paper for mention in this review is that the hook of "Stupid Child" is "Almost like 2 different notes!""

This review was what originally got me interested in Swans.

so anyone went to their show in LA last nite?

Sebastian J. wrote:so anyone went to their show in LA last nite?

I wish I'd gone. Did you go? If you did, what were some of the songs they played?