story by Katie Bordner
photo by Eva Vermandel
While
interviewing Noble of British Sea Power, I created a "Top 10" list of
reasons why a person might enjoy going to their show at the Empty
Bottle on March 24, which is a Monday:
10. They have
added an early show. That means if you’re a working stiff you can still
go to the 8 p.m. show and not risk a day of pain on Tuesday.
9.
The new album is titled Do You Like Rock Music? My guess is if you’re
reading this, you’d be inclined to answer ‘yes’. If, however, you do
not, Noble is of the opinion that you "must have a black soul." If you
have a black soul, I guess you have other things to be worrying about.
8.
The new album is not called Now That's What I Call WWII Joy Division:
"People seem to think we always wear World War Two uniforms and sound
like Joy Division," Noble says. "We haven't been anywhere close to that
for five years now."
7. Do You Like Rock Music? was
recorded all over God’s green earth. And theory states that interesting
recording stories facilitate worthwhile live shows: "We started off
writing in a massive concrete water tower where we lived with 200
pigeons in squat-like conditions," Noble recalls. "Then we spent some
time at home and in a partially disused military fort in Cornwall
recording extra parts and noises." They finalized the album in a forest
in the Czech Republic, where Noble says “we had thunderstorms, bike
rides in the woods and streams…and encounters with wild boar and roe
deer.”
6. You might learn something. Songs off the new
album touch on the Great Skua (an Atlantic seabird), Big Daddy (a
professional wrestler), and Polish plumbers, to name a few: "I
sometimes go bird-watching and I always loved the name of the Great
Skua," Noble describes. "Though this bird is a pirate of the sea and
steals other birds' food. Not a nice character, but he was born that
way."
5. They are hardcore about a good time. Take,
for instance, their alterego band/performance Club Sea Power: "We used
to do it once a month," Noble explains. "It would often feature
foliage, beer, saucy fashion shows, live radio discussions, the
200-year-old family folk group The Copper Family, and some unhinged
rock-a-thons." Now, if that isn’t motivation enough to go to the show,
well then, there are still four more reasons.
4. You
might see someone get hurt: "Phil [The Wandering Horn] received three
broken teeth and 10 stitches in his jaw after jumping 12 feet off the
speaker stack," Noble reports. "Woody, [the drummer], did his back in
whilst sweeping his floor with a dustpan and brush."
3.
A pretty solid rock ideology: "Rock music to us meant something life
enhancing, something fantastic, intense or beautiful, something that
stops you in your tracks and makes you forget everything," Noble
declares.
2. "It'll either be gravely serious or a laugh,” according to Noble. “Most likely you will encounter a bit of both."
1. Noble
promises the one key ingredient to the best night of your life. "We are
bringing an old-fashioned wrestling outfit too, so you can wear that if
you want."
Let the magic begin.
British Sea Power :: with The 1900s :: Empty Bottle :: March 24 (two shows).
There are quality bands both musically and lyrically, and there are
good bands that are both funny and entertaining. Then there is Electric
Six, which is all of the above. The cult followers of the Dick
Valentine-led 6-piece can pretty much assume that the band is either
playing a live date somewhere, working on a new album, or possibly
making one of their dozens of hilarious, half-hearted music videos. A
fresh batch of songs from their fourth release, verbosely titled I
Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the
Master, may not explore many new topics, but it will provide new life
to aging songs from their 2003 release Fire. The "Dance Commander"
replacement, "It’s Showtime," ends with Valentine’s wisdom: "Don't tell
me how to do my job now / 'Cause I'm totally doin' my job now" — which
Electric Six does every time they take the stage. (Appearing at Double
Door on March 29) --text: Joseph O'Fallon--photo: Pieter Van Hattem
