I grew up listening to Maria Muldaur’s music by sheer osmosis. My mother was a huge fan and played the hell out of her Southern Winds and Open Your Eyes albums until I soon knew every lyric. From blues to children’s music to folk to Christmas fare, let’s just say that she’s quite ambidextrous. After a steady stream of touring across the country, her small run of West Coast Christmas shows will include Sacramento Valley. A byproduct of the Greenwich Village scene that has only aged with grace, Muldaur is that rare singer that can win fans over from any ilk. Don’t miss this one. 2791 24th Street, www.mariamuldaur.com. (SN&R)
Some bands defy categorization. Take, for instance, the ever-changing sounds of the Graves Brothers Deluxe, a group that morphs rock with lounge jazz, alternative and sheer improvisation. This week, they’ll hold court at the Delta of Venus, a venue that purposely doesn’t have a traditional venue vibe. Saunter in an hour before showtime and you’ll wonder if you confused this health-conscious eatery with another locale. For those who like to witness their favorite bands while munching on chef Iwaca’s stellar Caribbean food, make sure to save a table and order me the 3 Flavor Fish. Two thumbs up for the music (and the food). 122 B Street in Davis, www.gravesbrothersdeluxe.com. (SN&R)
I’ll be honest: I’ve always hated the music of the Grateful Dead. I remember attending one of their New Year’s Eve shows at the then-Oakland Coliseum with the Neville Brothers (who I do love, by the way) and being so annoyed that I ultimately broke up with my girlfriend on the drive home. For those who do actually care, Dark Star Orchestra, on the other hand, do justice to the band’s legacy and satiate even the most discerning Deadhead’s appetite. Sacramento will host the third show on their winter tour, and fans of DSO can expect to hear a recreation of a past Dead show from the immediate area in all its splendor. I won’t be there—but you should. 1013 K Street, www.darkstarorchestra.com. (SN&R)
For a high-school dropout, Peter Case has done pretty well for himself. From fronting one of the most well-respected pop groups during the ’80s, the Plimsouls, in addition to playing in the lesser known Nerves, to touring regularly with his own solo material, let’s just say the job market hasn’t affected his recorded output or touring cycle. He’s playing this Thursday in Winters. However, those in-the-know folks don’t mind venturing into the sleepy town to see acts play at the former opera house when the caliber is this high. Check his latest, Wig!, released earlier this year on Yep Roc Records. That should be enough impetus. 13 Main Street in Winters, www.petercase.com. (SN&R)
My first introduction to D.I. was the raucous club scene in the cult movie Suburbia. If there was ever a movie to capture the aesthetic of the punk movement at its core, this was it. “Richard Hung Himself” was D.I.’s contribution, and it indelibly left a boot print in both our mind and our aural senses. Vocalist Casey Royer and his ever-changing cast of characters have been together since 1982., and While the band’s music has also morphed considerably, true D.I. fans need only get a glimpse of Royer in action to reclaim their punk roots. With Fang, the Hybrid Creeps, Toxic Holocaust, the Scowndrolls, the Snot-Cocks and Drastic Actions. 5525 Auburn Boulevard, www.myspace.com/diunderground. (SN&R)
Revered outsider musician Jandek held a live performance at the Davis Veterans Memorial Theatre last Friday, when, much like his mysterious background, he performed shrouded in darkness. This photo is from the next day, Saturday, at KDVS’ studios.PHOTO BY PHOTO BY LINDSEY WALKER
Does the devil know when the devil’s dead? : KnifeThruHead, the area’s premiere man-thong-sporting, saxophone-blaring, innuendo-spewing metal band, just won a Sammie. But the band didn’t go to the awards show. Why? Because between booking gigs, manning live sound at a local bar, playing in two groups, running a record label and slaving at a full-time day job, frontman Kenny Hoffman was busy. In fact, he just might be the busiest man in Sacramento’s metal scene.
Let’s rewind to the third Saturday in October, when Sabado Satanico was going down at On the Y (670 Fulton Avenue). S.S. is a mini-fest of local and touring metal and punk bands, and Hoffman not only books the bands, he also acts as a sort of puppeteer who runs soundboards, manages the stage and sets up gear. Though much of his face is hidden by his bushy beard and thick-framed glasses, he greets people with a smile and a “Cheers!”
The band onstage, called Buried at Birth, is fronted by a petite brunette who emits growls that could come from a man twice her size. They finish and she smiles sweetly and says, “We just want to thank Kenny.”
Hoffman will be the first to tell you that he is actually a punk, not a metalhead. He found himself part of Sacramento’s music scene at an early age, when he fell in love with music such as the Dead Kennedys—and the middle finger they raised to politicians, parents, cops and all other types of authority figures. From there, bands like Slayer were the gateway into metal and a love for pure, unadulterated shock value.
“My first band was called the Ass Pirates. We wanted everyone to think that we were homosexuals,” he remembers. “It’s good to get a rise out of people. I like it when people get angry about artistic things that I do. I like to make people uncomfortable. That’s fun.”
In 1999, Hoffman’s knack for shock gave way to the birth of KnifeThruHead, a mostly naked parade of comedy grindcore that features Hoffman, or his stage name, KENNETHFUCKINGHOFFMAN, screaming along with metal breakdowns and a wailing saxophone.
But Hoffman laments changes in the music scene during the past decade. He says that the Internet has all but destroyed the sacred quality of the “secret club” that used to be underground metal and punk. Even with the ubiquitous information, shows are more scarcely populated, and you can never tell who might show up.
“You didn’t used to have to do tons of promoting, because people just knew,” he explains. “You put up a few fliers here and there if you could afford it, but mostly it was just word of mouth or the calendar in the News & Review, and everyone would go to shows.”
He shakes his head. “Now it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I saw that band on YouTube.’”
Rather than be discouraged, he sought to give like-minded musicians a place to unite. He founded his own record label, Buried in Hell Records, in 2000. And these days, KnifeThruHead is working on a full-length album, and his other project, doom-metal band Cura Cochino—fronted by his girlfriend, Priscila—is just getting off the ground.
Unfortunately, this Saturday’s Sabado Satanico will be the last ever at On the Y. KnifeThruHead, Valdur, Verlaten, Killgasm and Chronaexus will perform. The show begins at 8:30 p.m. and the cover is $6 to hail Satan one last time. (Cat Jones)
Heeeeeey, maaaaaan : Another band from the ’90s has regrouped and is back on the touring circuit. Most of you know them for their smash hit, “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” which seemed to ape the sound of Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails project. Richard Patrick has successfully carried the moniker through two decades and, in the interim, released a handful of albums. Filter is out in support of The Trouble With Angels and, thankfully, have decided to hit some secondary markets along the way (insert Sacramento here). Although their production has been leaned down a bit from the days of touring in support of Short Bus, don’t let that stop you from rocking out with your arms neatly folded. Filter plays this Monday, November 22, 9 p.m. at Harlow’s, 2708 J Street; $22.50. (Eddie Jorgensen) (SN&R)
The Boardwalk9426 Greenback Ln. Orangevale, CA 95662
(916) 988-9247
Just when you thought the black-metal diaspora had thoroughly exhausted itself, Watain prove there is more life therein. Hailing from Sweden, these blaspheming bad boys have been causing quite a stir since 2007’s Sworn to the Dark. Not a band to mince words, its live show pummels from start to finish with elements of thrash, black and death metal melded into one vitriolic concoction. Thankfully, it’s doing a proper, stateside tour to promote Lawless Darkness, a surefire candidate for any metalhead’s top 10 list. Shit will hit the proverbial fan. With Goatwhore, Black Anvil and Killgasm. 9426 Greenback Lane in Orangevale, www.templeofwatain.com. (SN&R)
Bands are gluttons for punishment. Why else, of course, would bands traverse from Sacramento to, say, the fair state of Texas to play Austin’s yearly South by Southwest festival? The pay is abysmal, and most of the venues aren’t places bands should ever play even if held at gunpoint. Even on the local front, bands must sometimes turn unusual spots into a concert venue. Take, for instance, this week’s show at The Professional. Ever heard of it? No? Maybe that’s because it’s a window-tinting shop!? Fortunately, it features one of the best local lineups I’ve seen in years, with Giant Squid, Diseptikons, Rat Damage and Walking Dead. 2101 Arden Way, www.myspace.com/giantsquid. (SN&R)
It takes a Village: Goodness Gracious Me trick-or-treat at Old Ironsides last weekend.PHOTO BY AMY SCOTT
Music fit for a Kings fan?: Who is this AL3 deejay that the Sacramento Kings hired to spin at home games?
AL3 never train-wrecked last Monday, but he killed the crowd’s vibe more than once, his ultimate buzzkill never more abrasive than when he busted out an “Eye of the Tiger” remix during a timeout in the third quarter. The Kings were rallying on the comeback trail, but his cheese put fans on their butts. And then AL3 started hooting into the microphone. Try again, hype man.
As it turns out, AL3 is the “official deejay of the UFC,” or Ultimate Fighting Championship, providing soulless soundtracks to sweaty men grappling on mats—which he may excel at (who knows?). But outside the octagon he’s just another bad Las Vegas poolside-deejay type blasting banal mash-ups.
I attend the Kings’ season home opener every year, so I’ve come to expect less-than-adventurous musical offerings at games. For instance, each year the Maloofs have new songs boom over the PA while the announcer introduces the starting lineup. This year, one of the songs was by Muse.
Sigh. I get that post-Neanderthal, Radiohead-meets-cokehead rock is popular. But can we scratch the ax grind for just one year—last year’s intro song was Rob Zombie—and get some beats bumping for a change?
Suggestions: Eliminate all dance tracks that feature the lyrics “choo-choo.” Keep Van Halen’s “Panama,” but use it sparingly, such as when Hassan Whiteside hits a 3-pointer. And straight-up ban “Enter Sandman” from the fourth quarter; the crowd wants to get pumped, not pass out on 1991-era MTV metal NyQuil equivalent.
Oh, and Kings dancers: That show-tunes “Locomotion” remix dance number, not so hot. If I wanted generic boogie and blast of psychoactive Kylie Minogue, I’d go to Rite Aid, where I can groove to “She Bangs” on their intercom and refill my Provigil scrip.
Still, go Kings! (Nick Miller)
Impending doom or head change?: If you like the Mars Volta, then dig Free Moral Agents, where bandleader Isaiah “Ikey” Owens replicates the mothership’s penchant for watery grooves and intonations, but (mostly) without the buzz-saw guitar solos. The only problem is the band sometimes gets too absorbed in DayGlo frippery and vocalist’s Mendee Ichikawa’s drone. At best, though, Free Moral Agents maintain a sense of dread and impending doom—or is that the psychedelics kicking in? The Long Beach group heads to Sacramento in support of the just-released Control This, which encompasses all of the qualities described herein. Get to the show early and witness rapper 2Mex, who just released the aptly titled My Fanbase Will Destroy You.
Also playing with Free Moral Agents is Aquifer, Wednesday, November 10, at Sol Collective, 2574 21st Street; 8 p.m.; $8. (Mosi Reeves)
Shenanigans?: Another hip-hop friendly venue goes kaput. This time, it’s Image VIP Lounge, at J and Seventh streets, which is now Shenanigans, a live-music venue and sports-themed bar. They’ve got a calendar of upcoming gigs on their site at www.jstreetshenanigans.com; local reggae-rock troupe Arden Park Roots plays on November 24, just in time for some pre-Thanksgiving wings. Mmm. (N.M.)
More than nothing: Desert Noises are a Utah-based trio hailing from both Orem and Provo. And while origin shouldn’t be a point of issue, one listen to the electronically-tinged “New Man” or the sleepy vibe of “Blue Skies” is proof positive that their fine state does have something to offer other than massive expanses of nothingness. Their current West Coast tour takes them to all of the familiar haunts that have the good sense to hire them. If you’re a fan of laid-back fare a la Low, the Mercury Project, or shoegazer pop, their upcoming show with tour mates, Parlor Hawk, and local Doofy Doo should be a no-brainer.
Desert Noises plays Monday, November 8, at Luigi’s Fun Garden, 1050 20th Street; 8 p.m.; $5; www.myspace.com/thedesertnoises. (Eddie Jorgensen) (SN&R)
Fishbone has been making noise in one configuration or another for more than 30 years. And while the band isn’t the most prolific group, the albums it does eventually release after long, unnecessary periods do have staying power. While some might say the height of the band’s career was 1991’s The Reality of My Surroundings, die-hard fans will always hearken back to its self-titled EP. As its tour winds its way through the Humboldt County area for a Halloween festival just a day before the Sacramento show, one must wonder if the boys will make it out alive. This Sunday night soiree will be sure to please if all the stars align in our favor. 2708 J Street, www.fishbone.net. (SN&R)
Eddie
