Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, live at the Great American Music Hall, 8/14/10
The last time the original Dead Kennedys played in the area, I was laid up with a torn ligament (received while stagediving at a Verbal Abuse show the week before) so I didn’t go. Little did I know that they would disband before I got a chance to see them. Jello Biafra, of course, went on to release a whole pile of spoken word albums, not to mention all of his collaborations with other musicians. It wasn’t until recently though that he put together a band that more or less picks up where Dead Kennedys left off, but more on that in a minute…
The first band of the evening was the mysterious Zolar X, who arrived on stage looking like extras from some fifties science fiction movie, complete with glowing antennae, matching blonde wigs, and silvery space clothing. The lineup consisted of a guitarist/lead vocalist, a bass player, and a keyboard player. In lieu of a drummer, they relied on programmed beats. Musically, they sounded like a heavy new wave band with space alien vocals and “futuristic” keyboard effects. The guitar riffs occasionally came close to sounding metal, or what a metal riff would sound like if left out in the sun, wind, and rain to weather for awhile, leaving the riff devoid of all of its original chugginess. They’ve definitely got a schtick going, and played the part to the hilt. I wonder if they’ve built up a mythos to go with the image. Hmmm.
In due course, Zolar X finished their set and soon La Plebe appeared. Like Zolar X, they were new to me. In addition to the usual guitar, bass, and drums, the band features a trumpet player and a trombone player, which is a definite plus in my opinion. They ripped into their first song with horn section blazing, and I soon decided that despite the fact that they were singing primarily in Spanish, they reminded me of Swedish punk band Asta Kask. They have the same kind of melody and energy. I did recognize a couple of songs in their set too, the first being the traditional song Bella Ciao (done so well by Chumbawamba a few years ago) and the second being Dirty Old Town, which I always thought was a traditional song as well, but which Greg informed me is actually a Pogues song. This mistake is due to the fact that the first version I ever heard was played by the Ian Campbell Folk Group. The band seemed to be having a fine old time up on stage, smiling and greeting familiar faces in the audience, and by the end of their set, a good portion of the audience was on stage singing along, something you’d expect at a smaller venue like Gilman St., but not at the Great American. All in all, a brilliant set. I love stumbling across bands like this!
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine
Finally, Jello appeared, along with a band that features Ralph Spight from Victim’s Family on guitar and backing vocals , plus the old drummer from Sharkbait (and Helios Creed, if I remember correctly), his brother from New Jersey on Bass, and an additional guitarist from Hawaii. While I’ve seen Jello on stage many times over the years (the last being as backing vocalist for Amebix during their song, Largactyl, on the very same stage), this was my first time seeing him front a band. I expected him to have slowed down a bit over the years, but no. Watching him was like watching an out of control mime. He pantomimed the words to nearly every song, and never really stopped moving for the duration of the set. Sometimes I felt like I was playing charades though. In between songs, we were treated to lists of people in the government who should be in jail, and urged to vote. Same old Jello. As for the songs, most of the new album, “The Audacity of Hype,” was played. Among the new songs, the standouts for me were Three Strikes and The Terror of Tinytown. In addition to this, they played six Dead Kennedys songs (or five, since Too Drunk To Fuck wasn’t actually written by the Dead Kennedys). First was the aforementioned Too Drunk To Fuck, and interspersed throughout the set were California Uber Alles (updated to pillory Schwarzeneggar), Let’s Lynch the Landlord, Bleed For Me, Police Truck (a big “fuck you” to the BART police), and during the encore, Holiday in Cambodia (of course). For me, this was more like finally seeing Dead Kennedys live than seeing the reformed Dead Kennedys would have been.
The audience was an interesting mixture of kids and people in their forties and fifties. The guy in front of us was so excited he looked like he was going into convulsions, and there was a notable increase in pit activity whenever the band played a Dead Kennedys song, so much so that someone completely unfamiliar with their music could have picked the songs out.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening. We’ll be there again tonight for the Rasputina/Larkin Grimm show.
ZOLAR X: Press
Alien Band Makes Contact Saturday at
Downtown Stage Summer Concert SeriesZolar X, Los Angeles first glam rock band, returns to their motherland on Saturday night for a free performance at Pershing Square. First formed in 1973, the reunited band, led by original founding member Ygarr Ygarrist, have been reinventing their bizarre performance for the last 5 years. It is rumored that they still play with antennae head gear and rotating outfits and that they continue to speak their jibberish Zolarian language.
The intergalactic band will be joined by a different rock force, The Tubes,who are also a spectacle themselves. Known for theatrical performances in the 70's, that wikipedia describes as combining "quasi pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism and politics."
Although Saturday will showcase 2010 Summer Concert Series' first band that speaks its own language, the event has already seen performances by Meiko & Purple Melon, Teen Inc. & Peanut Butter Wolf and others.
This week, on top of Zolar X and The Tubes, A.P. Woodworth and The Makepeace Brothers will be downtown on Wednesday for Beta Records night and Seasons will be performing Thursday for Spaceland Under The Stars. Remember that all performances are FREE, so head downtown and support downtown commerce (and parking lots) while you enjoy some quality music thanks to some great sponsors (us being one of them :D).
by Brandon "BoomD" Dorsky
ZOLAR X - Live in San Jose at The Blank Club
The Alpha Centuarii Herald calls Zolar X “the now sound…easily the most popular band in five parsecs…”; Yet this retro space age proto-new wave band’s fate began not in the stars, but at the San Lorenzo Community Center some 37 years ago. Mocked as weirdoes dressed like Vulcans, they headed to LA, where eccentrics are welcomed, as long as they can sing and dance. Part of that nebulous ball of gas that was punk, Zolar X was the house band at Mountain View expatriate Rodney Bingleheimer’s English Disco. They enjoyed a brief heyday before going into hyperslumber for some years. Now reformed, Plutonian elf Ygarr Ygarrist, Romm Eclipse, Raidia Visual X, Moto Bass Unit and Zory Zenith will reconstruct the beat that allowed them to share the stage with Iggy and the Stooges once. Space Theater opens. - Richard von Busack sanjose.com
Thirteen Delightfully Bizarre High-Concept Bands
Last week, Devo released their new “party album,” Something for Everybody. Remember Devo? A long time ago, they wrote art-rock songs about how society was devolving and mankind was regressing. Well, here we are in the future, and Devo’s worst fears have been realized: Our rock stars are making out with monkeys and all our cats are illiterate. That Devo — so smart! In order to properly honor their genius, we’re looking back on other high-concept acts who were way ahead of their time. Liberal-arts grad students, start your dissertations.
An excerpt of the article: "The Basement has hosted some noteworthy shows over those short years: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, a triple bill of Tapes ’N Tapes, Figurines and Cold War Kids, secret midnight shows with local Americana heroes David Rawlings and Gillian Welch (with surprise guest Norah Jones). There have also been some strange evenings: Leslie & The LY’s with their gem sweater revolution, rock megaman Thor, L.A. space punk innovators and overall weirdos Zolar X."
Before Gwar thought of being from another planet, the alien musicians of Zolar X were shocking people of the music scene in 1970s Los Angeles. Fronted by Ygarr Ygarrist, originally a man named Stephen Della Bosca from the San Francisco bay area, the band invented their own language and performed in outlandish costumes. Their dedication gained them notoriety and a residency at legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, but no love from the record industry, who never picked them up. When they split in 1981, Ygarrist self-released a record Timeless, which got re-released by Jello Biafra in 2004, thereby sparking renewed interest in the band and a second coming of Zolar X. Before heading down to SXSW, Ygarrist recently spoke (in English, thankfully) about the origins of the band, and getting a second chance .
Describe your sound in your own words.
If you had a musical blender you would add Mozart, Zeppelin, Hendrix, the Ramones. Star Trek, the Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still -- the original version -- to get Zolar X.
How did Zolar X form?
Well, before Zolar X, we had a band, Gilded Flesh, we played -- not heavy duty, but we played at the Fillmore on what they called "Local Band Night", Tuesday night, hen we worked at a strip club in North Beach. We worked there for over a year as house band for the strippers. Musically, Zolar X was the next progression. I went searching for a bass player in the San Francisco Bay area and I met Zany Zatovian [Bruce Allen Courtios]. We both loved Sci-Fi and we wanted to do theater rock and so we formed Zolar X. When I met [Zany] his music was, it wasn't three bar chords anymore. We started realizing what we called the cello instrument and the classical interplay. We explored the lower third inside of a chord, we would utilize that on out guitars, that note, where it's the low harmony, not the high harmony, that was what we deemed as the Zolar chord.What are your influences?
When I was playing music and stuff, starting off, there was glam. I was very influenced by the Who, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, the English bands and the bands wore makeup, had these outfits, with velvets, it was more glam-my than your San Francisco Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane kind of band. Then I read a book, a rock and roll book from years ago and somewhere in it, it said, "Don't ever look like your audience." That and we loved Star Trek.
How did Star Trek influence Zolar X?
I had seen Star Trek, but Star Trek became more popular and apparent in Zolar X about six months in to Zolar X. At first, we just had our pointed hair cuts and we started putting colors in it, and then one day, Zany, he was watching Star Trek and he called me over and he had shaved one of his eyebrows, I said, "Oh that looks really good with the pointed hair, I'll do it too!" Then all of a sudden, it was like oh, let's get some mirrors, and let's start a dialog, and let's start talking in languages! [Laughs] Some people might say that it's a total fantasy or they're on acid or something like that, but it's a theater show. It's more than that, it's a lifestyle, but it is a show.
How did you come up with your band name?
It seemed very logical that if you were claiming to be from another planet that Billy, Bruce, Craig and Stephen didn't fit, the language just evolved like a script for a movie.
You were the house band at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco -- what was the craziest thing that went down there?
About Rodney, he always seemed so meek, but at the same time he was right there in the middle of all the rock stars. One of the craziest things I remember was on a Sunday night and it was a jam, and I don't know why nobody, I didn't have the knowledge or foresight to record it with my cassette player or have some pictures taken by my girlfriend at the time. It was Johnny Thunders, Arthur Kane [of the New York Dolls], Nigel [Harrison] from Blondie, I remember we just jammed all night. I wish I would have had something on it, but I got witnesses.
Zolar X re-formed in 2005. What was it like to get a second chance?
My whole life is about music. When I hung 'em up, I didn't quit, I've always been playing music. But when Zolar X broke up, I never had another band in between. It was like, "OK, I'll go get a job and live normal and do my thing." Then when I heard that somebody was interested in Zolar X, in my tapes and stuff that I had saved, I said, "Well, heck, I'm going to cash in," because I still would love to play this music and people keep saying, "Well, I wish I would have seen them in their day." I had no idea that I would be writing music, but since that time, since 2005, I've written over 200 brand new songs.
What was your first gig where you felt like you were coming back?
The first big gig for us was the Knitting Factory because it was Los Angeles again, and you felt like you went somewhere. We would rehearse up in Sacramento and so when we drove down here and rented the hotel and all the kinds of things that make you feel semi-like a rock star, it's funny, you don't think when you're fifty you'll be doing the stuff most people at twenty four. [Laughs] But still, that's planet Earth. I didn't fit the criteria or the rules. I figure you are anything you want to be as long as you're breathing.
Zolar X received a nice mention in Spin Digital Mag - P 66: "More apparent non-Earthlings! With antennae even! And monikers like Zory Zenith and Ufoian Ufar and Romm Eclipse! And solar-systematic glitter fashions that make their primary sonic inspiration Sparks semm like Ted Nugent by comparison!"
To read the entire article and see the pic click on the link below and click Page 66.
Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2010 > January > 08 > Entry
SXSW Stealthily Adds Bands to Lineup
By Patrick Caldwell | Friday, January 8, 2010, 11:34 AM
Hat tip to our friends over at the Austinist for noticing that the South by Southwest Music Festival has stealthily added quite a few bands to its already announced list of showcasing artists.
SXSW launched a new event schedule tool yesterday including film, interactive and music events. At the moment, it covers most events happening between Friday, March 12 (the start dates for the film and interactive festivals) and Wednesday, March 17 (the first day of the music portion). That means a slew (and “a slew” is the scientific term for a flood of new SXSW info) of Wednesday’s performing bands are now available for your viewing pleasure, though venues and times remain to be announced.
There are some interesting, major acts sprinkled in that list, including Solange Knowles, the XX (who may be playing a Houston Press day party alongside Big Pink), We Were Promised Jetpacks, locals Brazos, Neon Indian and Brownout, Alberta Cross, Denton’s Midlake (who have a new album out Feb. 2), Toro Y Moi, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, legendary early punk rock band Zolar X and Everybody Was In The French Resistance… Now!, a new side project from ineffably charming Art Brut front man Eddie Argos.
Keep your eyes peeled to this space for further information. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are sparse right now — containing international showcases from Spain, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales (we can only hope for an appearance by Cardiff-based indie pop outfit Los Campesinos!), among others — but more announcements should arrive shortly.
What are your thoughts on the lineup? Stoked to see Zolar X reprise their alien glam act? Pop into the comments and let us know what you think."
Even more SXSW artists revealed: We Were Promised Jetpacks, Solange Knowles, The Xx, etc
Updates for SXSW tend to come one of two ways: in an overwhelming flood or a quiet trickle. Today it’s the latter, as SXSW.com launched its official event schedule without much fanfare, giving registrants the opportunity to see the festival lineup taking shape and begin planning their week. While most of it is thus far focused on Interactive and Film—including previously announced titles such as superhero spoof Kick-Ass and Mötorhead documentary Lemmy, plus new panels with intriguing titles like “RIP Jeff Goldblum: Truth Vs. Web BS”—a leak of Wednesday’s schedule also gives us a sneak peek at hundreds more bands who have confirmed since those first initial waves. Among the highlights we haven't seen before: Alberta Cross, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, Anti-Pop Consortium, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, Azure Ray, Brazos, Brownout!, Basia Bulat, Califone, Cheeseburger, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Danielson, Ear Pwr, Efterklang, Elizabeth And The Catapult, Adam Franklin And Bolts Of Melody, Free Energy, Gordon Gano And The Ryan Brothers, Grant Hart, The Heavenly States, Solange Knowles, Midlake, Neon Indian, Pocahaunted, Rhymefest, Solillaquists Of Sound, So Many Dynamos, Toro Y Moi, TV Torso, U-N-I, Imaad Wasif, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Wye Oak, The Xx, Zolar X.
[Zolar X! Holy shit.—ed.]