Black Beetle and Craig Wedren
Knitting Factory, New York (March 20, 2000)
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Black Beetle
Knitting Factory, New York
March 20, 2000 |
Judging by the unevenness of the shaven-headed vocalist's solo performance March 20 in New York, he still hasn't quite figured out where, if anyplace, his post-Shudder musical direction will lead. The set began a bit dubiously, as a beeping effects pedal helped to obscure the fact that Wedren's guitar wasn't turned on properly. Wielding an array of pedals, a keyboard, and a guitar, Wedren proceeded to weave his inventive lyrics through skeletal arrangements, conjuring occasional memories of his quizzical wordplay in Shudder To Think.
In "Heaven Sent," he made sense of "a chocolate box of boyfriends," and proclaimed that "God wept the day you left him for who knows who." He preened at the mic while detailing the merits of a "Killer Party," and twirled a rose while crooning through a typically obtuse rendition of the pop standard "I Only Have Eyes For You."
More coherent were a trio of tunes on which Wedren was backed by guitarist Jimmy Harry. He admitted that "One Man's Heart" was stolen from Shania Twain, but the song's lovely melody forgave such a theft. And in a particularly clever show closer, Wedren and three guitarists revamped German electronic act To Rococco Rot's "A Little Asphalt Here And There" into an alien love ballad, complete with patented operatic wails. Intriguing, and as maddeningly off-center as Shudder To Think fans have come to expect.
Chavez's Matt Sweeney was scheduled to play solo after Wedren, but a sign outside the club announced that the mustachioed frontman had "cancelled." Kind of fitting, considering that Chavez's career progress seems to have met the same fate.
The crowd perked up as Black Beetle took the stage. Based in New York and staffed by vocalist/guitarist/violinist Joan Wasser (Dambuilders, Those Bastard Souls, Mind Science Of The Mind), guitarist Michael Tighe (Jeff Buckley), bassist Oren Bloedow (Lounge Lizards) and drummer Parker Kindred (Buckley, Grand Mal), Black Beetle has naturally pricked up many ears here as their public appearances have become more frequent. On this night, they looked (Wasser, in a sexy red dress cut down to the bustline) and sounded ready for notoriety well outside The Big Apple.
Although the quartet has clearly taken stylistic cues from its members' past bands, there's a fresh perspective being brought to the table. The group demonstrated great skill balancing deliberate, relatively simple pop/rock such as "Blueblack" alongside the gritty grooves and rhythmic panache of "Half/Way" and "Wiseblood." At times, they suggested what the late Buckley might have sounded like had he indulged his Stones side more often. In this straight-up rock setting, Wasser's violin played a relatively inconsequential role, but her seductive melodies leant extra charm to "The Banks" and a show-closing cover of Smokey Robinson's "After All."
Moving on is hard to do, especially if you were once a member of outfits as notable as Shudder To Think (Wedren), The Dambuilders (Wasser), and Jeff Buckley's band (Tighe). But by airing their new ideas in a public setting, this collective of musicians appear poised to write new and intriguing chapters in their proverbial musical journals.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"