Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
40 Watt Club, Athens, Ga. (November 7, 2001)
»
|
Stephen Malkmus
40 Watt Club, Athens, Ga.
November 7, 2001 |
For now, the collection of formerly-Pavement personalities present at Malkmus' latest 40 Watt Club Show may be the closest we'll get to any kind of reunion. It was certainly strange standing next to Steve West and Bob Nastanovich watching Stephen Malkmus run through a nice set of numbers with his new outfit, the Jicks. It would have been even stranger had the Jicks played a Pavement song or two. Thankfully, they didn't.
Steve West was on hand as his band, Marble Valley, was the support act for the night. West, mic in hand, roams around the stage Mark E. Smith-style, only armed with a goofy drawl as opposed to Smith's working class snarl. He's backed by a competent set of players featuring longtime Pavement and current Malkmus soundman Remko "The Dutchman" Shouten, Pavement/Malkmus guitar tech Andi Dimmack and a few guys who aren't so familiar. All in all a competent, and undoubtedly fun, act.
After they finish, Nastanovich comes on to introduce the headliners with a comical Q&A session. He doesn't really say anything terribly clever. He's just Bob.
The Jicks start off with a nice go at "Sin Taxi," a b-side from a recent single, approaching it as a rollicking jaunt that ultimately becomes an instrumental duel reminiscent of Pavement's "Stop Breathing." From the opening song, you get the idea that six months of touring has given the band a little more confidence to play around than was demonstrated last March. "The Hook," a largely-guitar driven ballad, is played out, initially, as a more subdued percussion piece, with Malkmus lagging behind lazily. Malkmus' bandmates seem more comfortable, in particular, engaging in the kind of crowd interaction that was previously dominated by the frontman. The funniest moment of the night comes as bassist Joanna Bolme is talking to the crowd and Malkmus, ready to start the next song, in that trademark tone of quick-draw-deadpan-irony, tells her to "pipe down!"
The band runs through a set list of songs culled mostly from Stephen Malkmus, combined with five or six newer songs that have taken the place of the various covers the band employed the first time around. The newer songs, quality throughout, sound even more "conventional" than most of the "SM plays classic rock" tunes we've been treated to for the last several years. When I ask Tony at Low Yo Yo as to what the soundcheck sounded like he simply replies, "Lots of guitar solos." Fitting.
Overall, the Jicks are a faster, tighter, more-streamlined outfit than their predecessor. You wonder if Pavement could have approached the precision with which they attack the instrumental jam at the end of "Jo Jo's Jacket." Maybe so, maybe not. I think the best description I've heard so far of the band came from a writer in Chicago who called the them "Malkmus in Technicolor," implying a flair for glossy and refined -- yet still colorful and goofy -- expression.
The freewheeling mood of the show reaches its peak with the encore as Malkmus and drummer John Moen switch places for a reading of Lou Reed's "Satellite Of Love." Nastanovich soon comes on stage to juggle an oversized stuffed animal in the background and then to dance with Bolme. The funny thing is that even behind the drums Malkmus can't stop yapping. I think he's having fun now.
JOHN KNIGHT |