First, the Bitch Magnet show at the (pretty cool) Club FF. I actually DID NOT have high expectations for this show because of the following reasons: 1) I was never a fan. 2) It was a reunion show. So, maybe that was good because it turns out that they were fantastic live. This was the first show of their reunion, and you might wonder why the fuck they picked Korea. Well, the answer is that Korean-American Sooyoung Park is the "leader" of the group. I said above that I was never a fan of Bitch Magnet, but I was a fan of Seam who also had Park in the band. Back in my early twenties, "The Problem with Me" was one of my favorite records from that period, and I still listen to it. So, why not? Go to the show; see what happens.
Before B.M. there were a couple of opening bands. The first I saw was Hellivisions which was kind of an improvised power trio. If I can use those words. They were not bad. Actually the drummer and guitarist were great, and really got into the playing. The bass player (with dreads) didn't seem to know what he was doing. His basslines just really fell flat. I think he was trying to go for a dub/reggae approach but he wasn't skilled enough to pull it off. The rest of the band was playing some kind of noisy, chaotic jazz...fuck, I don't know. It wasn't bad, though. When they finished, I went to meet up with a friend for a beer before (I thought) 3rd Line Butterfly came out. Basically I was expecting this band called Angry Bear featuring a bunch of foreigners (as in, they live here, they're not touring or anything) to play next, and then I could get back in time for 3rd Line. Turns out, this Angry Bear band HEADLINED THE DAMN SHOW! What the fuck kind of booking arrangement was that? I kinda like 3rd Line, and I was looking forward to seeing them for the first time, but instead, THEY played next, meaning I missed them. And, of course, after B.M. people started clearing out, and who knows how many people were remaining to see Angry Bear, cuz I sure wasn't one of them to stick around.
But, before that, there's B.M. and I could really hear the Big Black/Albini influence watching them live. Their sound really came open to me. There was tension, aggression, and they played hard like they were really enjoying themselves. Those guys are in their early forties or so, but they played like they still had something to prove. I'm not good about going track by track here, I'll just say that the first song they played is this one below, and it was a doozy. Just tight as fuck, and it felt like it was going to explode in chaos at any minute, but never fully did. They finished with a Dicks song (I think) sung by the guitarist, and the bass player from Hellivisions came on to play with them. Well, I guess somebody liked his playing. Anyway, that was quite fun. Did I mention the drummer? Because that dude is built like a tank and played like he was trying to destroy his kit. Awesome show. I need to pick up those reissues that just came out of their entire discography.
Afterwards, I saw Sooyoung outside and tried to talk to him for a minute but turned into a retarded fanboy and couldn't get my words to come out properly. Damn it. Next time.
Another thing, I forgot my camera (again) so I didn't get any pics, however I found a good pic from the Bitch Magnet Facebook page. So here you go:
And the song I mentioned above:
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