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THROWING MUSES was the first US band signed to influential UK label 4AD, but it was their friends and eventual labelmates PIXIES which rode the massive (fifty foot?) wave to worldwide success. Perhaps it was the idiosyncratic time signatures, the obliquely dark lyrical content, or maybe it was just that mainstream America wasn’t ready for the dichotomy of this sort of art barrage coming from the angelic visages of KRISTIN HERSH and TANYA DONNELLY; Lilith Fair material this clearly wasn’t. After some lineup and label changes, the band certainly ended up carving out more than a healthy niche of listeners, but 1996 saw their last full-length recording until 2003’s resurrection as a trio, including original drummer DAVID NARCIZO and longtime bass player (and fellow 50 FOOT WAVE member) BERNARD GEORGES. The the trio find themselves on stage and plugging back in (I’d heard that Tanya was in attendance but playing wasn’t on her list of things to do for this particular night) as part of a very brief tour; the next chance to see them is as part of an All Tomorrow’s Parties weekend festival held in May, curated by their pals THE BREEDERS. Being as though Boston was their adoptive hometown it wasn’t surprising to find a sold-out room awaiting them, but among the crowd were at least two fans who were doing an extreme road trip: up before the crack of dawn, flying from Kansas City, Missouri to Boston, heading to the show, and then a post-gig cab ride back to Logan Airport for a return flight home early AM. Now that’s what I call dedicated fans!
The band must have spent some considerable time rehearsing, as it was a coiled ball of energy unleashed, starting with “Devil’s Roof,” Bernard’s supple bass line getting the crowd instantly involved and moving about in their sardine-esque personal space. A lot of singers I see and photograph have a habit of keeping their eyes glued shut as they either marshall inner energy to project, or anxiously try to recall the next lyric. Kristin has no such behavior; she’s clear-eyed and intently (I mean, really intently – her directness is disarming) staring out into the audience as she sings, her head gently swaying side to side like a cobra before striking. Her voice can easily glide from soothing, seraphic dulcet tone to a full-on rage, with “Hazing” being a perfect example. The back catalog mined for tonight’s set more or less stayed to more of the direct, focused attack than the bouncy, poppier material that Donnelly most likely influenced; no “Dizzy” or “Green” or even any song from the excellent The Real Ramona (as far as I could tell; I could be wrong here).
Instead the band drew upon the power and force of the previous 50 Foot Wave set (Kristin and Bernard with a different drummer; as Kristin noted it was a package deal for tonight) and the muscular, locked-on-the-target material of University delivered. “Bright Yellow Gun,” “Hazing” and especially “Shimmer” were clear highlights. David’s drumming style has always been an anchor of the band’s sound, with his minimal use of cymbals at the opposite end of his liberal use of rack and floor toms. It’s a fairly unique approach for a rock band, and he sounded fantastic tonight, with the precise bludgeoning of set closer “Pearl” leaving many jaws down on the beer-soaked cement of the club floor. The show started with “Welcome to Boston,” a friendly call out from an audience member. When it was over, it was a welcome visit indeed.
The show began with a trio from New Jersey called SCREAMING FEMALES. There was just one female, but she did scream on occasion, when not loosening some guitar histrionics that most Berklee students would be proud to match…even current indie shred champion MARNIE STERN might be out of breath trying keep up with MARISSA PATERNOSTER’s fretwork. Usually I’m not too impressed with sheer ability at the expense of song craft but this was stuff you sit up and take notice of. 50 Foot Wave is basically the current Throwing Muses lineup with ROB AHLERS manning the kit instead of Narzico, but their sound is much more dense, less shifty and while ‘powerful’ isn’t the right word, I’m struggling to find the next best word. The roar is pronounced, and the song material is written to match. More fuzz, less gauze.
