Uncle Acid and the deadbeats broke out into the collective consciousness with a stealth strategy. Their first record was barely available via a 20 copy run on CDR, and some of those fell into the right hands and ear holes. That led to Blood Lust self-issued on another micro edition, with noted tastemaking label Rise Above putting out a myriad of editions that had the psych metal doom scene ablaze with excitement.
A few more records in similar vein would follow, but then leader Kevin Starrs did a fairly hard reset on his creative process and during the pandemic, he hatched an elaborate plan to pay homage to the late ’60s and ’70s Italian giallo film scene that was made famous by such directors as Mario Bava, Dario D’Argento and Lucio Fulci. Starrs contacted some of the actors of that time and created his own story line, turning his thoughts into a concrete concept album.
The reception was guarded in spots, especially by people who were happy to have another Uncle Acid record that sounded a lot like the predecessors. The eerie vibe and fuzzed out guitars are still present, but this time cloaked in a horror movie story line and even containing spoken word dialog along the way.
To bring this out on the road is an ambitious feat, and I for one applaud Starr’s commitment to this, including getting a pretty extensive US tour booked when at first it looked like Europe might be hosting the only shows. As mentioned in that interview, a seated theatre would be the only type of venue where the show would make sense, and Somerville Theatre had pristine sound and great sightlines, unless you were tucked up high in the balcony.
The stage was set up more like a play, with table lamps and phones, and a projection screen showing key sequences as the work unfolded. Of course you have to have a knife to have a slasher film, and Starrs used a switchblade on his strings during opening song “Il sole sorge sempre.” The regular band was augmented with a couple of members who added keyboards and sax on a couple of songs, and I applaud the band for striking the perfect feel of a giallo soundtrack, both in sound, visuals and overall execution. Hot tip, don’t leave before the credits finish or you’ll miss a little bonus action. Boston got another bonus by having Widowmaker Brewery create a beer specifically made for this event, a quite tasty dark lager with an eye-grabbing label.
I’d seen Jonathan Hultén a few times when he was playing with Tribulation but his solo work is markedly different from the Swedish melodic death metal of his previous band. During the 2021 year when celebrated Dutch metal/psych/noise/etc festival Roadburn had to cancel for the second time in a row, they did their best and created a virtual festival instead called Roadburn Redux. Viewed online, some were live performances and others were pre-recorded, and Hultén’s video for “A Dance In The Road” was one of the highlights for me.
He’s got a very thought out aesthetic and presentation, very theatrical and evocative that belie his Scandanvian heritage. Think Nick Drake if he listened to pagan folk under a full moon, camping out on a desolate moor. His rich baritone complemented his proficiency on acoustic guitar, and playing along to pre-recorded tracks his precision was immaculate. Hard to not be moved by this performance.
