March 2015, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga.
There’s a great article about Parquet Courts on Grantland where the writer discusses how critics, and people in general, deconstruct bands to determine their influences and best pick their genre. The argument is this can be done with any band (The Beatles for example), so why bother if what comes from the band in question is original despite sounding like others. Let’s face it, new music is, at some point, going to sound like others — there’s no way around it.
At the 40 Watt Parquet Courts, a New York foursome by way of Texas, showed flashes of Sonic Youth, Pavement, Minutemen, Wire, Suicidal Tendencies, Replacements, Ween, Gang of Floor, Velvet Underground and Guided by Voices. But taken as a whole, the band was a dynamic example of what happens when you blend those sounds together to see where they go. Something old can be new again if you’re not afraid to try.
I love shows like this at the 40 Watt, mid-week shows with rowdy bands that set the crowd to moshing and the PBR to flying in splashes through the air. Being Athens, you’re going to get the angry, drunk jerk, using moshing to settle a score (hey, kid in the red shirt with face to match, moshing is not tackling, you dick), but it did nothing to dissuade the joyful crush emanating from the stage.
It’s funny, I’ve been writing these concert memories for a few months now, and while this is the most recent of shows I’ve written about, the music could have easily come from 1981. Singer/guitarist Andrew Savage took over most of the singing duties, though Austin Brown took over a key times, bringing a different sound to accompany his fuzzy, sometime squawking guitar. Andrew’s brother Max was a calm presence behind the drums, while bassist Sean Yeaton manned the middle, letting the sound breeze past him to the swirling crowd.
Parquet Courts cruised through several selections in their 75-minute set (there was no encore, which is a Parquet Courts thing apparently — a setlist tally of 2014 reveals of 33 gigs, just one had an encore) taking liberally from albums Constant Nausea, Sunbathing Animal and Light Up Gold. But it was a four-song segment that captured the night.
Andrew took to the mic for “Instant Disassembly,” a VU homage if ever was one, which roams over the same guitar hook for seven-minutes plus. The crowd was into it at first, but started to wane at the five-minute mark. I was perhaps three feet from the stage, and sensed when the song was over, an explosion of sorts was coming. Did it ever.
Austin took over singing duties as the band ripped into “Master of My Craft,” the steady refrain of “Forget about it” emanating off the walls, before the chaotic shoe-gazing wonder of “Sunbathing Animal” jolted the room into a new frenzy. I’ve been in my share of mosh pits, and while I’m too old to join the full fray, I’m never too far from its edge. I tell you, I nearly joined. When “Barrowed Time’s” guitar lick kicked in, I was propelled in. I got out quickly — I’m not stupid — but that I went in is telling enough. My affection for certain music is going to get me hospitalized one day.
Other highlights included “Content Nausea,” which brought back memories of Mike Muir, “Stoned and Starving” and the lightning-fast “Light Up Gold II”. An encore would be great, but the band did its job — Wednesday nights aren’t meant to be overly riotous, but this one came pretty close.
