Rock and role

Dropdead burn it up; plus, familial matters

by Michael Caito

Dropdead have released their second consecutive self-titled LP, their first full-length since 1993, on Armageddon, which also released the '93 offering originally issued in Japan. It's more mission-critical listening from Ben, Bob, Brian and Devon plus some guest vocalists on the purple vinyl. On this go-round several of the 18 songs clock in at well over one entire minute, which is pretty novel. The speed / grind / crust pow! is intact, the tempo is spectacularly fast and the lyrics impossible to discern without liner assistance. The topics remain, sadly, all too relevant.

Plainly put, this quartet burn. They're timely, incisive and succinct, managing the Twister feat of keeping an ear to the ground while trying to verbally topple skyscrapers. One thing apparent on this one is Dropdead's improved lyric ability, which has transcended profanity-laced genres to offer biting poetry, with issues of personal freedom, dignity and responsibility, as usual, at the core. Recurring themes concern the waning ("Spirit Lies Dead") and the waxing ("IWill Stand") of the human spirit, forced to stick and move under an encroaching mega-corporate ("Dead Inside") jackboot. Overall, it's less suffocating than their earlier work, allowing the listener (a little) more time to breathe among pitched sonic battles. This just gives the quartet time to look at the macro (television evil) as well as the micro-parasites (clinic bombings) which threaten to maim through apathy. No band I've heard -- including Christian rockers and gospel-eers -- holds humanity's essential worth in such high regard, and select few are even willing to pretend to fight for its survival. But -- and this is a big ol' but for Dropdead -- that worth needs to be protected with vigilance, not vigilantism. Over and over again, that blow is well struck. Amid their fearsome noise, poise.

According to a note sent by lead throat Bob Otis (who also wished to again thank participating bands and those attending the recent benefit for his cancer-stricken mom at the Living Room), they're on the road thru half of 1999 throughout the States, with another Euro tour to follow and the Far East after that if the math works. Several shows early on are with Arab on Radar (whose second LPshould be out by fall), and some also include Landed. Dropdead recordings/itineraries/ merch are always available at Fast Forward on Steeple Street (where Ron was kind enough to inform one moronic reviewer that one side has to be played from the inside out or the needle will just keeping jumping off the record. On the flip, you start at the beginning. Go figure. Leave it to Dropdead.).

IN A FAMILY WAY. We start this week in Asheville, North Carolina, where former 'RIU DJ / guitarist Marc Archambault paused in his stonework long enough to prep us for the imminent arrival of Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire at the Century Lounge Wednesday. "Derivative Django / Grapelli but when white boys in suit can turn it out, who cares?" he writes. It was at a nearby Asheville music fest that Chicagoan violinist Bird first happened upon Squirrel Nut Zippers, and long story short, he played on a Zippers record (Hot) and later formed Bowl of Fire, which features SNZ co-founders James Mathus (guitar) and singer/banjo player Katharine Whalen, in the Bowl before the next SNZ tour starts out west in two weeks. Also along are Bird's former (Charlie Nobody) bandmates Kevin O'Donnell and Josh Hirsch, and this lineup was impressive enough to gain instant attention from Rykodisc, who signed 'em in a flash. Smoking Jackets open Wednesday, so bring them dancin' shoes.

Interlude / inch count:Number of recent Lifebeat references to Stone Temple fugitive Scott Weiland:about 400. Number of stories about musicians who've successfully kicked heroin: umm, guess that doesn't sell papers. Nice.

Amped: new issue of Amplifier (III-2 with Semisonic on the cover) has a timely update of The Velvet Crush saga, with news that may surprise. Coincidentally, mag co-founder John Larson and the band he fronts, the Marlowes, join the Velvet Crush in Los Angeles on August 25, where both play the International Pop Overthrow. The new Marlowes disk is being duped as you read this. Scanning the mag's review of Ray Davies' new The Storyteller (Konk / EMI) brings us to another kronikle:the imminent reissue of the Kinks' '71-'86 titles by Velvel, including bonus tracks, expanded liners and pix packaged into re-masters of Muswell Hillbillies, Everybody's In Showbiz, Preservation Act 1 and Preservation Act 2. Perhaps less exciting is the nugget that Ray's promising a new Kinks disk by Y2K.

More family-style:Nils Lofgren, appearing at the Gibson Guitar Fest this weekend at Fort Adams, just released Nils Lofgren Acoustic Live (Right Stuff / Capitol), which features brothers Tom (piano / synths), plus Michael and Mark on guitar cameos.

Daryl Sherman

Keeping the fam spirit, Woonsocket native Daryl Sherman turns heads at Chan's with Gray Sargent (mid-tour with Tony Bennett), bassist/composer Jay Leonhart and her pop, trombonist Sammy Sherman. Her newest A Lady Must Live (After 9 / Touchwood) is another stylish -- not stylized -- classy offering from the Waldorf-Astoria regular, whose recent appearance on NPR's Fresh Air is being aired throughout the country. Sharpest of the new (?) include the immaculate Strayhorn/Ellington number "Something to Live For" and Dizz's "Groovin' High," both of which feature guest pianist Tommy Flanagan. How cool would it be if Woonsocket native Dave McKenna showed up. Movie?What movie? Be there Saturday.

Still more fam: the Danielson Family are actually the Smith siblings and friends, who dress as if scrubbed for surgery and sound as if ready for a doo-wop contest under a revivalist's tent. Too many alterna-geeks have tried the fractured pop thang and ended up obfuscating rather than being memorable, even with gospel-y rave-ups. Some maintain that it's all about hooks, though, so if you don't mind the dog-killer vocals (at the nadir, a karaokist's version of Freddie Merc with a streptococcus invasion), you have to give props to eldest son Daniel and the band for the eerily hummable end result. That's why their '97 debut Tell Another One At The Ol' Choppin' Block (Tooth and Nail) is more than a beverage coaster at the moment. Plymouth Rock and Alec Redfearn open, tonight (7.23) at the Century. On Saturday, Loutz meet Bastards, same room.

Compilationland finds the new six-band, seven-inch, eight-song vinyl release A Couple of Minutes Is All You Need from the new Get Dun Records label, featuring Gringo (whose last show was evidently a fortnight ago but we'll see) plus Arson Family, Degenerates, The Ones You Hate, Doosh Bags and Rated R. Hit and miss slurpy punk, Oi and hardcore in the main. Mostly very good, with Gringo's pair and Arson Family my faves. All in all, a swift shoe in the jewels to uptight assholery everywhere, and a nifty debut from a label hoping to keep flames lit along with Roachender, Heparin and Load. A must for the irreverent pedal-stompin' speed demon in you, as is the show at AS220 on Saturday, August 22 featuring the DB's, Degenerates and Arson Family.