dangerous compassions

I call you / from the comet's cradle

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Butch vs Femme then Bitter Fruit

Last night we went to a punk show at the Press Club.  It was said to start at 8, but the music didn't start until 9:30, so we stood around for a long time.  That was kind of frustrating, but it was so novel to be in a bar.  I drank grapefruit juice, and Ming had two Cokes.  We talked and Ming told me a story about a starfish.

First up was Butch vs Femme, a Sacramento band.  Their sound never seemed to gel.  They didn't seem to work together very well.  But I liked them.  I liked the person who fronted the band.  She had a beautiful voice, though most of the time she was yell-singing, so the beauty of her voice wasn't pertinent.  I liked the intros to the songs, which were feminist in nature.  I mean, it wasn't possible to hear the yelled lyrics, but from her intros, we knew.

I liked the singer's hair, which was dyed half pink, half blue, and she wore it in pigtails.

Butch vs Femme's last song was a cover of Bikini Kill's "Suck My Left One" which seemed to energize the crowd somewhat, and people sang along to the chorus. 

Then we waited a while for the next band.  We thought about leaving.  It was getting late.  But Ming wanted to hear at least the first song by Bitter Fruit.  So we stayed.  I had heard a Bitter Fruit song online.  It was called "Rainbow" and I wasn't too impressed.  It sounded like a typical punk song with nothing special about it. 

But I'm so glad we stayed.  The lead singer of Bitter Fruit looked somewhat like a satyr.  He sang in a varied style with some yelling and some screaming.  He danced very appealingly sometimes as he sang.  He had so much energy, and I admired him a great deal.  I understand why people get starstruck because I idolized him almost instantly.  I liked his hair too, which was long and wild, and his beard which came to a point.

Bitter Fruit has been classified as queer death rock.  I don't really know what death rock means, but I guess it might have to do with the screaming. 

The lead singer played guitar, but there were two other guitarists too.  Both looked Asian, while the other two band members were white.  I liked the woman's backup lyrics and was amazed that the yelled and screamed lyrics were actual words that they had agreed upon beforehand. 

Sometimes the sound was an amazing mass of sound.  It was so loud that I felt the soundwaves going into my body, and I was a little hard of heading afterward. 

I'm doing a poor job of explaining Bitter Fruit's excellence.  I was transfixed with a smile on my face.  It was a religious experience to me.  I felt close to the divine. 

Their confidence and skill were deeply appealing, and their sum was greater than their parts.  It was just as good music should be.  They worked together to make something truly beautiful.

But I wasn't interesting in buying their cds because it seemed like something that needed to be live.  The raw energy, the whole experience. 

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