All pictures on this page are copyright ©2004 of Nancy Puyn
Check out:
Alix (It)
The Hidden Hand(USA)
Sojo, July 7th, 2004.
I
hadn’t even heard of Alix before they stepped on the
stage, except for the fact that they are a female-fronted stoner band, but
with their short 9-song set they proved that they do deserve a wider audience.
Because I got my hands on their latest album only after the show, I’m
not exactly sure which songs they delivered, but it pretty much seemed to
follow the order of Ground, as the two opening songs from that album
– “Out of the Sighs” and the title track kicked off the
gig on a groovy note: while guitar player Pippo de Palma squeezed a warm,
fuzzy desert sound out of his guitar, bass player Franco Romanelli started
dancing all over the place and bangin’ his head to the straightforward
bashing of drummer Andrea Insulla. While they’re obviously inspired
by the classic stoner sound – led-heavy bass lines, crashing cymbals
and a fat guitar tone that hovers between crushing chords and psychedelic
leads – they sounded more accessible than most of their stoner brethren
out there, occasionally with a merciless groove (“Ground”) that
recalled Unida’s booty-shakin’ blend of desert rock and
in-your-face hard rock. Of course, it wouldn’t be as special
if it weren’t for singer Alice, whose unique voice, which switched from
a deeply sensual whisper to nearly ecstatic shrieks - is something different,
to say the least. Think of a merger of Siouxsie (but more vibrato), Shirley
Manson (not as girlish) and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O. (but less
hysteric) during songs like “Like a Flood” and “Take My
Hands” which are basically based on one or two soulful, recurring patterns.
Sometimes the barrage of caterwauling became something of an acquired taste
- especially during the songs that seemed to explore the territory between
straightforward stoner and stuff you might call “alt rock” (“I’ll
be Gone,” “Fun”) – but it worked excellent during
the songs that would have you move your head unconsciously, like the opening
tracks, the funky “Take My Hands” and the final song, during which
the bass player switched to electric slide guitar and led the band through
a particularly pleasing romp that was well-received by the audience.
… and then The Hidden Hand, the power-trio
led by Scott “Wino” Weinrich. If you glance over this guy’s
credentials, you’d expect him to attract huge crowds (which was not
the case) – he not only formed The Obsessed, one of the best and most
important doom metal bands in the wake of Black Sabbath, but was a key member
of Saint Vitus as well. 
On
top of that, the guy founded cult favorite Spirit Caravan (which he disbanded
a few years later), played with ex-Pentagram Vic Griffin in Place of Skulls
and now leads The Hidden Hand. You could say he’s about the most important
musician in the doom-scene of the past 25 years, while several people even
credit him with inventing stoner rock. Whatever his contribution may be, it’s
Wino the musician that we’re talking about here and as a guitar player
he’s worshipped by tons of colleagues, ranging from Dave Grohl (who
invited him to play on the Probot-album), Pantera’s Phil Anselmo,
Fugazi’s Joe Lally (whom he taught bass) and Henry Rollins, who once
gave an accurate description of his style: “[Wino’s]
guitar playing sounds like TROUBLE – not the band, the situation.”
He’s right, as Wino has been the author of loads and loads of skull-breaking
riffs and ripping guitar solos that incorporate several decades of music history,
from Blue Cheer’s muddy fuzziness to Black Sabbath’s titanic bludgeoning.
It’s not that he churns out the most brutal music imaginable –
it’s no Slayer, Mastodon or Napalm Death – but in a way his style
is as heavy and – more importantly – as passionately
sincere as theirs is. His immense guitar sound is already quite impressive
in itself, but his stage presence really tops it off, as he has more charisma
than yesterday’s bands combined. Being in The Hidden Hand is not just
entertainment, it’s hard work, but you’ll rarely see
musicians this dedicated and determined to rip things up. Although he may
look like Michael Moore’s younger brother, Bruce Falkinburg’s
an incredibly energetic stage animal, jumping around bare-chested and laying
down grooves that are so heavy the floor nearly started trembling. Drummer
Dave Hennessy makes the visual aspect of the band even weirder, being the
youngest by far, and looking as if he could’ve been a member of Pavement
or some band like that. The band kicked off the set with “Falconstone,”
their contribution to the High Volume-compilation of stoner rock
released by High Times Magazine, but subsequently tore through their
debut release (and only album so far) with an overpowering eagerness.
Wino – often in his usual pose, bended backwards – churned out
chord sequences that were at once sludgy and complex, Falkinburg assaulted
his 4-stringed weapon as if there was no tomorrow and Hennessy topped it off
by combining intricate drum patterns with more straightforward hard-hitting
(not to mention the manic fills during “Sunblood,” which they
dedicated to organizers Benny and Sara). Falkinburg and Wino both shared vocals,
which they did with an indignant ferocity. Of course, The Hidden Hand’s
Divine Propaganda was the most politically-inspired album of Wino’s
career, an intelligent and unapologetic dissection of the cancers of American
society directed by a religious right represented by good ole Dubya.
Songs like “Bellicose Rhetoric,” the album’s title track
and the brief punk-assault of “Screw the Naysayers” don’t
need much of an explanation. So, there’s definitely a punk undercurrent
throughout Wino’s career – and Falkinburg’s performance
certainly added quite a lot of “punk” as well – but more
than anything, The Hidden Hand is about those guitar antics. Songs like “Oamyata,”
“Tranquillity Base” and “For All the Wrong Reasons,”
they’re slabs of agitprop that attack the gut AND the head
with a cleverness and force that’s simply amazing. Yet, no matter how
much the live versions of these songs exceeded the expectations raised by
the album (no matter how good a producer you are – you’ll never
capture the live presence of a band like this on tape), the icing on the cake
was definitely the new stuff the band played. Because the album isn’t
out yet (it’s due out in the fall on Southern Lord (US) and
Exile on Mainstream (Europe)) and because of their refusal to waste
energy on useless banter between the songs (except for a “We like
it HOT!”), I’m not really sure how many new songs they actually
played, but what I heard was damn impressive and repeatedly stunning.
I asked Wino about it after the show, and he confirmed that the new songs
have taken quite a different direction: they’re a deviation from the
“standard” path, so to speak. It’s not that his albums were
really simple to begin with, but the new material seems to be based on the
familiar doom/hard-rock, while there’s an experimentalism added that
veers between the complexity of ‘70’s prog-rock and the more atmospheric
soundscapes that Dave Hennessy brought into the band, with a background in
Ostinato (a band that’s close to post-rock). Instead of easily recognizable
grooves, these songs deal in another matter, with soft/loud-dynamics, feverish
twists and turns and climactic noise bursts. It certainly didn’t sound
accessible at first, but the band’s ultra-tight interplay and virtuosity
soon convinced you that something special was going on on stage. After a 10-song
set, the band played two encores that had them turn up all the meters in the
red, the sweat fly in all directions and the energy barely bearable. All the
while, Wino & Co. played with the fierceness of deranged preachers, except
that they really knew what they were doing. I may not be an expert on Wino’s
output – I mean, I’ve probably only heard a fraction of al the
stuff he’s done in his entire career – but based on a)
the new material I heard and b) the band’s performance, I think
it’s pretty safe to say that Wino’s an icon who’s currently
making the music of his life and enjoying every single minute of it. It’s
quite a blast to witness that, believe me.
Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Live Review Mastodon - Live Review Alix + Place of Skulls