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June 15, 2007
Brakesbrakesbrakes - Live @ Hi-Dive, Denver, CO - 6.7.07
Brakesbrakesbrakes are a band from England - a far and distant land where people drive on the other side of the road, say obscenities like “cunt” without sounding as bad as Americans, and where the band's name is 66.6% shorter in length. Turns out another band calls itself the Brakes in the US so Brakes became Brakesbrakesbrakes when they crossed the pond. Not an unprecedented occurrence as previous groups like Charlatans UK, et al, can attest. America’s colonial history with Britain is too littered with such examples. Countless towns, cities and even states are named in a similarly boring manner. All one has to do is look at a map of the eastern seaboard. New England and New York are just a few examples. Anyway, truncated and clean is how the Merry Swankster likes things, so I will refer to the band as they’re known at home for the purpose of this dispatch.
Last week saw the Brakes trudge through a late spring snowstorm in the high country of Colorado before safely arriving into Denver. I'm still a fairly recent Denver transplant so I tend to forget how the unpredictable temperament of Mother Nature armed with mountain conditions effects incoming travelers from the west. Though Denver's elevation may be a mile high, the perception of it being in the mountains is incorrect. The city marks the beginning of the plains - when traveling eastbound, end of the plains when heading west – with the majestic Rocky Mountain Front Range dominating western vistas and dictating Denver’s meteorological status. Sometimes changing by the hour. The popular saying ‘round these parts, “if you don’t like the weather, wait 30 minutes.” The diametric opposite of this profile would be Los Angeles, with no weather or seasons known by her well tanned residents (fires, earthquakes and landslides notwithstanding). Together, the two contrasting cities create a sort of universal macro balance, leveling things out in the grand scheme of things.
Despite fourteener sized obstacles, the Brakes endured the conditions to present fans a fantastic evening of their signature punk via-the-pub rock music at S. Broadway's Hi-Dive. While in the mercy of wild weather that produces snowfall in June, lead Brake Eamon Hamilton told a tale of looking forward to a meeting with this Dave character while driving through the mountains. Upon arriving and learning there was no Dave he was disappointed (a typo on the tour itinerary referred to the June 6 gig at a nonexistent “Hi-Dave”), an anecdote he would refer back to throughout the evening. Most memorably when he stood stoically at the edge of the low stage and momentarily stared blankly towards the corner of the room waving his right hand, looking like a cult leader on a Kool-Aid rush. With a hint of madness in his glazed over eyes he greeted his imaginary friend, “Hi Dave.”
[Continued Here with pictures, MP3, and more]
The Brakes set consisted of furiously played songs with bursting energy and flair for the (lyrically) absurd. Many were left with an off putting feeling by the abruptness of song endings. You had to be careful with the timing of neighborly conversations due to the hard stops of the Brakes (no pun intended). Lest you get caught yelling above the previously loud music during an unexpected volume cut while discussing that stubborn rash to a friend. Flushed with embarrassment and now painfully aware that everyone in the bar knows about your ordeal. Whoops!
Highlights included a short number about war fatigue expressed through mischievous questioning in the Dadaist titled “Pineapple and Porcupine.” Drawing inspiration from an overflowing vat of anger the song hides behind prickly non sequiturs of spiny rodents and delicious fruit. Spiky yes, and pointedly simple – “Who won the war/was it worth fighting for…OUCH!” Indeed.
I imagined the political message of this song marinating in a brine of obviousness and absurdity, designed for baiting smug dismissal from someone with opposing views. Someone incensed and likely offended by the notion of such silliness impeding on a very serious topic. "Shut up and sing," they might say. Ignoring this impossible task it is safe to assume such a person is immune to comic relief. Someone who later, during a regrettable lapse of restraint, might drop down from their high road to unreservedly engage debate. Spiky...spiky.
In case our extraordinarily good looking readers think the Brakes are all face value low-brow and analytical high-brow I should tell you about the “Cheney” song, a 7-second micro burst of righteousness concluding with the entirely unoriginal statement about America's #2 that wins in both brevity and wickedness. Full lyrics: “CHENEY CHENEY CHENEY – Stop being such a dick!” Served the purpose of one of those “he’s saying what we’re all thinking moment,” the perfect blend of hilarious and shocking that I love.
[Setlist scan]
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Brakesbrakesbrakes – “Hold Me in the River”
The Brakes are frequently compared to the Pixies. Although not the first band that comes to my mind I do get how someone can make the comparison. Both bands create music using clean and adventurous sounds from guitars while marrying arrangements to a fairly straightforward rock structure. “Hold Me in the River is a great example of this.
Brakesbrakesbrakes – “Spring Chicken” (Youtube)
If someone crossed Nirvana’s “Aneurysm” with the best day Alec Ounsworth’s vocals ever had you get this playful song.
Going the Eddie Argos route into the crowd.
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Brakesbrakesbrakes - "Pineapple or Porcupine"
Brakesbrakesbrakes in NYC this weekend
06-15 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's*
06-16 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge*
06-17 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge*
*w/ Pela and Electric Soft Parade
//Brakesbrakesbrakes - site
//Brakesbrakesbrakes - Myspace
//Brakesbrakesbrakes - The Beatific Visions - buy
Posted by Merry Swankster at June 15, 2007 12:53 PM
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