Spaz of All Trades

The News Review:

- Spaz of All Trades
- Lunchtime Poll: Jumping Union Jack Flash
- Homespun: Blinded Black
- A conversation with Ankla performing tonight at Club Metro

Spaz of All Trades
sfweekly.com – Mar 13, 2007
“I consider myself a conceptualist first a composer second and an instrumentalist last. “) He’d continue to play drums in every subsequent incarnation of the FLs leading the group from behind his kit like a punk Louis Bellson through its transformation from free jazz to no-wave skronk-rock to death metal and the singular amalgam that the band is today. Last year’s Cataclysm LP (ugEXPLDE) the group’s 15th album to date finds the common grounds of aggression and complexity that exist between death metal and the music of free jazz modernists like Peter Brötzmann turning up the heat until they meld into one scorching phenomenally dense blast of sound. Staking his claim in the nascent Chicago No Wave scene of the early ’90s Weasel was as ubiquitous as he was physically unmistakable with the stage garb he’d donned since his adolescent punk days — a shaved head with gelled-up hair-antennae black waistcoat with tails like a zombie orchestra conductor and whiteface makeup with football-player marks — causing him to resemble Adam Ant (the cartoon character as well as the Brit new-wave-pirate) crossed with a quarterback from Jupiter. Chicago No Wave wouldn’t have been the same — or might not have happened at all — without Weasel’s unflappable dedication which often bordered on dogmatic and could easily be taken as arrogance. He was as encouraging and inspiring to other musicians as he could be cantankerous and shit-talking. And he had few reservations about haranguing his Chicago cohorts — like Vandermark Jim ‘Rourke or John Corbett — if he thought they were becoming the least bit stale or staid.

Lunchtime Poll: Jumping Union Jack Flash
Rolling Stone – Mar 13, 2007
Here’s a good test for you all out there. Take your favorite male performer turn him into a girl. Still like the music? I agree Courtney Love is an egregious bitch but really the only difference between her and Eddie Van Halen is the whole genitalia thing. They would become the Van Halen brothers sans talent.

Homespun: Blinded Black
Riverfront Times – Mar 13, 2007
“Can You Hear Me Now” pulls off a minor miracle by turning an annoying piece of cell phone ad copy into a plea for connection for lovers on a phone call and between a band and its audience listening on the radio. Vocalists Jeff Nizick and Chuck Kraus complement each other nicely and the bright clear vocals can be heard over the din of five musicians. Bassist Tyler Hanks finds a way to unleash a bowel-shaking yowl in nearly every song the kind of angst-filled growl that fits nicely in death metal (even though on an album of slickly produced emo it sounds like a desperate attempt to add gravitas). The fellows in Blinded Black may be young — young enough that one wonders at the members’ preternatural aptitude for misery and bleakness — but they play their music with enough confidence to make these melodramas believable. write your comment loadMgr.

A conversation with Ankla performing tonight at Club Metro
Monitor – Mar 13, 2007
Soars – bassPepe Clarke – drumsscar Santiago – percussionCombining a mixture of thrash metal metalcore and death metal Los Angeles-based Ankla also incorporates plenty of Latin jazz and hefty guitar leads. Last year the band signed with Beiler Bros. Records and released their full-length debut Steep Trails. who worked alongside longtime producer Bob Marlette (Halford Black Sabbath) is set to perform tonight at Club Metro in McAllen… Jamey (Jasta of Hatebreed) is a very good friend of mine and invited us to play. What do you have to say about your success in Latin America especially since you are from Puerto Rico?rtiz: There is a combination of national origins in the band. Because our music is hard metal with elements of Latin sounds we get a lot of Hispanic fans. Ikaro (Stafford) is from Brazil both Pepe (Clarke) and J. (Soars) are from Mexico so we definitely feel at home when we visit Latin America and places like McAllen. Miriam Ramirez covers features and entertainment for The Monitor.