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FIRST, THE FORMALITIES:
Mecca Normal is a trio.
2 Foot Flame is a trio.
Mecca Normal features the chilling vocal pres
ence of Jean Smith.
2 Foot Flame features the alarming verbal attack
of guitarist Jean Smith.
Peter Jefferies drums for Mecca Normal.
Peter Jefferies drums and plays piano with 2 Foot
Flame.
David Lester plays gui
tar in Mecca Normal.
Michael Morley plays
guitar (and synths) in 2
Foot Flame on their
eponymous Matador re
lease, but he's gone
home to New Zealand
for awhile to do other
artsy things, so
David Lester will be guesting on guitar
for 2 Foot Flame’s live shows
RECAPPING:
Two bands on tour together(?). Two distinct set
lists. The same three musicians.
This would be the time to make a weak “2-2-2
bands in one”/ Certs joke but for the fact that humor
'S one thing definitely not closely associated with
Mecca Normal and its spin-off sister. It’s quite pos
sible that Smith. Lester, et. al. have wicked senses of
fun and humor, but they won't be found in the disturb
ing sounds that these bands will put you through.
Not that Mecca/Flame are necessarily profoundly
depressing, either. While they may grab hold and drag
you down a claustrophobic path, it's just as likely you
could end up on some incipient ana enlightening jour
ney.
BECAUSE:
It's so easy to forget that the exciting thing about
live performance, whether it's theater, dance or music,
lies in the danger of the artist colliding with the mo
ment colliding with the audience colliding with the
artist colliding
So often the audi
ence wants the com
fort of what we al
ready know — to lay
passive and receiving
in the quilt of familiar
ity. No work no fuss, no
muss.
With Mecca Normal
and 2 Foot Flame, partici-
1 pation and response is a re
quired part of the deal Smith twists the shape of words
into scrap metal and the guitars and synthesizers tie
up white ncse into bows of barbed wire.
On record, this is deeply disturbing. In person,
sharing our air, the possibilities are unbounded and,
yes. dangerous
We really don't get out enough.
Betsy Weitzman
Mecca Normal and iis doppelganger 2 Foot Flame
play the Atomic Monday. April 29.
s
SciFu is Jon McDuffie (drums), Mark Kaczmarek (guitar, some vocals) and Chris Herron (bass, most
vocals). The band is about six months old, and plays a harsh mix of hardcore punk with some serious chunk
metal. Drummer McDuffie is into anything from jazz to the Action Patrol to John Zorn.
“He's way powerful, very loud, and tends to break a stick every other song or so," Herron says. Guitarist
Kaczmarek uses a lot of atonal feedback and contrasts that with a smattering ot good melodies. He often uses
a different “sound" — and tuning — for each song. In addition to more rewed-up, punk rock stuff, Herron
says, “We'll go from anything like that to something real melodic and slow. If everyone in the band is sweating
like pigs and can barely move, and I’ve got a headrush because I've been screaming for five minutes,.we’ll look
at each other and decide to play an instrumental, something more mellow. We’ll play a mix between us, Black
Sabbath, and I don't know... Pink Floyd."
The band gets a kick out of playing with the audience's expectations.
“We walk into parties and we’ve all got long hair and everyone’s like 'Yeah, a bunch of hippie-looking guys.
What kind of music do you play?' and we say, ‘Yeah, we just groove, you know.’ People are like, 'Okay, we're
ready for some hippie music,’ and then we’ll bust out with some hardcore noise. We really catch people by
surprise by the way we look."
And people who know these guys know that they're all very mellow, not very loud or outspoken. “But when
it comes to music, it’s like our alter egos come out. People come in and say, ‘Holy shit, man! You guys don't
sound anything like I thought you would!’"
I had to ask — do the SciFu guys listen to Slayer?
“Yes, we all do. Actually, John Mincemoyer wants us to do a Slayer cover, but we haven't decided which
one we would do. He wants us to do like a seven- or eight-minute Slayer song, and we could do it We're just
trying to decide how."
They don't play any covers, because, legend had it, they have a rule that to play a cover of someone, that
band has to be disbanded or someone in the band has to be dead. So they could play a Nirvana or a Bad Brains
song, because those bands don't play any more, even though the Bad Brains were just touring last year.
“They were my idols," Herron says. “Too bad H.R. [Bad Brains’ erratic vocalist] is such a freak. We listen to
anything from ska to Slayer to John Zorn to Miles Davis and John Coltrane."
And SciFu is just getting warmed up.
Marc Pilvinsky
SciFu opens lor Landspeeder at the 40 Watt Wednesday April 24.
Me AND My SHADOW:
MECCA NORMAL
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PARTS I
Peppino's Pizzeria
The King of Pizza!
^ mr
“We-re Sl>
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To Celebrate Our
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Going Baek to
the Beginning
$2.50 Pitchers of (Icehouse)
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M-Sat. OPEN til 2am • Sun. Open til 2am beer til Midnight
E. BROAD ST.
April 24, 1996
25