SUNNO))) with Comets on Fire
Rating: 4 Skulls
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SUNNO))) with Comets on Fire
Rating: 4 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Redwolff (7/29/04, The Knitting Factory, NYC):
SUNNO))) are fucking nuts and I mean that with affection. I now have three of their albums, and their latest one, White2, is the most experimental of the three, in my opinion. There are only three tracks, and their plodding pace and droning about one or two notes is like listening to a hypnotic bees nest for 45 minutes. I played this at work in the days before this show and got pretty much nothing done at all; I'd just wake up out of a stupor with a phone to my ear and have no idea who I was talking to. OK well maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the point - how the hell was this going to translate to a live setting?The show was all the way downtown so I met up with my friend Tomas at the soon-to-be defunct Bellevue Lounge in Hell's Kitchen for a couple beers before heading down there. When we got into the venue we found that the first opener had come and gone and that Comets on Fire had just begun their set. We found a couple of friends at the back bar and ordered some drinks before going to check out Comets on Fire. Tomas ordered a Jack & Coke and was told that they were out of Jack Daniels - to which he responded, "This show is so metal they're out of Jack!" For some reason we found that very funny at the time. They were not out of Pabst Blue Ribbon though, and that seemed to fit the situation, so I had one. We stuck our heads into the stage area to see the band for a moment and could hear them well from the bar; they sounded tight, a respectable stoner band, but not so interesting that I plan to pick up their CD. A good warmup for the main event.
As we waited for SUNNO))) to take the stage I was checking out the crowd in the bar, it was quite a mix. There were the usual metalheads in jeans and black concert t-shirts, serious stoners with long hair and spacey demenors, some alternative hipsters, preppy looking guys with backpacks and a couple of people that looked like they'd just left the office. After Comets on Fire ended their set, we were listening to the DJ until the sounds of SUNNO)))-like droning chords started drifting into the bar area. Ears pricked up, people got excited, most of us were convinced that SUNNO))) had just gone on - as I finished my beer a scouting team left the bar for the stage and then trickled back in, laughing at themselves. It was the sound guys doing a check, you couldn't tell the difference! Funny shit.
But at least this was a sign that the band was going to be gracing us with their presence very shortly, so the bar started to empty out. I'm a back-of-the-venue person, crowds make me a little uncomfortable, so while the others made their way to the front of the room I found myself a good viewing spot from over by the side bar. (It's a happy coincidence that there is almost always a bar at the back of the venue.) As I was standing there I ended up chatting with the bartender and her friend, who was basically there for the hell of it - he was not a metalhead and as far as I could tell did not know SUNNO))) from Insane Clown Posse. Trying to describe them without sounding like a bag of mixed nuts was a challenge. This became even more of a challenge as the band emerged out of the smoke and the warm orange-yellow lights played upon them. They were all wearing hooded robes and solemn expressions as if at a religious ceremony. But orange naugahyde monk's robes with silver reflective trim and the O))) logo at the heart have never been used at any church I've attended before. The bemused non-metalhead beside me started asking questions about the unusual music, reverential expressions and doom in general, forcing me to witness the event through his eyes.
I have to be honest, it was pretty odd. The band seemed to be in their own world, essentially ignoring the audience, occasionally bowing to each other, passing riffs back and forth like joints. The slow swells and plodding tempos of the music were like a sea of molasses around us. A few people approached the bar for drinks and there were conversations here and there but for the most part all eyes were on the stage, drinking in the spectacle. And the room was packed, as was the second floor overlooking the stage. What in the world were all these people thinking? Was it a cult initiation? A group marriage? A Black Mass? I guess I couldn't explain it well enough to my conversation partner because after a failed attempt to get me to go with him to a more lively nightspot, he left. It wasn't too long afterwards that there was an almost imperceptible change in the music, a non-climax building - and then suddenly the show was over. Applause and appreciative howls fell upon the turned backs of the band members, who immediately exited the stage almost before the last echoes of the last chord had died. Not a single word had been spoken by them. And no one thought it was weird. Including me!
Welcome to the cult of the SUNNO))).
I'm Batman. I mean, I'm Wonderwoman. Through the smoke at the end of the show.
Photo by P. Tsakiris
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