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Michael "Bruce Lee" Park Kemuri MU330 Five Iron Frenzy Blue Meanies Toasters Less Than Jake |
St. Petersburg, FL 4/12/98 |
| There may not be a more appropriate day for a concert against racism than Easter Sunday. Eight bands took the stage to promote brotherhood and good ska on a sunny afternoon that brought the crowd out in all their Easter finery, hair as many colors as the eggs the Easter Bunny brought. |
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| First to hit the stage was a local reggae-style ska band out of Sarasota, "Strangeways." This quintet with songs from their cd like "Chosen Heart" and "Rule de Question" showed talent that augurs well for their future on the ska band circuit. They were joined by a couple of members of "The Toasters" in doing a Miles Davis tune, a funky revved up version that I'm sure Miles would have liked. A great sax and trombone solo here too. They closed with another upbeat tune, "Hanky Skanky," which got a good round of applause from the slowly growing crowd. |
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| Michael "Bruce Lee" Park is a member of the "MU330"
horn line, but also headlines his own version of the "MU330" ska
band, which appeared next. Michael is a sax player and vocalist with enough
energy to make the Energizer bunny look to his laurels. This was a jumpin' set with offbeat songs like "I, I, I," "You Don't Know" and "I Missed The Bus" which reminded me a lot of "MxPx." The crowd was bunny-hopping to "1,2,3,4 Jump," while the closing number, "A Girl named Spike," was an obvious fan favorite, one which had me smiling too. |
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| Next up was the band I had come to see, "Kemuri," a Japanese
ska band from Tokyo, out to prove that cars and cd players aren't the only
quality product to cross our shores. For the most part their lyrics lean
to the simple (but effective) side, but done with great verve and excellent
musicianship. I'm sure as audiences are exposed to them on this tour their
name-recognition will pick up. They opened with "New Generation" and "Knockin' On the Door" from their debut (see review) album, "Little Playmate." The former was fast-paced and in keeping with the theme of the tour of all colors uniting with a P.M.A. (positive mental attitude). The latter showcased the lead singer, Fumio Ito's nice touch with the crowd. His imitation knocking to open the song was just hammy enough to be appealing. One of the nice things about foreign bands singing in English is they are much more attuned to phonetics and their lyrics are often more understandable than their American counterparts. They also managed to keep the music from drowning out the lyrics, something that happened more than once during this concert. |
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| The mandatory chanting song, "Don't Know," followed with the
'Oh Oh Oh' refrain to get the crowd involved. "Sun Set" however,
was a totally instrumental piece that slowed things down a bit with it's
bluesy tone, but was one of the best songs of the evening as . The only
Japanese language song "Ato-Ichinen" was infectious with a great
beat - so much so the words didn't matter. "Workin' Dayz" was next, and their set drew to a close with a couple of fast tunes. This band is talented enough, if it captures the fans' attention amid the myriad ska bands out there. |
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| Michael Parks returned, but now part of the horn line, as "MU330" took the stage with their rock and roll style ska. The lead singer/guitarist, Dan Potthast, looks like Buddy Holly and sings pretty well too. Songs like "Turn It On," "Giddyup" and "Loyalty" were all done with a rock and roll beat. This may have been the most musically gifted band of the night with very solid horns - good guitar licks (Chris Diebold) and drums (Ted Moll in blue dredlocks) that set the tone. Twin trombones (Rob Bell & Gerry Lundquist) lent a distinctive deeper sound to the music. "Neighbors" followed along with "Got Conked" and finally "Stuff," a song that George Carlin would love! |
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| As the sun set in the West, a band from out West (Denver to be exact), took the stage. "Five Iron Frenzy" also brought us the only female ska player among the eight bands - Leanor "Jeff the girl" Ortega on sax. Maybe lead singer Reese Roper wanted to show support as he came out in a skirt and a well filled out tank top. Then again singing "Let's Go To Canada" brought back visions of various ways to avoid the draft including gay apparel. Some crowd surfing and moshing finally got going as they played "Sands of the Sahara," and in an inspired bit of music, a ska version of "In America" from West Side Story. "Sucker Punch" and "Summer of 78" closed out their relatively short set. |
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| Their wardrobe didn't show it, but punk/ska was next, as the Chicago-based "Blue Meanies" hit the stage like the Lavender Hill Mob in dark suit and tie with the lead singer looking like a Rod Stewart wannabe. The sounds were varied, as this band with a Hammond Organ among its instruments, went from anthem-like "Pave the World" with its great beat, trumpet and sax solos, to the loud and definitely punk, "Smash It All." The former song one of the best played all day. |
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| From punk to funk, as old line ska band "The Toasters" told
the crowd, "no surfin, no moshin, just good ol' skankin." Their
set included a highly funked-up version of "Why Can't We Be Friends"
and "Love Somebody." They like to take 60's music and upska-le
it. "Low Rider" and "Fire In My Soul" were two more
great tunes from this highly danceable (as opposed to moshable) band as
they filled the stage with kids from the audience to dance to the music
of "Time To be Free." This band reminded me a lot of "War"
with its funky energy. "Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down"
was another excellent song that got the crowd hopping. This band set the
stage well for the headliners of the tour, "Less Than Jake." Maybe it was the end of a long day. Maybe it was just because my ears were already ringing from five hours of nonstop ska, but when "Less Than Jake" hit the stage I was less than enthused. Not so the crowd which had been eagerly awaiting this popular punk/ska band. But only the presence of horns gave any creedence to the ska part. |
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| LTJ did play several new songs from their next album which promises to be as popular as their current one. They opened with "Just Like Anyone" and then gave a taste of their new album with a song entitled "Big Plans" making big noise and encouraging the fans to get a bit rowdy as they broke into "Johny Quest" and "Fuck It" emphasizing their punk roots. They also threw tee shirts, CDs, and assorted crap out into the audience that was dispensed from, what else, a giant Pez dispenser. |
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| Another song from their up coming album, "What Ya Gonna Say,"
had a interesting echo chamber effect from the horns and promises to be
a popular cut from the crowd response. LTJ then reached back for an old
favorite, "Rock & Roll Pizzeria" which, among other things, reminded
me I had been here nearly six hours and if my ears weren't objecting, my
stomach was certainly beginning to. "Jen Doesn't Like Me Anymore"
followed with some serious moshing going on. Another tune from the as yet
unnamed new album, "A Guy Going Under' was probably an accurate description
of myself by this time as the concert came to a close. I'm not sure the crowd gave more than lip service to the "ska against racism" motif, but they certainly were unstinting in their applause for Florida grown "Less Than Jake" who put this tour together. There was more diversity on stage than there was in the crowd, and while I applaud their efforts, I can only hope some of the crowd got the message with the music. END |
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