Woodward Theater Presents:
THE MESSTHETICS and JAMES BRANDON LEWIS w/ SIREN SUIT
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Time: Doors at 6PM, Show at 7PM
Venue: The Woodward Theater | 1404 Main St., Cincinnati, OH 45202 | (513) 345-7981 | news@
Admission: $19.50 advance, $24 day of show
Ages: 18+
Information / Tickets: https://www.woodwardtheater.
Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/
* $2 off any sandwich across the street at MOTR on day of show with proof of purchase *
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About THE MESSTHETICS:
The last time drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally were in a band together, they were the rhythmic architects for Fugazi, an organization whose decade and a half of disciplined progressivism provided a necessary bridge between the zenith of late-punk expression and everything alternative in rock that followed. In 2016, the two were enlisted by guitarist Anthony Pirog in a conspiracy to subvert and reimagine the power trio, bringing fully into the 21st Century a form that may have reached near perfection with Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys on the very first day of the 1970s.
With a self-titled recording scheduled for release in the Spring of 2018 on Dischord Records, the Messthetics will widen the reach of a decisive instrumental music that so far, they have only shared with a privileged handful of east coast and southern audiences. Across its eight original compositions and one cover, Anthony guides the sound through complex changes and harmonic densities that might compound, but never confound or muddy its connection with the listener’s body. Recorded by Brendan in their practice space, the group’s debut gives Anthony ample opportunities to swap guitar textures and styles as freely as an octopus changes patterns.
Brendan’s kit has a big heavy bell that he brought back from the Fugazi days. He maneuvers through this rhythmically shifty music with a fluid briskness that is periodically disrupted by the clang of his bell. Joe spent 8 years in Italy, among other things, woodshedding on eastern rhythms counted in 7 and 13, perfect preparation for the oddly-metered work of the Messthetics. He brings a rock-solid foundation to the groove at the same time playing a harmonic complement as ambitious and interesting as Anthony’s lines.
Bands can be dangerous when their members have accrued enough mileage to see their chops season into something like musical wisdom. When that understanding has the rare opportunity to percolate through a collaborative environment founded in love and anchored in gratitude, well, then shit can get rather intense. Anthony Pirog writes difficult music because original music usually is. Yet the ideas that he feeds through the Messthetics, are embraced by the Canty-Lally time machine, not just with precision and nuance, but with soul, joy, and groove. These last three are, indeed, the big guns in this spiritual war that music must become in the post-Trump era.
The initial concept was to mix noise/improv guitar with dance grooves – a kind of apocalyptic dance party where the beat keeps you moving, but the guitarist relentlessly terrorizes you. The first track, “Mythomania” retains elements of that posture, but as reality has itself become more daunting, Anthony – a fearless guitarist – has moved closer to his listeners, and is now willing to astonish without being so confrontational about it. That doesn’t mean the Messthetics in any way retreat from the responsibilities of a “hard” sound, just that its volume and edge never eat the bold structural ideas that define this new music. Anthony will even lubricate his tricky time signatures with energetic two-note riffs to keep the listener head-bobbing through the twisting structures. And when their collective voice is thick and heavy (like on “Crowds and Power”), it is neither ponderous nor plodding. Their performances and this debut recording have a lift and buoyancy that reflect back into the audience the love and gratitude at the foundation of this trio’s journey
— Dr. Thomas Stanley (aka Bushmeat Sound)
CHECK OUT The Messthetics: Tiny Desk Concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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About JAMES BRANDON LEWIS:
James Brandon Lewis Acclaimed Saxophonist & Composer who the New York Times described as “James Brandon Lewis, a jazz saxophonist in his 30s, raw-toned but measured, doesn’t sound steeped in current jazz-academy values and isn’t really coming from a free-improvising perspective. There’s an independence about him, and on “Days of FreeMan” (Okeh), he makes it sound natural to play roaming, experimental funk, with only the electric bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma and the drummer Rudy Royston, and without much sonic enhancement. The record sounds a little reminiscent of what James Blood Ulmer and Ornette Coleman were doing in the late ’70s and early ’80s — on records that included Mr. Tacuma — but it’s not clearly evoking a particular past. Maybe it’s an improvised take on early ’90s hip-hop, as Mr. Lewis has suggested, but it sounds less clinical than that. It sounds like three melodic improvisers going for it.”
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About SIREN SUIT:
Founded in 2016, long standing contributors to the Cincinnati independent music scene Siren Suit create raucous, chaotic, vital post-punk. Sweat-soaked and visceral, built on driving bass, jaggedly melodic guitar lines, and dynamic drum work, the band threads a delicate needle of gnarly alt-rock, biting punk rock, and pure rock ‘n roll. Featuring original members Dave Cupp (Old City, Caterpillar Tracks) on vocals and guitar, bassist/vocalist Kyle Knapp (The Turkeys, Future Strikes), and drummer Matt Retherford (Royal Holland, Wonky Tonk), Siren Suit focuses on constructing tightly packed, frenetic tracks of layered vocals and discordant, frenzied melodies. The slightly unhinged energy found on their recorded works is replicated in their live performances, where the band leaves nothing on the stage at the end of their sets. Their raucous proto post-punk dances between the pummeling power of The Melvins and the dynamic interplay of Devo. Following their lauded 2021 record, Monstrous Chitterings, the band released their latest effort Weight in September 2023. The eight tracks were recorded by Don Zientara in his reborn Inner Ear Studio in Arlington, VA.
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MORE ABOUT:
THE MESSTHETICS:
https://themessthetics.
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
JAMES BRANDON LEWIS:
https://jblewis.com/
https://jamesbrandonlewis.
https://www.facebook.com/
SIREN SUIT:
https://sirensuit.bandcamp.
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
THE WOODWARD THEATER:
http://www.woodwardtheater.com