By: David de Young
 The Melismatics live at the Triple Rock - photo by David de Young (click for full size) |
Members: Ryan Smith - vocals, guitar |
"[Expletive] awesome," I replied when someone asked me what I thought of the show right after the Melismatics wrapped up their CD Release performance at the Triple Rock Friday night. I immediately realized I'd have to come up with something more detailed than that if I was really going to review the show. Sometimes, I wish it were that easy. Still, if I only had two words…you get the picture.
The Melismatics 2002 CD Postmodern Rock made my list of the best local releases of 2002. This made for some high expectations for their imminent release "New Infection" (Susstones, street date September 23rd, 2003). I got my hands on a preview copy just Thursday and to be honest it took a few listens for me to get my ears around it. The first couple times through I missed some of the slower, power ballads of Postmodern Rock (Sunny Day, Turn the Inside Out, Better Days, etc.) "New Infection" has the Melismatics baring their rock fangs, with fewer holds barred, and as such it captures the explosive power of a Melismatics live show. The Melismatics are putting on some of the finest rock shows in town these days, rivaling 12 Rods in their ability to take what on the surface might appear to be a just a gig and turning it into a downright essential rock and roll event.
Giving my fifth listen to the CD this afternoon I'm still convinced that I would have liked the new album immediately easier if the first two songs were reversed. "Right Where You Belong," the CD's second song, is likely my favorite on the disk and is a more likely stand out track. But album sequencing and single selection isn't my job. Actually, neither is writing about rock and roll, but that's another story. In any case, on to the show…
The Melismatics took the stage at the Triple Rock just after midnight bathed in a thick layer of dry ice haze from their fittingly high-tech remote-control smog machine. As the generic male voice from some self-help inspirational tape droned of being good to yourself and keeping your chakras shined, etc, guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker and bassist Mark Wade made meditative prayer hands.
The release show fittingly opened with the upbeat title track of the CD, "New Infection," and without a moment's rest ploughed right into "Right Where You Belong." One thing that makes Melismatics shows so seemingly tight and, dare I say it in the context of rock and roll, organized--these guys don't mess around--is heading from one song into another with less breathing space than the default CD break.
As the set continued, they deviated from album sequence, but kept right on with the new stuff. After the fourth or fifth song they introduced themselves rather humbly--as if nearly 90% of the audience wasn't specifically there to see them. Front man Ryan Smith said simply, "We're the Melismatics. We're from Minneapolis. We've got a new CD out." Maybe this was practice for Saturday night's out of town show in Milwaukee. Another of my favorites from the new album followed this introduction, the sweet sounding and catchy, "The Hard Way."
Mark Mallman made a special guest appearance on the country ballad, "Hate to Say It." Mallman sings more than essential backup vocals on that song, delivering the standout line "And if I ever thought of turning back, I think that I would have a heart attack." (You've actually got to hear the song to understand what I'm talking about here, so buy the disk, Melismatics and Mallman fans. It's essential for both of you.)
"Like People," one of my favorites from Postmodern Rock found the band bouncing in unison. Guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker pumped his fist in the air (like security guard David Diaz did at the Marilyn Manson show at the Orpheum in October of 2000) as "I, the Undersigned" began, saying, "Let me see your rocking machines." Then he appeared to make some cryptic remark that sounded distinctly like, "Why don't people talk about Slave Raider?" as if he were suggesting Slave Raider was a great and unfairly maligned band. As the song ended he pointed out that the Melismatics are a band who "like to take things as far out as possible. But we pushed the limit for tuning." But seriously, the band gave their sincere thanks to Ed Ackerson for producing the album. Ackerson, ever the supporter of local music and likely one of the busiest musicians in Minneapolis was on hand to support the band.
Speaking of musicians, this would be a good point to point out that half the musicians in town seemed to be in attendance at this show. One was voracious music fan, Sean Sauder (drummer for loud rockers Mars to Mercury), who says he's been toying with the idea of forming a Smiths cover band, but he'd need to find a guitarist who could play like Johnny Marr. I figured there were probably a dozen people in the room right now who would probably like to try. But after looking around the room I corrected myself, figuring that number was likely closer to two dozen or more. (If you're interested in forming a Smiths tribute band, call Sean. Otherwise he may have to go through with his other idea of playing a solo show where he plays all Mars to Mercury songs, but only the drum parts!)
Cleary I digress, but the point was it's a good sign if your audience is full of musicians. A Melismatics show is a great place for guitarists, bassists and drummers alike to learn a few things.
After all my chattering here, the show was only half over by this point. It continued with "Phase Shifta" and "Disconnected." "Don't Believe It," was introduced as being "about Yo mamma." At the end of this song I worked some kind of amazing camera magic and somehow, due to a low battery, managed to snap a flash shot at the exact moment of the last beat of the song. (See photo below.)
The exact last beat of "Don't Believe It"
"Paying for Gas" was dedicated to The Lovelies. One audience member commented that this song, a unique sounding song for the album and show, sounded like it could have been an outtake from the Rocky Horror Picture show.
Next came "Speaking in Tongues," the song I thought was called "Soup in Your Eye" last year. Ylvisaker sang "Saw You On TV." At the end of which, bassist Mark Wade jokingly asked whether there was a doctor in the house. Apparently, he had bloodied his hand a tad. Gotta love those bloody hands at rock shows, though Ryan Olcott still has the bloodiest hand award from the 12 Rods CD release show in October of 2002.
At most of the Melismatic's shows I've seen, Jeremy Ylvisaker gives a brief somewhat "off" or ironic. Tonight's began something like this: "In these troubled times, all we have is each other." It continued something like this: "Let's give all the children health insurance…" But audience members suggested that we should also give the children songs and guitar solos, and that pretty much ended it. "Aphasia" was next with an over-the-top Ylvisaker guitar solo. The band thanked the audience, saying they had just one more song. Ylvisaker remarked, "This is the sexiest group of people I have ever seen." The final song of the set was the ever-popular "Girl in Leather" from Postmodern Rock.
There were three encores. A bouncy version of The Brains' penned "Money Changes Everything," complete with a Mark Wade bass solo, and dueling guitars in harmony (thirds?) between Smith and Ylvisaker. Laza Beam came next, then the set rounded out with the new album's fitting closer, "Together We Will Be," with the chorus of "It's looking like we're all going to die together." Then came a disaster-style show finale with that resulted in an upturned bass amp Yslativer doing a Jimmy Hendrix-styled nod at the Star Spangled Banner with his foot on the stage monitor.
If you don't count the Bart Simpson and Krusty the Clown outtake that immediately started playing through the mains, that was the end of the show.
Location Info:
Triple Rock Social Club
Artist Info: The Melismatics
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