The
HYDROMATICS
+ Little Green Fairy
@Subsonic, Montpellier, France
October 8, 2001
The sky becomes clearer as I’m getting nearer to tonight’s show,
in the South of France. This is my 1st time in Montpellier, and I will remember
it well...
Next to the station, I found the Subsonic, the new (only six-months-old but
already a magnet for a lot of underground people) place to play rock and roll
in Montpellier.
At last I find my friend Rauky (Sonic Assassin singer) and his French band,
Little Green Fairy, 1000km away from our last meeting.
Rauky, Clarisse, and Mouche (“the fly”), charmed me, hallucinated
me, got me drunk with their music. This little band formed in the city of
Sète, only for fun, is simply fresh as the beverage of the same name...My
heart was in their lemon-squeezer. I said it sounded a bit like the Perth’s
band Superscope, but it’s more feelings than a real musical simialrity
between these two bands. There’s like a Kent Steedman’s ghost in
the place, guitars sound so cool, with wah and fuzz to the max. Some clear
sounds melted into, also. (They've made a four track CD - if you wanna hear
it, just contact me.) Thanks to this
band, with all my heart...
Hey, Hydromatics! Such a long time! Same set list than in Bergara, so I can
focus on everything else that happened that night. No sound-check tonight,
the guitars are tuned, so it’s 1, 2, 3, go...
The venue there is more “human sized”, and the 50-60 people, all
connoisseurs, here tonight take real part of the show: ZE show.
Scott
broke his strings on three different tracks, walked on Theo’s bass, and
he left the stage for the rest of the song. (“Where the hell were you?”
we later asked. “Hey, man, I had no more sound, so I couldn’t stay
here, I left to get me another bass upstairs!") Yeah, man, better than
starting a folk dance, of course.
This is rock as we like it! Rauky sang with Theo on some very hot Detroit
songs, I jumped on stage with my camera when I saw some good lighting on Andrew.
What happened next? I was crouching near the drummer, taking some cool pictures,
and Theo, who didn’t saw me jumping near him, just walked back to his
amp during “Powerglide”, and he nearly fell, I tried to keep him
on his feet, and he sat on my head. Another fabulous moment in Rock &
Roll history. Theo, I like you, man.
“Hijackin’ Love” is a song full of soul. Scott really found
his mark tonight, and shows us that he is not only a real guitar player, but
before everything a rare singer, with a voice like nobody else.
Andrew took up the challenge to replace the brillant Nick Royale, from the
Hellacopters, on drums. (Deniz Tek wouldn't lose anything by including Andy
in his backing band with Scott for the “one-night only” show in
USA, to happen next month with a brother Asheton, no? Andy reminds me of Gene
Trautman, former Miracle Workers drummer, a kind of “smart rocker”
full of energy.)
A
guy in the audience sang the “City Slang” intro, a symbol for that
very hot and special night. Hydros exploded everything tonight, and we were
appreciative. A real mad night, with the Montpellier audience, even more nuts
than the Basques from Bergara. Hard to believe...
The guitarists ended it by jumping onto the floor in a final moment, dual
guitar solo, Tony Slug and Scott taking it out in spectacular fashion. We
were howling like wolves for more but never got to hear ther version of “Asteroid
B-612” many of us were waiting for (but it will be on the new LP, on
Freakshow Records.) But, I saw Theo & Tony practising this song in front
of me 15 minutes before the show, without any amp, and I’m still dreaming
of it.
Something tells me that the new record is gonna be on heavy rotation in my
living room, and in yours, too.
What else needed to be said? A mini-LP should be out sooner or later, with
6 live tracks, including a eight minute version of “City Slang, and sorry,
I smashed a big badger in my car on my night trip back to Bordeaux. R.I.P.
That's rock and roll.
- Laurent Van Bouvelen
