Zen
Guerilla + Jackie & the Cedrics @ Zoobizarre, Bordeaux
November 26, 2001
Zen
Guerilla + Jackie & the Cedrics
@ Zoobizarre, Bordeaux
November 26, 2001
Photos and Words: Laurent van Bouvelen
There were another local band called that opened the night at 10pm. Called
Stef & Arno, a duet with only drums and guitar. And screams, too.
Tonight, it's a Zen Guerilla show I came to see, and this place doesn't
fit the band so well.
Do you remember the bar in the movie called "A clockwork orange" ?
It's weird, small and looks like somebody commited a murder inside.
Jackie & the Cedrics take the bad place on stage, between a local band and
the Delaware band. But they played a cool show. A pretty good show, first time
everyone there saw this band. A kind of Japanese surf music from the 60's. With
costumes & attitude. They surf the amps, the bass player jumps on the walls,
I had his foot 12 inches from my head !! He is totally nuts! They seem to be
three brothers and their records are pretty difficult to find in Europe.
They play instrumentals, with just a few screams and vocals. I had a surprise
when I grabbed their setlist - it was all in Japanese. I only recognize one
song : "Multiball". Cool chaps, always smiling and trying to make
their audience laugh. A nice set.
Then
came Zen Guerilla. Marcus holding a bottle of red wine...
It started like a rocket, very hard and a sound way beyond limits... It was
too loud for this small venue. They deserve a bigger place !
After only five or six songs, Marcus nearly fell on the drumkit. No room, too
much tension, it was a total chaos. Who's responsible for that ? I'll tell you
my opinion: When you want to organize that kind of show, you'd make it in a
place where the band feel free to move, and free to express.
There is a bad vibe in there. It's no good for Rock n Roll.
They get some fresh air with "Fingers".
I've got this image in my mind, Marcus on the ground, on his knees, his large
hand on the carpet, the other holding the microphone, he was telling us spoken
words nobody here can understand. I just have a little idea of what it's all
about, I won't tell. It was very "introspective"... I think he scared
some people, but I was next to him, trying to get some pictures, trying to share
this moment with him. It was so intense.
On "Graffiti Hustle", his voice turned into a moan...
Then he left the stage... and after a minute, it was the end of the show. It
was Marcus' show.
A very moody and bluesy version of the band. I enjoyed it a lot. Most people
didn't understand that.
You'll probably never see Zen Guerilla like I've seen them this night. Thanks
to the Zoobizarre, in a way..
No more sound, an empty stage, and an empty venue, but I stand alone, my brain
remaining "Subway Transmission"...
Zen Guerilla
+ Mermaid
@ Salajam, Bergara, Basque Country, Spain
December 2, 2001
The big Rock n Roll Zen Guerilla machine is rolling on Europe right now
and Basque Country is on the list.
A very nicely organised show indeed, a lot of people waiting for the doors opening,
and Mermaid, the 70's heavy style band from Spain, with a LP on Safety Pin
records, fills the place with sonic assaults before the curtain goes down. This
sound like the best US stoner bands, and it's easy to think about Kyuss when
you hear them. If you know this Kyuss title "Molten Universe" on "Blues
for the red sun", then you"ll know how Mermaid sounds on stage. The
huge stage was not a problem for them, on the contrary. I'd better run and seek
their records right now. They are a band you can compare to Natas, and they
don't suffer by comparison.
The chaos Zen Guerilla suffered in Bordeaux didn't fluster me, and I had planned
to see them tonight so nothing was going to change my mind. What happened in
Bordeaux was related to the small venue(150 people in a room that barely held
100), a paltry lightshow amnd a small stage. So I keep my faith in Zen Guerilla,
and I pray for the best show ever. And I had it. And everybody here tonight
agreed. It was a show not tomiss.
The
foldback is here, on the right side of the stage. Marcus stood there, adjusting
delay & volume on it, Rich on the right side, Andy the drummer and Carl
Horne played together on the back of the stage. But they only used half the
stage. This was a confident show, and in front of the biggest audience I've
ever seen in Bergara. Nearly 600 hypnotized people.
An instrumental intro, and we're captivated. Was it "Saucerships to Ragtime"
? The setlist didn't mentioned it. Andy looked wild and harangued the public.
Then came steamrollers titles like "Trouble Shake" or "Slow Motion
Rewind".
I never heard Rich say a word, except off the stage, but his black Gibson
screams on top of the heads, riding the amps and even a poor guy from the sound-staff...
Very funny.
I recognize the Senor No guys on the first line, in front of the stage, Zen
Guerilla fanatics.
Sound is perfect, Marcus is in the show, deep into it, from the beginning to
the end, sweatin' in his shirt for us. "Fingers" is a blues they can
have made in New Orleans in the 40's. It sounds exactly the same as the live
version you can hear on the LP. It's like a break for bodies, but spirits are
well awake & eyes wide open. Two other nice tracks from "Shadows on
the sun" are "Empty Heart" & "Barbed wire" they
putted in chains in an heroic way.
Andy throw his sticks in the air, something like four times a man's height,
catches them back and continue to play like a demon he is ! He & his Gibson
bass player Carl are like a road train you'd better not try to stop, 'see what
I mean?
So ? Is there anything bad I can say about this show ? No ! Nothing ! Everything
was there & this show will stay in minds like one of the best ever seen.
Really. We're impressed.
I just have one more key to give you, people who won't have the pleasure (should
I say orgasm?) to see Zen Guerilla on tour this year:
This key is the encore they did this night. An only covers encore. Two songs,
they gave us.
Rich plays a guitar intro, and I think "Hey, what's that ? the New Christs
play this song, no ?" and sure they played "The Seeker", this
Who song Rob covered on stage with his band.
Words are not enough to express the violence inherent to this song covered by
both these bands.
And the end of the show came with "Moonage Daydream", a Bowie cover.
It's apotheosis ! I'm sincere. I don't know if every single show they did on
this European tour was so captivating, but 100 per cent of people there appreciated
this gig.
Only a few minutes to shake everybody's hand and congratulations, they're so
tired and running everywhere for days and days. I stopped by the merchandising
table, it was just crazy, I met Eppie, a Dutch Radio Birdman fan, working at
Rocketdog studios. He tried hard to contain all these crazy guys in Bergara:
"T-shirts por favor ! El LP, El cd ! Un otro y un otro ! Stop! Sold out!
Sold out! "
I wouldn't have missed this gig for anything in the world except a Radio Birdman
reunion, guys ! Try to see Zen G live, they'll soon be one more mythic band,
if they are not yet. Or may be they were already.
