The only other time I have seen,Dante Vs Zombies, frontman Dante White Aliano climbed at the top of a pole supporting the roof of the outdoor stage, and did all kinds of acrobatics at the risk to break his neck. Seriously, what antics could he come up with tonight on the small stage of Amoeba?
To promote their new album ‘Buh’, just released on Neurotic Yell Records, the six-piece band unleashed all their craziness in the store on Friday night, even bringing along a few die-hard fans who were soon dancing in the alleys. Wearing colorful Amoeba t-shirt (hey, record store day is supposed to be next week!), outrageous lipstick make-up and a Amoeba stickers galore, Dante, like a one-eyed pirate (he had put a sticker over his left eye) played his lunatic character, holding the store’s ‘end of the line’ picket sign, then suddenly picking up some CDs from a bin, or eating his foot-long Subway sandwich, while his zombie-like acolytes were staying impassible.
Their music is quite unique and challenging to describe, as the current description featured on their website ‘Mutant Spaghetti Western Jungle Pop Anthems’ lets it imagine. Sure, they have these Dick Dale-the-Cramps surfing guitars, these unexpected turns inside their 60s-inspired pop hooks, these jumpy rhythms sometimes injected by exotic (may be this explains the jungle reference?) tempos, but, like the antics of their frontman, the sound often explodes in all directions and miraculously safely lands on its feet
Some guys in the alleys were having a lot of fun, jumping around, and this rather old man, who seemed to be a street person, suddenly showed up and absolutely wanted to give them a dollar bill, to show his appreciation for the music; the singer ended up putting the money inside his pant, without even blinking. They are surely entertaining, in a neurotic kind of way,… they are here for the theatrical fun, the flamboyance and the borderline absurd, but beyond the silliness, the music is still damn pro (as all of them also play in multiple other bands).
They played lots of songs off their new album, which, reading the titles on the setlist, look as funny and eccentric as their classic ‘Yes, I’m Stalking you’
Setlist:
Natural Disaster
Ta Da!
Horror Stories For Whores
The Dump
My Poor Old Parrot
Closing Night
Yes, I’m Stalking you
Harry Rag
Watermelon Iodine