“That was from our upcoming album, proof Sub Pop will sign anyone. Have you heard Father John Misty this week?” Eli (aka Hazy Lazer) made funny around 11pm at Cake Shop yesterday. On the final night of the Ludlow Street muffin haven cum alt rock venue’s 10th Anniversary Supershow, the much loved indie rockers The Gotobeds from Pittsburg, PA -the industrial steel town from hell, were rocking hard and cracking wise. Much loved? That’s just a guess. But the 30 minute set was a brimming with smarts, fast loud with prog rock influences and a smirk on their face joy, and way too friendly not to make friends and way too funny not to be adored and way way way too exciting not be loved.
I arrived at Cake Shop late and only caught the tail end of Christines’ set but I was very impressed. Andrew Burr of Woven Bones new band are drone rockers who sustain a mood of beatific misery for every second I heard. They were followed by Savak -featuring former members of Obits, who are somewhat post-punk mid-tempo brood rockers, with an obstreperous intensity and I’d have nothing negative to say about their first ever live performance but the idea of switching drummers half way through the set wouldn’t matter if they hadn’t switched the kits as well. Probably Savak are still at the audition stage of the whole drummer thing, in which case the latter one gets my vote. Kudos for the Stranglers cover.
The Gotobeds use Eli, uh, Hazy’s unreasonable equanimity and good humor and the band’s loud good vibes to hide their up against the wall political ill temper. From opening song “Affection” (rhymes with affliction though only just), Hazy threw funny barbs -punny and shunning, biting the hand that feeds him while the rest of the band ham it up until it is time to get down to business. When they perform they come across more punk then the album till a newbie finds them veering close to jam band land. “This is our last concert ever” -Eli cracks early. “We have two songs left to play” after the first song of the evening. “I read an article where the New York Times said this is the favorite playground of billionaires… we have a merchandise table open…” An unstaffed merchandise table by the way.
The latter gibe was a subtext for the young spitfires perfect “New York’s Alright (If You Like Sex And Phones)” delivered as tight and smart as you could want with Eli following a stubborn mic around the stage and guitarist COOL U tearing off licks while Parryman (who played guitar with Eli in their former band Kim Phuc) on drums pounded the song into the ground. It was a tearaway moment and one of many over the length of the set.
The calling card for post-punk indie rockers is either sincerity or sloppiness and The Gotobeds have neither, they followed the song with “Wimpy Garcia (Brotherhood)” which seemed to crunch on Plateau’s bass all the way through but there was never that place where the song seemed to unravel, the band are so tight their buddy fun attitude is part put on, it’s like Harrison’s count in to :”Taxman” while the band enters through the other speaker. Eli has that something that not everybody, indeed, not many people have, he can front a band and the audience buy in, they root for him and they root for the band and so The Gotobeds agitprop isn’t abrasive, or accusational against the audience, it is a pleasurable ride and is easy to support. It changes minds.
If The Gotobeds are a party band taking from their ancestors sticking it in a stew and shoving it down your throat, they are one with a reason. From simply the title of their debut album Poor People Are Revolting, to hidden barbed wire nettles like “I don’t know what I am, I’m just a pawn in their scam” -the laugh’s make the medicine go down, but it is still unbridled post-social contract USA bitterness. What the Gotobeds are is blue collar college educated wiseguys, who know how to make a point so enjoyable you side with them before you know you’ve done so. “New york’s alright if you can get your dick sucked” goes the first line of their best song, the Strokes without the sensitivity (or money), right? They follow it with “Collegiate display of post-classic head-fuck”, and that’s pure The Gotobeds.
What can we expect with the move from Gerard Cosloy’s 12XU label to Subpop for their sophomore album? My feeling based on the one song the band performed, is an expanded sound, a wider range sound. Eli compared Poor People Are Revolting to the Replacement’s Let It Be, my bet is the next one will be their Pavement’s Wowee Zowee. And as long as they keep their sense of humor, I’m not worried about them at all.
Grade: A
