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Breaking through to the profound
By Brian Offenther |
September 20, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NOBODY ever goes to a concert to hear, just like nobody eats food in order to taste. We do these things - and engage with all other art - in order to break through these senses in order to find something greater within ourselves and the artist. It could be a feel of excitement, it could be nostalgia, or it could be enlightenment. In that way art is a tool, attempting to break down the walls of whatever confines us.
If that's the case, then The Frantic Fevers proved to be battering rams, attempting to knock down everything at once. The garage punk band from Tokyo played last Saturday night at Yuyintang (851 Kaixuan Rd, near Yan'an Rd W.) leaving the crowd shattered like broken bricks on the ground.
This was not Shanghai's first experience with the band. The Frantic Fevers (known then simply as The Fevers before realizing there were bands with the same name from all over the world) played two shows in May 2011. Both shows were sparsely populated, with attending audience members mostly left dumbfounded by the anarchic power and glory of the four-piece band as they jumped, dived, stumbled and fell over the stage and each other.
The band's secret is this spirit, as they seem to completely disregard their bodies in the performance, moving as if they are rock 'n' roll zombies compelled to act by the music, which of course they make at the same time. It's kinetic to say the least, and made even more so by the fact that the band constantly crosses the plane from the stage to the audience.
So with guitars blaring, bass pulsing, and drums pounding, these four leather-clad guys spill their drinks and themselves into the audience, completely overwhelming the senses of their audience. They "break through" by literally breaking through any confinement of space they're expected to be contained in.
This would be tiresome if there was nothing to back it up, if there was all smoke but no fire. But amazingly, the band's music holds up. In fact, many bands of this ilk might be good live, but their music loses its visceral punch when recorded. Not so with the Frantic Fevers, whose debut album "Great Big Fever" from 2010 holds up well, teetering between walls of frantic feedback and song-craft.
Whether live or recorded, the band serves as a shock to the audience's senses, bringing out their animalistic urges. It's fun, basing itself on a posture of classic rock 'n' roll cool and tough, but also reminds everyone to let loose. A tool to let loose. That's The Frantic Fevers. In these times of international political tension, sometimes that's as profound as anything else.
Perhaps the greatest scratch DJ in the world, Q-Bert, will play tomorrow, 10:30pm, at Club Maya (1329 Huaihai Rd M.). Tickets are 150 yuan (US$23.5) at the door.
If that's the case, then The Frantic Fevers proved to be battering rams, attempting to knock down everything at once. The garage punk band from Tokyo played last Saturday night at Yuyintang (851 Kaixuan Rd, near Yan'an Rd W.) leaving the crowd shattered like broken bricks on the ground.
This was not Shanghai's first experience with the band. The Frantic Fevers (known then simply as The Fevers before realizing there were bands with the same name from all over the world) played two shows in May 2011. Both shows were sparsely populated, with attending audience members mostly left dumbfounded by the anarchic power and glory of the four-piece band as they jumped, dived, stumbled and fell over the stage and each other.
The band's secret is this spirit, as they seem to completely disregard their bodies in the performance, moving as if they are rock 'n' roll zombies compelled to act by the music, which of course they make at the same time. It's kinetic to say the least, and made even more so by the fact that the band constantly crosses the plane from the stage to the audience.
So with guitars blaring, bass pulsing, and drums pounding, these four leather-clad guys spill their drinks and themselves into the audience, completely overwhelming the senses of their audience. They "break through" by literally breaking through any confinement of space they're expected to be contained in.
This would be tiresome if there was nothing to back it up, if there was all smoke but no fire. But amazingly, the band's music holds up. In fact, many bands of this ilk might be good live, but their music loses its visceral punch when recorded. Not so with the Frantic Fevers, whose debut album "Great Big Fever" from 2010 holds up well, teetering between walls of frantic feedback and song-craft.
Whether live or recorded, the band serves as a shock to the audience's senses, bringing out their animalistic urges. It's fun, basing itself on a posture of classic rock 'n' roll cool and tough, but also reminds everyone to let loose. A tool to let loose. That's The Frantic Fevers. In these times of international political tension, sometimes that's as profound as anything else.
Perhaps the greatest scratch DJ in the world, Q-Bert, will play tomorrow, 10:30pm, at Club Maya (1329 Huaihai Rd M.). Tickets are 150 yuan (US$23.5) at the door.
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