ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE – LIVE @ THE GROG SHOP
Acid Mothers Temple play the Grog Shop in Cleveland with support from DANA and My Education
By Eric Rauert
Walking into a dimly lit punk bar just before show start at 8 PM, I grabbed my $5 PBR tallboy and leaned up against a column a few feet from the stage. The Grog Shop has to be one of my favorite venues in Cleveland. In a world where Ticketmaster runs a cartel based on service and resale fees, $18 tickets for 3 acts may seem like a pipe dream but it’s a reality at the locally owned, 400 person venue.
If you’re ambitious enough to arrive on time to see a little known local opener, DANA of Columbus, OH, you can get to the very front row with ease. A lone theremin and drumkit inhabited the stage before the four members of the band popped out of the audience and began to set up. Having done no research beforehand, I was excited to see what this band could do and boy did they deliver on energy.
DANA call themselves “avant-garde rock” and “punk rock” but honestly they just rock. Lead woman Madeline Jackson rips on both vocals and the theremin, although I wish her mix was a little less muddy. I could barely pick up a single word all set. Still, lead guitarist Chris Lute brought solid energy, playing hard and fast most of the set in great complement to Jackson’s wailing theremin performances. Follow this up with Dan Matos holding it down on the bass and creative drum fills from Brian Baker and you have a must see band in the lower lineups of a festival coming to a town near you. The crowd seemed to agree with me, as I heard more hooting and hollering (and less chattering) than most other openers I’ve seen in recent memory.
Immediately following was Austin Texas’ My Education, officially opening for Acid Mothers Temple on tour. To be perfectly honestly, I thought six middle aged dads had lost their way and suddenly wandered in off the street and onto the stage. This was an unfair take, as in the next 45 minutes, I had my New Balances, khaki shorts, and calf high white cotton socks knocked off.
Reminiscent of several post-punk and ambient bands I’ve followed in the past (God is an Astronaut and Godspeed! You Black Emperor, anyone?), My Education brings a fresh feel to the genre by adding a viola (James Alexander) to the six man lineup and bringing a certain “punch” with two guitars that many ambient bands intentionally lack. But they use this viola hook lightly: the instrument is just a complement to the five other musicians on stage, who all leave plenty of space for each other to play.
Earl Bowers brought a focused intensity to the drums and from so close, I could see how hard he was working from the sweat on his brow. Guitarists Brian Purington and Chris Hackstie play well off one another, even on opposite sides of the stage. Scott Telles on the bass stood center and brought the most energy and stage presence for a band lacking a true front man and any vocalists. Telles wandered and found himself playing face to face with every member of the band over the course of the set. Kirk
Laktas held the ambient melodies down on the keys and received my award for most stylish in his leather jacket ensemble.
While I found my head bobbing, I think the crowd felt a little flat on My Education. Lacking the “wall of sound” and “in your face” appeal of most acid rock or harder post punk bands, the crowd seemed to just sit back and calmly enjoy most of the set. Certainly not a bad thing but DANA seemed to have more crowd appeal and warmed up better for the headliner. At the end of the set, the dads made way for some of the oldest touring Japanese psych rock legends to take the stage.
Acid Mothers Temple (AMT), for the uninitiated, is an artist collective formed in 1995 in the same vein as G.W.A.R or (dare I say) Blue Man Group, the exception being they play face melting acid and psych rock. Many members have contributed over the years to the collective’s insane 101 studio album discography under many different band iterations. Currently dubbed “Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.”, the band has cemented a modern touring lineup playing a selection of the collective’s music from over the years. Featuring two founding members, lead guitarist Kawabata “Speed Guru” Makato and synth player Higashi “Fishin’ God” Hiroshi and three relative newbies, the band alternates between tight psychedelic tracks and intense, indulgently long jams.
The band wasted no time energizing the room right off the bat with “Dark Star Blues”. Hiroshi summoned high screeching frequencies on the synthesizer that I didn’t know humans were capable of hearing, stopping only to grease his synth knobs with a can of WD-40 he kept handy next to his wine glass. “Speed Guru” Makato restrained himself to start and kept the playing tight on lead guitar. This intense beginning to “Dark Star Blues” was short lived, as the wall of sound collapsed to make way for Jyonson “Midnight Whistler” Tsu’s haunting vocals and chords in the verses of “Dark Star Blues”.
This ambient drone section quite honestly had me second guessing the heavier sound of the band right off the bat. This doubt was short lived however as the next song, “From Planet Orb with Love”, reignited the energy in the room. It was at the conclusion of this song, and the launching of the next that AMT simply took off for another planet and, to my recollection, never stopped playing the rest of the night.
Some psych rock bands can blend the lines between songs, jamming similar to the likes of the Grateful Dead or Phish. If you’re used to the usual tight, quick songs of most bands this can be hard to explain without experiencing it. Songs begin then transition into others, simply leaving yourself to question “When did we leave that last song?” and “How can they possibly follow that?”. Familiar riffs are mixed with live improvisations, weaving in and out to create totally new creations live on stage.
“Dark Star Blues” was seemingly the connective tissue of the final hour-long jam, blending in and out of many other songs before returning to the refrain to vary the tempo of the set. Songs kept building in intensity with creative and loud explorations, before crashing back to a familiar thread to give the audience a chance to breath. But the pace and tempo kept building over the length of the jam, even when they repeatedly returned to “Dark Star Blues”. Makato was true to his “speed guru” nickname, pulling off guitar shredding I didn’t even know was possible without four hands.
Drummer Satoshima “Another Dimension” Nani truly shined in the jam, matching Makato’s frenzy with impressive rhythm. I’ve seen some hard working drummers and Nani keeps pace with the best of them, never stealing the spot light from anyone but humbly laying an incredible ground work for his fellow members to jam on. Ron Anderson (who I can only assume doesn’t have a nickname because he’s only been with the collective a few months) kept it very tight on his neckless bass and, like Nani, helped keep the chaos steady. Anderson had some excellent bass jams as well and his playing rang very loud and clear in the mix, something too many bands ignore.
The jam started to come to an end with every member seemingly playing in their own discordant world yet somehow relating beautifully to the other four musicians. Over the course of the night, the band made a lot of space for Makato to absolutely destroy his guitar but for a few minutes, five solos seemed to be happening on stage at once. The intensity of sound was unrelenting for at least the last 7-10 minutes and simply had myself and other audience members mouth’s agape as it was too loud for any cheers to be heard. Grabbing the spotlight briefly to end the show, Makoto threw his guitar vertically in the air to play with one hand while still laying down some of the fastest playing of the night. So dedicated to his guitar trance, Makato took a few seconds to realize that he played so hard he actually unplugged his own amp cord at one point.
This set , in my mind, cements Acid Mothers Temple as one of the most creative acts in the psych rock scene. Truly a band to be experienced live for their intensity and creativity, I wouldn’t give these guys a miss if you have an open mind and a weekday night to kill. Just remember to bring some earplugs and hold on tight.
Side Note: this is our new correspondent Eric Rauert’s first feature for AMP. Eric will cover shows in the Midwest area. Let’s welcome him aboard the crazy train.
To learn more about Acid Mothers Temple, check out their website
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