KTU @ Durty Nellie's

Yesterday evening I trekked down to Palatine, Illinois where Durty Nellie's lay. The occasion was a performance by KTU. The genesis of the band was at the SXSW Festival in 1999 when Finnish accordion wizard Kimmo Pohjonen met ¾ of King Crimson who were playing there as ProjeKt Three. The idea of collaboration gestated over the next few years until KTU was born. The line-up consisted of the Crimson rhythm section of Pat Mastelotto & Trey Gunn and the Finnish band Kluster featuring Pohjonen & Samuli Kosminen who plays electronic percussion. Last night's gig was their first in 6 days after having played at this year's SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. The guys were on a short 7-stop tour of North America which, we found out, was sponsored by the Finnish government. Unfortunately, this was the trio incarnation of KTU with Kosminen unable to come over for unknown reasons.

Last night's show was ostensibly a drum clinic sponsored by The Drum Pad. Mastelotto spoke to the audience before the encore and said that he had been approached by Victor from TDP about doing a clinic. Mastelotto responded that he has no idea how to put on a clinic and that trying to teach folks how he plays is impossible because he's not even sure how he does it. Victor then told him that he could bring a band. So, even though the concert last night wasn't strictly a drum clinic, Mastelotto really put on an amazing show for any aspiring percussionists out there. His kit was stripped-down a bit with no toms on the rack. These were replaced by a couple small bongo drums. But he has a Neil Peart-like rack of cymbals, chimes, a gong, and probably a tubular bell or two. Plus there was his electronic gear which he used to play samples and set off rhythm tracks. I almost felt sorry for him as he essentially had to play the parts of two people – his own & the absent Kosminen's. Both he and Gunn had laptops onstage. Adrian Belew uses one as well and, when it comes to computers, the extended Crimson family chooses Macs.

I'm not really sure how to describe their music. You've got Mastelotto playing all manner of percussion, including electronic, and triggering samples; then there's Trey Gunn with his Warr guitar which alternately took the role of bass, lead guitar, and keyboard. And then there's Pohjonen whom I've read described as the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion. With an array of pedals complementing a very physical style where he hit his instrument and slammed it on his lap, the comparison is apt. Do go to their MySpace page and check out the tunes there.

I left for the show right after work and got there early enough to have a couple beers and relax. Walking into the bar, I saw a white guy with long hair and a blank trench coat. The prog-geek warning klaxon inside my head went off and I knew that he was here for the show. Durty Nellie's isn't a bad place – kind of a faux Irish bar, but not overwrought. Unfortunately they had no Wisconsin beer. Moving to the theatre, I found it to be a bit like the old Luther's Blues here in Madison. Same kind of ambience but a bit larger with a balcony instead of a tiered seating section. I found a good seat for some camera work and waited for the show to begin. For a Tuesday night of Finno-American prog, the show was well-attended. The balcony seemed full and the floor looked to have more than half the seats filled. A couple young women, who looked to be 18 or 19, sat down next to me. I thought it odd that they should be here and figured they got dragged to the show by someone. This someone turned out to be the father of one of the women. After the second song of the night, the gal sitting next to me leaned over to her dad and said, "I love this!"

I recognized "Optikus" in the setlist but, since I don't have the band's album, it was the only song with which I was familiar. Mastelotto was all over the place, Pohjonen would play some ambient accordion parts and then get all crazy, and Gunn did his best bass player routine by staying put most of the time despite his guitar going from moody sonic waves to fuzzed out shredding. I moved around during the show to get better camera angles and ended up in the second row in front of Pohjonen. In front of me was a guy who was just rockin' like Dokken. Mastelotto recognized him and said that he is always in the front row. Being so close, I could feel my body shake and see Pohjonen freak out up close – that's rock'n'roll!

It is difficult to describe what KTU sounds like. The ambient bits are very reminiscent of recent King Crimson – think "Level Five" or "Dangerous Curves" – with accordion. When the band starts rockin', it's more straightforward than Crimso. At least it feels that way. Again, using Crimson as a reference, perhaps this is because there's you don't have Belew and Fripp trying to get their guitar parts interlocked. Everyone here is playing a different instrument and can go and do whatever he wants, within boundaries, of course.

After their set, the band signed autographs and mingled with the fans. I pleaded with Pat to bring the band to Wisconsin as we Cheeseheads need our fix of live prog too. He seems like a really nice guy with a good sense of humor. Considering how busy he was behind his kit, he smiled quite a bit and I caught him sticking his tongue out at someone too. When Pohjonen didn't have a stern look on his face while going crazy on his accordion, he made a few comments to the audience and smiled a lot as well. It looked like he was really having a good time and genuinely happy to be there. Gunn was more businesslike onstage but was cheerful afterwards.

All in all, a great night. Hopefully the band will return to the States soon. If some brave soul attempts a SXSW-like music festival here in Madison, I will personally lobby to get KTU to Madison.