A Night at the King Club With The Treats

With all the hoopla surrounding the SoCo Music Experience and Snake on the Lake music festivals yesterday, that the King Club was the place to be Friday night seems to have gotten lost. It was the CD release party for The Treats and their new album Reservoir Tales. I arrived around 8:30 to meet my friend Charles only to find bassist Tim Payne and guitarist Andy Isham outside. Seeing them, I reiterated to them my desire to hear "Eve's Playground" and introduced myself. It was Don Isham that had sent me a copy of their album but they recognized Up the Downstair. They were both extremely friendly. We went to grab a cup of pre-gig coffee down the street, chatting all the while. It wasn't long after returning to the King Club that Charles showed up as well as Don. Tim talked up his Standing Water Recording Studio which is his basement. He'd found a mixing desk cheap which was used on Oprah's television show. If that isn't a great endorsement, I don't know what is. We talked some more and I threatened to flash my tits before heading in for some beer.

Stepping in, we found the place nearly empty. No biggie as the night was young. We grabbed a couple beers and found a place to sit and chat as the gear was set up. I cannot honestly say I've been there as the King Club. I remember it well as The Chamber, however. The place hadn't really changed that much. Memories flooded back of being threatened by an angry mob of women at a Pachinko show as well as seeing Tempest there with an ex-girlfriend hoping all the while she'd take me back. (It never happened.) Along with The Treats were Cash Box Kings and The Selfish Gene.

By the time Cash Box Kings got things started, the place had filled up quite a bit. I'm ambivalent about them, to be honest. I give them credit for keeping alive the electric blues of the 1950s and 60s and think Travis Koopman's work on guitar is wonderful, especially his tasteful slide work. But the music needs more swing and to be a bit more gritty. And there were a couple tunes where singer Joe Nosek affected an old bluesman voice that was just over the top to me and unneeded. He's a good harp player and there's no reason to try and sing like he's from the South side of Chicago when he's not because the whole thing descends from tribute to parody.

The Treats, curiously enough, came on second. They took the stage to a packed house with lots of folks standing near the front. Honestly, I figured they'd draw a crowd with more tattoos. Instead there were a lot of collared shirts and women wearing dresses. (Luckily a couple of the female fans with callipygian figures were right in front of me.) I guess that just goes to show what I know. Despite not having gigged in a while, they shook off their rust quickly and delivered a great, if all-too short, set. By "great" I mean they were just incredibly awesome. I had never seen them previously and didn't know exactly what to expect. They did a healthy dose of tunes from Reservoir Tales with unrestrained energy. The band was nice'n'loud and the songs gained some maniacal muscle in the live context.

"Eve's Playground" came second or third and was dedicated to your humble narrator. It was incredible. Andy Isham is playing one of the catchiest riffs ever and pleading "I try and I try" with just the right amount of menace while his brother Don flails away, going from ride to crash cymbal as if he barely could decide what to hit.

"Cuchillo" is another favorite of mine from their new album. The acoustic part of the studio version was electrified and, just as Andy finishes screaming "cuerta tu!" for the third time, Payne's bass urgently takes over. The band then launch into a short jam which is the closest thing you'll ever hear to The Who in their live prime. Listen to it and tell me that wouldn't have fit on Live at Leeds like a glove. In fact, most of the show had that same vibe. Just as with The Who, The Treats' songs were gritter live – faster and more raw.

"Blind and Undying" slowed things down for a moment and it came off well with some great harmony vocals. Other highlights were "Not Enough" with its slow bluesy riff which became total pandemonium by the end and "I've Got Your Number" with its 70s hard rock vibe. "Ever Been Down" had me screaming "When I get up!" along with Isham and closed with another fantastic bit of ear-splitting splendor.

The show was recorded and I am hoping against hope that I can get my hands on a copy.

The Selfish Gene had the unenviable task of trying to follow all that up. Still, they put on a short but great performance. Why most of the audience left before they started is beyond me and this is a crying shame. Songs like "Overboard" and the Beatles-esque "Autopilot" gained some muscle live but the harmony vocals were as strong, if not more so, than on The Grand Masquerade. Bassist Eric Andraska's hyperkinetics were infectious and his playing on "Bad About It" was wonderfully melodic. Some folks idolize guitarists but I've always been a fan of drummers and I have to say that I was really impressed with Mark Marsh that night. His playing was superb with deftly placed cymbal crashes and tasty fills. The band played a new song called "State of Nature", methinks, and it was quite good.

If you go to The Selfish Gene's webpage, you'll see that they've gotten a modicum of national press. Hopefully they found more fans at the SoCo festival where they played yesterday. Tim Payne told me that The Treats have a hard time filling the High Noon which is ridiculous. Are their lyrics not self-consciously ironic enough? I am hoping that they just need to gig more and that they can correct this in the coming months.

The Selfish Gene - The Grand Masquerade

Now what else is the whole life of mortals but a sort of comedy, in which the various actors, disguised by various costumes and masks, walk on and play each one his part, until the manager waves them off the stage?
~~~~~Erasmus


The Grand Masquerade is the sophomore effort by Madison's The Selfish Gene. The press release notes that album's lyrics involve "Orwellian concepts of deception, false identity, and doublespeak" and so the title implies that we mortals (we Americans?) don masks to hide ourselves from our fellow men. Musically the album is a bit of sonic alchemy with the band having mined the classic rock vein for substances to manipulate. While many influences are obvious, it rarely degenerates into being a copy of the original. Had The Grand Masquerade been released 30 years ago, folks would no doubt be talking about the melodicism of the first side and the more disparate and more somber second.

"A Grand Masquerade", which kicks things off, is a short string-laden prelude which builds to a climax amidst flailing backwards tape loops. "Weight of Light" is the first proper song and it opens with a bit of strumming that sounds like a lonely beacon struggling to be heard in the silence. Once the tune gets going, it turns into a pop song replete with a big build-up to the chorus. It runs the risk of sounding bombastic but manages to snare just the right amount of drama. The album's theme is evident from the get-go with the line "And our world, rarely viewed in true color".

"Overboard" is based around a perambulating guitar riff from Matthew Allen and the song features the band's wonderful vocal harmonies. (Three of the four members contribute their voice.) The admonishment "They're watching you" is contradicted in the next song, the Beatles-esque "Autopilot" which notes, "So sad, lost all surveillance". The more I listen to it, the more I love "Bad About It". The music has a touch of menace but it's almost light-hearted because the song's melody is so catchy. Plus Eric Andraska's nimble bass work here is a real treat.

Moving to the second side of the album, we encounter "Evolver" which is a flattering stab at late-period Electric Light Orchestra. Reviews often note a prog rock influence on the band's music but it's not really until "Bidding War" that this takes centerstage. The song would have almost sounded at home on Jethro Tull's Benefit. Also of note is the singing which is grittier with a hint of mania that recalls Van der Graaf Generator's Peter Hammill. "Archipelagos" opens with a fat drum beat clashing with synthesizers. It settles in a groove with rap-like singing. The guitar riffing is noticeably absent in the verses with sustained notes coloring the soundscape. "Foxhole" begins with the sound of howling wind as someone trudges along. A door opens and the footsteps continue down a hall until yet another door opens. Then a circus-like organ cuts in. I was reminded once more of the influence of The Beatles, specifically "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite". But instead of describing a circus, the lyrics vaguely invoke war and, more broadly, alienation. At the end of the song, the narrator is shot (or was the wound self-inflicted?), with his/her brains splattering on the wall. The backwards tape looping from the opening of the album returns for a chaotic finale as our victim walks toward the light.

Respite is found in the closer, "Wonderfall". It's a bit of sing-a-long on acoustic guitar with tambourine that ends with the hopeful line, "Give it a little more time."

The Grand Masquerade shows that The Selfish Gene's reach exceeds their collective grasp. "Archipelagos" was the low point for me with its attempt to sound current amidst all the tributes to 1970's touchstones. But the high points are numerous. These guys have a great ability to craft songs which are blatantly catchy yet have enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. Plus there's a certain exuberance here that's hard to pin down. The playing is solid throughout and the vocal harmonies are one of the band's great strengths, especially on "Idioum" which recalls the layered interlude in Yes' "South Side of the Sky". With all the diverse influences, one can easily imagine the band in the studio adding a bit of this and a touch of that until they had taken their rough ideas and transmogrified them into gold.

The Grand Masquerade will be released on 1 May and the album's release party is tonight at the Orpheum.