Local underground bands play the Seco Pearl
By Rima Ralff
If there’s one redeeming aspect of Arthur Manby’s infamous life, it is perhaps found in the band called Manby’s Head.
This four-piece rock band, whose moniker refers to the mysterious death of one of the Southwest’s most notorious characters, takes the garage-rock genre to new heights.
Saturday (May 15) at 8 p.m. at the Seco Pearl, 590 Hondo-Seco Road, Manby’s Head, along with Art of Flying, will give audiences a glimpse into the intriguing Taos underground music scene.
If you think garage rock should be relegated to the tone deaf or musically illiterate, this band is dead set on turning your head around.
Guitarist Peter Greenberg described the genre as a blend of 1960s’ rock, punk, blues and R&B. “It’s a pretty common term that refers to a style of music that’s unpretentious,” he said, “but with an attitude, not homogenized to satisfy a target audience.”
Originally from the east coast, Greenberg was a founding member of several Boston-based bands, including DMZ, The Customs, and most notably Barrence Whitfield and the Savages. Guitarist and vocalist Michael Mooney is another veteran of outsider rock and spent most of the 1980s and ’90s in the Los Angeles underground rock scene. Bassist Paul Reid is well-known locally as a former member of Bone Orchard and current member of Kim and the Caballeros. Add to the mix the high-energy drum work of 24-year-old Eric Whitlock and you have what the band’s bio refers to as “a unique group whose songs give a nod to the great psychedelic garage rock tradition …” The band debuted last summer and played their first gig at Taosound Tape and CD, a performance that one fan described as “crisp and distinct” with a “sledgehammer” sound. But no worries, this isn’t noise — this is engaging music with thoughtful lyrics that burnishes contemporary angst with Eric Burden-style rock.
Commenting on Mr. Manby and the band’s decision to honor him, Mooney said, “One of the reports on Arthur Manby’s death has his corpse discovered in one room and the head in another, apparently having been removed there by his dog Lobo. Another states that the head was missing entirely, never to be found. A third states that it wasn’t him at all. I found the idea that Manby’s head might still be out there someplace, possibly on someone’s mantel or other display, an intriguing one. It’s a reference I felt locals would get, while going straight over everyone else’s, ahem, head.”
One of Taos’ most esoteric bands, Art of Flying will be playing their final gig before heading off for a tour of Italy.
This cutting-edge trio always offers something engaging for the musically adventuresome. Both crude and refined, their sound has been described as resembling the hiss and howl of wind, squeaky chairs, Herman Melville, Nick Drake, Kate Bush and sand through an hour glass.
They gain their inspiration from a diversity of sources including, Peter Tosh, Yehudi Menuhin, the Dalai Lama, Questa’s Gilbert Santistevan, the natural world, war, peace and more.
Admission for this event is $5. For more information call (575) 776-1225.
Manby’s Head takes its name from an infamous Taos historical character.
Courtesy photo
 |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment