Experimental Dental School, Comets on Fire & the Lowdown

When you're dealing with Meyow, it's almost a guarantee that the evening will be filled with cacophony, craziness, confusion, and quite possibly, contortion. These are all elements that are pretty much absent from Chico's music scene, and we should all be very thankful that our little town is not completely devoid of unique music.

When I heard that Meyow was no more, that Nick (percussion) and Paul (bass) had separated from the collective to peruse other musical interests, I was a little disappointed. The musical chemistry that the foursome created was amazing, and being a human being, I fear change. Last Wednesday those fears were alleviated when I experienced the new project; Experimental Dental School. The band — with Jesse on guitar-bass contraption, tools, sampler and vocals, and Shoko on keyboards, samples, drums and vocals — managed to keep some of the attributes of their previous band, while at the same time branching off into new territory. We were treated to some of the familiar oom-pa-pa rhythms, distorted vocals, and noise noise noise, but at times there was also a pleasant sparseness and an unfamiliar pop element.

The most pleasant and surprising change in the band's musical duties was Shoko's new role as the drummer. I swear, I've never seen anyone have more fun playing the drums than Shoko. Beaming from ear to ear, she kept the rhythm solid, even when switching to her keyboard. Keeping with the path-less-traveled tradition of Meyow, the way they set up the drums was unordinary. The kick drum — suspended, with its head horizontal like a giant floor tom — was hit with a drum stick instead of a kick pedal, and the snare, hi-hat and cymbal were set in a line around her that more resembled a Taiko drum set up than a rock drum set up. Another interesting change was Jesse's use of a sampler. In perfect time, he sampled his noisy guitar/bass riff, made a loop of it, then played over it using his array of delays and whammy pedals to their fullest potential. Their last song, "Shock Treatment," featuring Shoko on vocals, was much different from the other songs in the set, and it had a lo-fi indie rock feel that I found aurally pleasing. Yeah, it's too bad that Meyow is over, but the bright side is that they kind of resemble a worm: when you cut it in half, both sides grow into new creatures, independent of each other, but still containing the essential elements of the whole. I can't wait to see what the other half comes up with.

Up next was Comets on Fire. Balls-to-the-wall fucking rock 'n' roll. They had the most greasy music that I've ever experienced, next to R.L. Burnside. The four-piece band consisted of bass, drums, guitar/vocalist, and an Echoplex operator (an Echoplex is the granddaddy of delay pedals). The singer ran all of his vocals through the Echoplex, and the operator manipulated them to the point of unintelligibility, creating barrage after barrage of wack noise. With dirt, grime and bass feedback, Comets on Fire sent our damaged brains sailing into the stratosphere. Some of the frequencies that they produced somehow sent the serotonin flooding in my noggin', so I have favorable memories of the show. A few of my friends, however, couldn't take it and left. Yeah, it was pretty damn loud. Their cover of the Beatles' "Back in the USSR" absolutely short-circuited my brain. With bone-headed cowbell beats and about as much noise rock as one can handle, Comets on Fire put on an entertaining show.

Up next was the Santa Cruz-based experimental outfit, the Lowdown. If you took all of the anger expressed at the Music Industry and boiled it down to a thick black paste, it would resemble what I heard. The sounds of disillusioned craziness that they exuded made me want to drop to the floor and flop around like a fish. Tiny drum set, three- and twelve-stringed guitars, cymbal shards and Casio keyboard combined to create music that was, well…it was interesting, but not very good. The three-stringed guitarist had the stage movements of a stiff David Byrne, and the drummer played without ever moving his elbows, and although interesting to watch, the music was just not enjoyable. I think that Low Down is a band that should be seen, but not heard.

-Maurice Spencer Teilmann

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