Slow Car Crash, DJ Badrok & Moksha

An unfortunate aspect of the Chico music scene, is its status as a farm club in the overall musical world. By this I mean that the Chico scene is the equivalent of a double-A team in baseball: A bunch of fairly good bands, all fighting for their shot at getting a shot. The best of these bands eventually move up to the next level, be it L.A. or San Francisco or Portland, where they basically start the process over, hoping to be one of the few that get a chance in the major (label) leagues.

This is the case with local stalwarts Slow Car Crash, who, after two CD’s, countless shows and a few lineup changes, have packed their bags for the sunny shores of Southern California. The Saturday show, besides being billed as a release party for their second CD, Come Out and Play Tonight, was also billed as their last Chico show. Needless to say, there was abundant sadness.

This sadness was only augmented by another more nefarious aspect of the Chico scene: soundman roulette. The premise of soundman roulette is as follows: on any given night there are proportionately less able-bodied proficient soundmen available than there are shows going on that night. Thus, when playing a show in Chico, one can never be certain (although some places are more reliable than others) whether one will procure an actual soundman, or some guy on break from his other job at Burger King (no offense to Burger King workers). This same lottery is also applicable to sound equipment, which varies in quality from great to fucking shitty. There are also nights where good gear goes bad, and bad gear goes worse. All said: The world of live sound reinforcement is rife with peril and danger.

As the first band Moksha began their set, the stench of poor audio filled the air. From what I could ascertain, Moksha was a pretty decent band. They reminded me of Our Lady Peace, replete with harsh-yet-melodic vocals and poppy progressions. But at seemingly random intervals, instruments would be brought up in the mix, only to be zeroed out completely moments later. Feedback reigned supreme throughout.

After doing their best to fight the chaos, Moksha vacated the stage in favor of the venerable DJ Badrok.

If you’ve never seen Badrok, consider yourself a fool. I don’t even like hip-hop or other such musical endeavors, but I find myself overwhelmingly intrigued by Badrok’s turntable skills. The sound was also greatly improved, allowing all to enjoy Badrok doing his thing. I don’t really know how to explain it to those who were not in attendance — basically, Badrok scratches the shit out of some records, drops big beats and makes squirelly-ass noises. But this is infinitely more complex than it sounds. Don’t take my word for it, go see for yourself. Soon.

While Badrok was wrapping up his set, Slow Car Crash began to prepare for theirs. Vocalist / mastermind Omarr Escoffie had arrived earlier that night via limousine, and was in full form, making his way about the room, shaking hands. Finally the moment was at hand, Slow Car Crash mounted the stage and the audience waited in anticipation.

First off, let me explain that Slow Car Crash is not a typical band in the sense that they do not necessarily have all the actual instruments they need. Much of their music is pre-programmed; a system, which by nature necessitates a fully operational sound system and a fully competent person to run said system. Either one or both of these ingredients was not present for about the first half an hour of Slow Car Crash’s set.

The result of this failure was the sensation of Omarr Escoffie and fellow vocalist Christina Brown singing along to a karaoke machine. The accompaniment was at such a volume as to be heard only through intensive effort. This was not to the liking of either Slow Car Crash or the audience. I decided the best course of action was to leave for a little bit.

This turned out to be a wise choice. When I returned, audio had been restored to a somewhat respectable level of decency and Slow Car Crash was in full swing. Some may describe Slow Car Crash as soul music, which is certainly a fair assessment. But the music is far more complex than that, bringing in a bit of the rock, a bit of techno, a bit of everything.

Both musically and aesthetically, Slow Car Crash is one of those bands that leave few detractors in their wake. A band full of sexy people making sexy music — what more could one ask for? It is of course unfortunate that S.C.C. has graduated to the big(ger) leagues, but what more can we do than wish them the best? Especially seeing as how recent events have proved that being from Chico is not necessarily a curse of death in the music industry (Scapegoat Wax!!). Maybe the next time you’ll see Slow Car Crash is on the television, making people want to hump in the comfort of their own homes .

– Daniel Taylor
- photos by Jeff Shaner

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