Gorgeous Armada & Iceage Cobra

Jan. 14th, 2007--A wise man once pondered, “Is this a…what day is this?” I found myself asking the same question at Nick’s Night Club this past Monday. Despite typically being a rough gig for local and touring bands alike, the combination of Seattle’s Iceage Cobra and Chico’s own Gorgeous Armada laid waste to the natural depression brought on by the start of a new week.

    With the bill featuring two groups instead of three, showtime was pushed back till past 10 o’ clock, allowing ample time for spectators to straggle in, which proved beneficial as Iceage Cobra was first to perform. For those unfamiliar, this is a Marshall stack-having, Orange cabinet-pumping, 20-inch floor tom attack of rock ‘n’ roll might. Members Jordan West (guitar), Ben Harwood (bass) and Metch Brasch (drums) provide abundant justice to the enduring formula of a power trio. With a sound reminiscent of early Fu Manchu, MC5 and Bon Scott-era AC/DC, Iceage Cobra is the type of band capable of striking an instant chord with a new audience. For 35 minutes the group sold their souls to the sparsely dense crowd, stomping about both stage and floor in a flurry of goose-necking and high kicks. All three members fulfilled lead vocal duties, lending a sense of frontman flair to each. The songs themselves are impressively composed from a litany of fat licks, hard-stops and abrupt tempo changes. Cobra pieces together measures and phrasing in ways that are as intelligent as they are hooky. Seattle is fortunate to claim the fearsome three-piece as their own.



    The infamous Gorgeous Armada then took stage with a total of 11 crew members (I use the term “crew” because the Armada is in many ways much closer to a gang than a band, which I denote with the utmost respect), and incorporated both live and synthesized drums, female backups and an ever-present cowbell. I had been told that the musical agenda for the evening entailed a mash-up of 31 cover songs in a 45-minute stretch — a tricky feat. In the professionally humorous fist-pumping fashion that fans of the Armada have come to expect, the gang lit the floors aflame, melding classics from the past three decades into sweat-soaked glory. To name a few, “Lightning Crashes,” “Basket Case,” and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” all made appearances, not to mention Armada originals “Fresh Meat” and “Pink Werewolf Killer.”

    Normally, the star of any Armada show is none other than the Boy Prince of Butte County himself, Handsome Gorgeous. But Monday night was an exception. Co-frontman Kurt Lind (aka Kurty South) was a man with something to prove. In the spirit of savage depravity, Lind brought his demeanor to a malevolent fever pitch, continuously dowsing himself, the crew, and the audience in canned beer — Pabst, Olympia and Schlitz to be specific. By show’s end the stage looked as if a tsunami had hit, leaving Lind a shirtless, sopping wet hero of the night.    

    Here’s to Mondays.

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