|
Pulse of the Twin Cities Login |
|
If you do not have an account yet
Create One.
|
|
|
Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
|
|
|
|
Gee As Jesus Review
Contributed by Anonymous on: Tuesday 21 October @ 15:47:32 |
 Brother’s Gee Present “Gee As In Jesus Review”
Root of Evil Showcase
First Avenue
Minneapolis
Metal is not my favorite genre of music. Unless you consider bands like Black Sabbath or AD/DC, or any of the old school boys. However being a VIP guest of the Indiana legends known as the Brothers Gee at the Root of All Evil Showcase, I was obligated to witness one of the most horrific assaults to one's eardrums you can possibly imagine. Root of All Evil is a Twin Cities based heavy metal recording label and last Sunday was the label’s exhibition of all the bands that have recorded under the label.
Maybe it was Sunday night or just the fact that metal seems to be dying, but the audience was meager at best. I’m not sure. I would guess that both factors played a part in what appeared to be about a 200 person crowd, with many unde-ragers present as it was an “All Ages” show, at least for most of the day. Maybe the crowd was bigger earlier. I didn’t actually arrive until early evening, but it was hard to tell. Maybe on a Saturday night or even a Thursday night would have been a bigger crowd. Or maybe there just isn't that many angry metal heads left anymore.
After all, after you're finished being angry at the world, who's left? God? The Holy Trinity? Or maybe just me myself and I. Anyway anger and testosterone we present, each in over abundance.
I arrived just in time to witness the Root of Evil band on stage and at least I could understand a lot of their lyrics. However, by the time the metal heads from New York took the stage, all that changed. Apparently a requirement of heavy metal is to turn all of the amplifiers up to maximum. In fact, I’m surprised that Marshall or someone doesn’t make an amp without volume or tone controls, because it’s really quite pointless to even have them.
However, I suppose if you’re the “singer” (and I use that term loosely…maybe I should say “the lead screamer”?), it doesn’t really matter what your message is if no one can hear it over the rest of the band. I actually was not able to understand a single word that was sang out of a microphone as the sound levels of the amplifiers far exceeded the capabilities of the PA system.
However, words are not so necessary to convey the message of Heavy Metal which includes a lot of yelling and screaming. Who or what they screaming at still remains unclear. My ears are still a bit fatigued as I did not wear adequate ear protection. Next time I’m borrowing the ear protectors of my buddy who works at the Minneapolis Airport.
Backstage I had the opportunity to witness an exchange between a self proclaimed Satan worshiper who clearly was an angry young man. Actually a very drunken, angry young man, a lead screamer in a metal band that performed earlier, and Dr. Enos Bromwell, guitarist and bass vocalist of the Brothers’ Gee. Dr. Bromwell had just arrived sporting short hair, slicked back fifties style, a black suit, pants, and dress shoes, and of course, white shirt and conservative tie-a complete contrast to the long haired, scuffy screamer in wearing an “Anal Blast” tee-shirt. Apparently he was upset that Bible beaters had infiltrated his “temple” and wanted to know why the hell he and the other Indiana boys were doing there. Apparently he had never heard of the Brothers’ Gee. However, after sharing a couple of cocktails with Dr. Enos (yes, these bible beating boys are drinkers) he had calmed down enough to where I was sure there wasn’t going to be any physical violence. Dr. Bromwell says that this happens all the time but usually, if you take the time to listen to what they have to say, tell them that you not there to “convert” them, and bring them around to “It’s a great country, America, for permitting us to even have a discussion”, then things are usually okay. And pouring cocktails doesn’t hurt anything either, he says.
As “good ole' timin' religious boys from Indiana”, most metal heads take them for face value being either too drunk to notice what's going on or just confused as to why Bible beaters are in their club. You don't see many heavy metal heads strolling into the local neighborhood church and Sunday morning and trying to covert the Christians. Like the lead screamer, many take offense that they're even there in the first place.
Most have never heard the music. Root of All Evil label recently produced their first CD “Remind the Forgetful” after seeing them perform at the 7th Street Entry metal show just before Christmas last year. The Brothers Gee kicked off their current tour in First Avenue, and a few people close to the Root of All Evil label had the chance to preview the material a couple of weeks before the show. One fan even confessed to listening to it every morning on her way to work. It's what helps getting her in the right attitude for the 9-5 grind. I asked her if she actually played it at work and her response was, “God No! They would think I was a freak!”
Throughout the evening I witnessed various members of the band being complimented on their CD before they even took the stage. Many were casually strolling through the club and just happen to spot some of them sitting quietly in the corner watching one of the bands. What really surprised me was actually that there were quite a few women at this show. I'm sure many of them were girlfriends of the bands but I think that a lot of them were actually metal fans. Hoverer of the few I talked to do seem to be angry like their male counter parts and seemed to really loved the Brother’s Gee.
I was quite amused at the antics of some of the other bands, in particular by Impaler, the Twin Cities answer to shock rock. They open their set with their lead screamer concealed in a body bag being dragged out on stage by a couple of goons.
Someone unzips the bag and beats on his chest a couple of times, reviving him back from the dead. In addition to the members of the band who played instruments, Impaler also has a wrestler-like guy with some type of body armor whose only function is to beat on a smaller type of gimpy guy with a Mohawk spiked hair and whose facial completion was made up to look like a white faced ghoul. It was clearly not a fair fight as the body armor gimp out-weighed him by at least 50 lbs., so after he got tired of kicking and pushing him around throughout the set, he finally picked him up and body slammed him into the stage. After that, the traditional metal folder chair made famous by professional wrestling, came out and he was then beating him with it. I’m not sure if this is a regular part of the Impaler performance, or just something special for this show as both were spurting fountains of fake blood that had been concealed in tubes running through their costumes. By the time they got off the stage, it the band and the stage was a fake bloody mess and took several minutes to mop up however, the staff at the Ave weren't taking a medical chances as the mop water smelled like bleach. Better safe than sorry. It never occurred to me that heavy metal and wresting were a perfect fit.
By the time The Brothers Gee took the stage, most of the audience appeared to be pretty drunk as the show had started in the afternoon and it was now a little after 11pm and the underage kiddies had been cleared out a couple of hours earlier.
Their show starts in darkness and silence then a booming passage from the Old Testament of given followed by the National Anthem. Starting out with the National Anthem is actually a calculated decision according to the Brothers Gee. Nobody ever boo's the National Anthem, which buys us time to lead into "Jesus Loves You Just as Much as Satan" (a four part harmony reminiscent of the Soggy Bottom Boys of “O’Brother Where Art Thou?”). The song evolves into a furious banjo ditty complete with harmonica solo.
The show then goes into a traditional ditty, a Louven Brothers favorite, then an original about being friends with Jesus. However after this, the show takes a strange turn as the boys sing about being happy and thankful for all of the world’s diseases. However, the boys go back to their West Virginia mining roots with a song that always wins over the crowd, "Alcohol, Jesus, and Death". It's a song about life as miner and domestic abuse says Cousin Johnny. After that, it's more of your basic Christian dogma with a song about Jesus being the answer to any question. The boys then take a break with a short little children's song which simply goes..."Jesus Is Good, Satan Is Bad." The next song is a bit disturbing as it is apparently a warning to children. Who or what the children are being warned about is a bit unclear. The next song is a Louven brothers cover about Satan being real and the finale is the anthem, "Kill them For the Lord" which ending comes the old classic..."Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye!". (Whether this is co-incidental is also unclear as it seams to follow the same chord progression as the classic hit.
The CD is very well produced and their stage show adds another dimension to the zaniness. It's one thing to hear the CD but to see the boys actually perform it is something that you won't soon forget. To see the electric banjo wizard, Johnny Gee is a treat for anyone who was a fan of the late Jimi Hendrix and bluegrass. With distortion and the classic wha-wha of Hendrix, Johnny makes the banjo scream. Interlaced between the songs are bits and pieces of Bible verses taken directly from the Bible. The boys release of "Remind the Forgetfull" actually lists the passages from the bible that the material was taken from and the preacher/singer Jon Gee delivers the passages as the old time preachers that you would hear in a rural Minnesota Lutheran church if you happen to stop in on a Sunday morning.
It is hoped that the Gee Brothers will get the attention of a major label as their music is dangerously contagious, in a joyful sort of way.
A stark contrast to the bleak messages of metal. After a couple of listens you might find yourself putting in the CD on the way to work. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Chris Columbus
Independent Music Critic
8/3/2003
|
|
 |
|
|
Comments -
Post Comment |
|
The comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for its content.
NO comments yet! Be the first!
|
|
|
