Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th Street (@ Missouri) [Map]
Drinks consumed: 3 beers
The smashing of a guitar is an iconic rock and roll action, but who has ever actually seen it done live?
Thanks to Acid Mothers Temple, I have!
AMT's merch table
Acid Mothers Temple is one of the loudest, most hardcore rock and roll bands I've ever seen. The four gentlemen from Japan filter dark, hard rock through psychedelic textures, with songs that can last for 35 minutes or longer. They are that other side of "jam bands," the one that leans toward Black Sabbath–style rock instead of smooth jazz. And between Kawabata Makoto's Jap-fro to Higashi Hiroshi's white wizard hippie style, they also look completely insane.
Higashi Hiroshi raises a fist
In the course of the nearly hour-and-a-half set, the last stop on their Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness Tour, they grabbed bits of sound from every corner of the musical cosmos. Their bass player chants, plays flute, and sings, although I have no idea what he might be singing about. In this case, it really doesn't matter. His voice is just another piece in the great psychedelic tapestry. Makoto plays his guitar in such odd positions and with such violent motion that it almost looks like he's not playing at all. Think air guitar to a Metallica track but on a real instrument. Hiroshi plays synth, making wacky synth noises and just generally looking like a crazy old wise man in rose-colored glasses. And the drummer... yes. Everything about this band is awesome and wonderful.
Kawabata Makoto
AMT closed the show with a guitar smash. And not only did Makoto freak out and smash his guitar on the stage, he threw the pieces out to the audience. The group in front of the stage clamored like bridesmaids to a bouquet, with two people raising the body and the neck separately in triumph. I jumped for the pick but it sailed over my head into the clutches of a dude behind me.
No neck.
And no, I'm sorry, Koshi didn't get a clear shot of the smashed guitar. The best he got is the above shot where you can see him holding the neckless guitars. But I did see a guy take it into the men's room with him.
Tsuyama Atsushi
Best show of 2008. I have yet to blog the other 2 I've been to this year, and have several coming up next week, but this is definitely the unbeatable show to beat.
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