Wall of Mouths

I couldn’t post this until today because my internet access was down all weekend, so here you are:
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‘Welcome to the Church Of Noise!’ Thus spake Andy Cairns before an appreciative, packed bunch at Bill’s Bar in Boston
not four hours ago as I write this. For me, it was a minor dream come true, as I had been waiting five years for this moment. Porter,
who I met at the show, takes the gold medal on this particular count, as he had been waiting EIGHT years (he was seventeen the last
time they played Bosstown and the greasy fucks running Axis security wouldn’t make any exceptions). Hats off to the mildly insane
for waiting so long.
‘There’s something unique about this show,’ the ebullient Michael McKeegan announced halfway through a tight, energetic,
and shockingly brief one hour set. ‘You’re playing it in America!’ I offered. ‘Well, that too,’ he returned, ‘but first time in a long time
we’re playing before 12:00!’ Indeed, ‘early show’ was no lie; Therapy? hit the stage a little after 8:30 (aprés un chaotic routine from
The Lot Six at 7:30—nice way of creating a pretty good guitar soundstorm onstage, but if you put a gun to my head and asked me to
name one lyric the singer yelped besides ‘too much beer/and too much pot!’, well, you’d have to use that gun) and everyone was
surveying the damage from outside Bill’s before ten. Several of the T? guys mentioned later, in fact, that they had to cut it shorter
than usual, as ‘Punishment Kiss’ and ‘Ten Year Plan’ were listed on the set list but not played. Must have been a conspiracy on
the part of a Lansdowne Street Eurotrash Hierarchy, who turn every club there into techno territory by ten. But I digress.
Who wants a set list? Somewhat inaccurate because I was jumping up and down the whole time? Well, here you go:

Church Of Noise
Unbeliever
Gimme Gimme Back My Brain
Screamager
Bad Karma Follows You Around
He’s Not That Kind Of Girl
I Am The Money
Wall Of Mouths
Nowhere
Little Tongues First
Potato Junkie
Knives
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Encores:
Die Laughing
Where Eagles Dare

Yes, perhaps you noticed something ELSE unique about this show: A BRAND NEW SONG! ‘I Am The Money’, recorded
at the Jack Endino sessions a few months back (so it WILL be on the new album, with ‘Gimme Gimme Back My Brain’, a punky
tune previously noted as a tribute to the late, great Joey Ramone) is a witty, straight-ahead rocker with the chorus ‘Don’t call me
honey/’Cause I am the money’ and some quite funky drumming from Graham (a new twist for the band?) Think of ‘Tightrope Walker’
with a little James Brownian motion thrown in and lines like ‘Don’t go all Yoko on me!’ I’m thinkin’ this is what that techno crowd
OUGHT to be dancing to…
Solid musicianship all the way in this set. ‘Screamager’ and ‘Potato Junkie’ were a little less frenzied than they’ve sounded
in the past (based on live recordings I’ve heard, remember. This was my FIRST! FRIGGIN! SHOW! YAAAAAAAH! I’m still jumping
out of my gourd with pure joy), but no less powerful. ‘Bad Karma’ is more impressive in a live setting, and I THINK this was the song
where Andy instructed us to all snap our fingers in unison. We did. Great bottom end from Michael on ‘Unbeliever’ and ‘Nowhere’—I
even caught a picture of him doing a little Townshend windmilling on the latter. Nice guitar duet between Andy and Martin on the
bridge of ‘He’s Not That Kind Of Girl’. The band ducked out in a hurry after ‘Knives’, before being told by management that they were
okay for a quick encore. ‘Sorry about that,’ Michael laughed after getting back onstage, ‘I felt like Axl Rose for a minute there!’ Hey,
at least this band actually TOURS. Hemmorhaging guitarists be damned! =) Just had to give GN’R another boot in the ass there.
All told, I think ‘I Am The Money’ may have actually been the highlight for me! That might just be because it was a new
tune, but I also think it was due to a better fusion of instrumental chemistry; Graham gets to get down, and everyone else is their
usual bad-ass self. If this is any indication, the new album will be a real sizzler. Then again, I’m the guy who thought Infernal Love
was their greatest album. I’m such a HEATHEN…
But anyway, a short, sharp shock of a show to cap off the tour. The band came on dressed in black, save Graham, who had
a plain white tee. Michael (who was stupendously energetic throughout the show, smiling constantly and running up to the very lip of
the stage to plow the bass in our face and give some props to individual audience members) was wearing a black Captain America
shirt, while Andy wore a black button-down shirt with three devil faces on the right hand pocket and cute red Chuck Taylors. No pants.
Okay, ripped jeans. Martin’s shirt looked like a band shirt, but I can’t remember which one (started with a V). Driving, concentrated
guitar work from Martin (who has buttloads of effects pedals) and Andy (who has one!) Andy would frequently hold his axe up
vertically at the end of a song as the amps whined and the crowd went apeshit. Good repartee with the crowd, too. He mentioned
some nutty sexual practice with transvestites the band is now into before ‘He’s Not That Kind Of Girl’ (hardy har) and promised that
the band would return to tour the States again around August/September (hey hey!)
I got to hold him to that later when I had a nice long chat with him, along with Porter, mailing list-lubber Paul Auerbach, and
some other dude. Andy really does have very blue, very trustworthy eyes. We discussed touring America, which can have a
devastating effect on European bands (e.g. Three Colours Red) who don’t know quite what they’re getting into. Andy mentioned that
your typical European band will play ten gigs in Britain, fourteen gigs in Germany…and then it’s time to go to the U.S., where their ten
or twelve bookings will be spaced out over a, in the words of Big Country, ‘big country’ (that was my semi-witty rejoinder, not his).
There’s so much stress involved in having to ‘prove yourself’ over again in the U.S. that some folks just can’t take it…one of whom,
Andy stated, was Fyfe Ewing. Andy wasn’t slagging on Fyfe, just saying how close to home it can hit.
With all that said, Andy asserted that the U.S. is going to be receiving a lot more focus from the boys in T? (YES!) Their
deal with Ark 21 is good for at least another two albums, and he says that they’ve concentrated enough on Europe for now that they
feel comfortable with the idea of coming back here again. A very long and friendly talk, on top of which I got a picture of me and him,
and him and Paul, and Andy signed my S-D and IL CDs, during which for Infernal Love I had the following conversation with him:

MATT: I know you said you hate this album and you didn’t play anything from it or anything but could you
pleasepleaseplease sign it because it changed my life and I never would have given punk a chance if it hadn’t
been for this album.
ANDY: Oh, cheers, mate. (signs it)

Also on hand was Graham, who gave a quick encapsulation of this tour’s shows (‘New York was great, Chicago was great,
this was great. Cleveland was…weird. Pittsburgh was weird too. Not that they weren’t great shows; we just hadn’t been there in so
long.’) The band fly back at 8 tomorrow morning, so Graham’s looking forward to a bit of a rest and a chance to buy the new David
Byrne and Black Crowes CDs. This is before one of their European festival dates this summer, and then…return to America?
Graham was very engaging, and I thanked him for a good show and a snappy ‘I Am The Money’.
I also spoke very briefly with Michael (just long enough to get a handshake, autograph, and assurance that they’ll be back in
less than five years this time) and the very quiet Martin (who looks like a tall, brush-cut Nick Cave), and thanked them both for a great
show. Everyone was super-friendly, and I can’t wait to see them again. Show me the money? This band IS the money.

- Matt Andrysiak