I got to Solar Culture a bit late. Camera in hand I make my way through the crowd in the back and as I get closer to the front, people were sitting on the floor so I slip to the side. Clare and the Reasons are onstage, though it appears they have just started their set. On stage, the band is dressed all in red with Clare playing guitar along side Olivier Manchon, her husband playing violin and various other instruments and a cellist. Clare has a voice like a song bird and a playful style that is a cross between jazz, classical, forty's pop and Disney princess music (think Snow White or Cinderella singing with blue birds flying around their heads). Lest we think she is sophisticated beyond her years, she reminds us that she's just like everyone else living in Brooklyn, NY when she sings,
Can Your Car Do That? (I Don't Think So) where she tells the tale of an old but lovable car that leaks and whose doors don't open.
From there, I head around the corner to Vaudeville to hit the other end of the musical spectrum. I walk into a virtually empty bar where The Complainiacs are onstage with the volume up to 11. I order a beer and insert my earplugs. The guitarist says to the sound guy, "Just to let you know, I'm going to turn the volume up on the amp even higher. Well, because I can!" The handful of people (mostly members of the other bands playing and the bar employees) are congregating at the back of the bar as far away from the band onstage as possible. Suddenly the band seems to care about the audience and tells them to come up front because they're just a rock band and they won't hurt us, which is when the sound guy heads to the stage and tells them they're done. If they want people to stick around and listen, well then they don't need to be assholes and turn up the sound so loud it drives the beer drinking patrons away. You'd think it was their first gig. It was probably the last at Vaudeville. Gotta love punk rock.
Next up The Fisters take the stage and show us what real punk rock is all about. Tim Fister and Joy Fister bicker like brother and sister. Joy complaining that they're all playing too fast. Tim complaining that she's playing too slow. Joy gives him the finger, grabs her crotch and gives him the handjob gesture more times than I can count. Tim disses her white pant suit. Joy shouts out to the crowd, "I want at least two people to get naked...so I can make fun of you!"
Solid 2 minutes songs. Loud. Hard. Fast. Pure punk rock.
The night is wrapping up so I make my way to Plush where Chango Malo is getting ready to hit the stage. They get set up with feedback blaring and chaotic noise getting louder before slipping into the first song. Chango Malo have been a staple in Tucson for years. Their high energy, hard rockingness, endearing personalities and the offkey vocals of the lead singer are what make the crowd love them.
Four bands. Three venues. One amazing night.
