Blaq Mummy & Long Halloween Prague Thang

on 25-10-2006 03:58

Published in : , Misc

28.10.06 - 20:30 @ Vagon, Narodni 25 Palac Metro

Blaq Mummy ain't no ordinary band and their annual Halloween concert ain't no ordinary costume party. Since 1996, long before anyone else dared considered throwing a large Halloween fest in the Czech lands, Blaq Mummy has been carrying the torch to the castle of Frankenstein and demanding that the masked monsters come out to party their faces off.

This year’s Saturday-before-Halloween concert at Klub Vagon is aided and abetted by two local bands that stand out like a rigor-mortised clown in a tub of lemon jello. The girlgroup Stillknox play a screaming banshee brand of hard fast rock, while the wild jumping sounds of Pod Černy Vrch make them the main (only?) string&roll band in the country. As usual there’s a bunch of haunted sideshows, scary freebies, DJs from the no-disco zone and light-hearted morbidity planned, but it’s the live music that has the night’s agenda by the throat.

Classifying Blaq Mummy is like trying to pluck an eyeball out of a starving vulture’s beak. A 50/50 mix of Americans and Czechs with a Ukrainian trumpeteer, they place the UFO-invasion sounds of the analog theremin, an out-of-control distorto-guitar and the organic blat of brass over a solid Iggy Pop style rhythm section. Call it groovy psycho-garage, like Einsturzende Neubauten sideswiping the Cramps on a deathride to Sun Ra, specializing in songs from old monster movies (“Green Slime” and “War of the Gargantuas”) and extraordinary renditions of Johnny Cash and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Which creature will emerge this time?

Another Halloweenie band of the evening is Pod Černy Vrch (“At the Foot of Black Mountain”). PČV’s invention is to take an energized rock format and substitute frenetic violins and mandolins in place of guitars. It’s a love-hate combination that can make the most surly hipsters dance like fools. Composed of Czech music veterans who will probably carry the weight of the concert, they sound like ELO played in a nuclear shelter with the whole contraption propelled by the ur-power of female fiddlers.

Stillknox promises to deliver another huge hunk-of-the woman thing. Imagine Courtney Love’s band, Hole, interpreted by the Pointer Sisters after a collective, blazing fall from grace. Stillknox is the main 'unknown' of the evening, and it will be worth dressing up as a freak just to see what they pull out of their wig-hats.

Blaq Mummy Halloweens are known to push the envelope -- last year overexcited revelers rushed the stage to stroke the godpiece of the theremin, destroying its fragile antenna in their frenzy. But on a night devoted to the hidden or dark side of life, it’s worth checking out what the music will reveal, in what colors it will glow.

Users' Comments