Mission of Burma performing Vs. @ the Paradise 6.13.08
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Artist:
Wow, what an incredible night, truly awesome in terms of the shows I have been to this year, which regrettably have not been as many as I usually shoot for. But on Friday, Roger Miller, Clint Conley, and Peter Prescott took the stage to a sudden swell of raucous cheers at the Paradise. Tonight was their second night here, the previous show highlighting their Signals, Calls, and Marches EP. For this 2nd bill, they would be showcasing the seminal album Vs. in all of its sonic/textural/immediate glory. This was Mission of Burma. The crowd struck an even duality of 20-somethings such as myself, who had only heard of MOBs astounding and infamous live show some 19 years ago; and aging rockers from that very scene who were eager to bask in those same sound waves they had flailed around in when they were a little less rigid. The opener was a band called A.K.A.C.O.B. which I am sorry to say I missed completely. The band started out the show with the 4 songs that made up the remastered CDs of Vs. Roger began the first song, Laugh the World Away taking swills from a beer and running the bottle along delaying strings between drinks. Peter kept leaning up to his mic and yammering incomprehensibly about the nice weather and such. The first set of songs all rocked on huge swells of drum fills and mammoth guitar chords. It was obviously the right things to do.
Then they let the tape loops take over. Clint said "We will now begin the festivities…" A quick call out to Bob Weston, the original tape operator Martin Swope's, replacement was given. Bob, for those who do not know, plays with Steve Albini in Shellac as well as being a badass producer. The tape loops swarmed and shimmered over the crowd and so began Vs. , as the band launched into Secrets. I will not analyze every song, for me the great moments translated live were Trem Two, Weatherbox, The Ballad of Johnny Burma, and How I Escaped My Certain Fate. They pulled it out for that last track! The band looked like they were in great form, Roger was all over the stage stomping and arcing his guitar into the air, bending over backwards and wailing at the mic until it would almost fall over. Clint was a bit more reserved, but was smiling and seemed to be enjoying himself. The arts that Roger and Clint sing together on were amazingly powerful. I think Peter might have been drinking, but his drumming was tight and extremely strong, so it all lent to the music. Let me say that I have played my copy of Vs. into the ground, and when I saw that Burma would be in town to play it in its entirety, I bought tickets 2 minutes later.
For the first encore, a friend of theirs, Richie Parsons, came out to do his old bands - Unnatural Axe - song, Creeper which was very Ramones sounding. It rocked, followed by 2 more MOB songs. Devotion, and a lesser known song, Anti-Aircraft Warning. Then they left again, but came back for a 2nd encore of 3 songs, playing some stuff from their newer work from Obliterati. Unreal. The songs are so powerful and immediate, but for something so easy to rock to, they are awe inspiringly complex too. The guitars layer and group, and the drums switch with frighteningly little warning. After the fact, I feel very blessed by whatever music gods exist that I was able to witness such a respected band, after so long, performing such a landmark album, the songs have taken on so much more meaning than they already held for me after seeing them performed like this. The crowd, though mixed in demographic, was not in attitude. Some mild bobbing and jumping, but mostly, just awe struck attention. Everyone wanted to make sure they didn't miss a note. I bet a show in the 80s was much wilder, but now that everyone knows how important their music is, we all geeked out and just sort of watched it unfold…
Locating MOG account...
Comments (10)
it's great to read this and listen to a live song at the same time. really great post!
Good Stuff...I found a really good recording of one of their shows...The Earl in Atlanta 01/13/07...I will post something from it for ya.....
Thank you for sharing the kicks of your night with Mission of Burma.
I have wanted to hear more from this band ever since I read about them in The Secret History of Rock n' Roll, I definitely must check them out. Don't know why it's taken so long...
this post is mostly just my fan fest for burma
head over to brainofj's post to listen to Trem Two
http://mog.com/brainofj/blog_post/167992
This is headline news! And I saw your pic on home page featured moggers...Congrats!
Great review! You have me seriously convinced...esp your last para. Very cool decriptions.
haha, thanks Helen, we are both up there! These are exciting times indeed. thanks for the kind words everyone...
an update from management: it was the Richie Parsons from Unnatural Axe that got up to do that song.
I am trying to get an accurate setlist to post, more on that later good moggers
sorry about the repost, there were some big changes to make. also, here is the setlist thanks to the people at Burma, thanks guys!
Laugh the World Away
Progress
Forget
OK/No Way
Secrets
Train of Thought
Trem Two
New Nails
Dead Pool
Learn How
Mica
Weatherbox
The Ballad of Johnny Burma
Einstein's Day
Fun World
That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate
The Creeper*
Devotion
Anti-Aircraft Warning
2wice
Spider's Web
Let Yourself Go
sorry for the belated thank you. but thanks for the welcoming hoping i can pickup some good bands from you i haven't heard before.
LA RECORD interview with Peter:
Art by Darryl Blood
How do you stay effectively creative in a world of oversaturation?
People do things for unconscious ways to survive. This is kind of goofy—I like the place I live in but I’m not fond of the town I work in. Cambridge, Massachusetts—over the years, it’s gotten sort of actively grating to me. A weird intersection of really baked hippies and extremely rich people and extremely poor people and all sorts of freshman students—sort of a perfect storm of braindead-ness! Then again, I work in a record store—that’s a center for that kind of thing! In a weird way, I’m always inspired by things that grate on me. When you get really comfortable, that’s the worst thing for anybody—people write from different perspectives, and maybe that’s what I fell into! The easiest way for me to write is to focus on something wrong or unpleasant. ‘It’s a beautiful day—I’ll write a song!’ That’s not me. I wonder to my girlfriend—‘Do I do these things to keep myself in a position to not be comfortable?’ Comfort is a frightening thing.
Do you sleep on a bed of nails?
Might as well!
What’s next for Burma?
We have at least eight songs written since the last record. The only reason this has lasted so long is we kept doing new stuff. The only negative aspect about doing this tour is it’s a step backward, which doesn’t feel right. When we’re on stage playing, it’s a great time—but in terms of emotional karma… It’s when we’re in our practice space working on new songs that we feel right. If we get to the point we have enough new stuff we really love, we’ll try to make a record.