Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
September 4-10, 2003
musicpicks
The Motherfucking Clash
  |
|
Rock/pop
Carolyn Chernoff thinks she's in a band. It's apparent not just in her liberal use of plurals ("We're a garage band!") -- she also shouts, struts and strums like a seasoned frontperson flanked by like-minded backing musicians. But Chernoff is the band. The Motherfucking Clash is just her acoustic guitar, which she brandishes like a heavy metal axe, and her loud, loud mouth. On her new CD, a four-song home-burned affair recorded live in Iceland last month, her smoky, scratched voice regales an unprepared crowd with harshly beautiful punk-folk songs and political rants about the military-industrial complex. "I'm sorry. I can't do this in Icelandic because this band is as much about talking as we are about rocking," she yells as if in a crowded arena. She is not lying. On its own, the music isn't much to behold -- the sparse sound and abhorrence for catchiness will rub many people the wrong way -- but as a total package, The Motherfucking Clash has charisma, ambition and balls.
Thu., Sept. 4, 9:30 p.m., $7, with Dear Nora and The Snow Fairies, Doc Watsonís, 216 S. 11th St., 215-922-3247.
-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there
