Concert Review/Photos: Melvins/Le Butcherettes @ Underground Arts 7/1
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.
Beginning with a 10-minute drone beat that rearranged one's innards, Melvins prepped the sweaty, packed confines of Underground Arts for obliteration.
Senses swallowed whole, rattled about and spit back out in varying combinations. That was last Wednesday’s Melvins/Le Butcherettes show at Underground Arts. The former stirred the organs and ears to the core while the latter played the eyes and the soul with calculated fury. An amazing experience.
Le Butcherettes is Teresa Suarez, aka Teri Gender Bender, and whatever other fine players she has with her. They should be known by rock, punk and music enthusiasts alike for the emotional theatricality of Gender Bender and her songs’ power to jump from keyboard to guitar with ease and ingenuity. In her diaphanous red ensemble —matched by drummer Chris Common’s and bassist Jamie Aaron Aux’s red shirts and pants — Gender Bender led the sold-out audience through nine songs. With tracks from debut masterwork Sin Sin Sin and Cry is for the Flies as well as a tour only EP with Melvins, they conjured up a powerful 45-minute spell that certainly must have won over new fans.
Beginning with a 10-minute drone beat that rearranged one’s innards, Melvins prepped the sweaty, packed confines of Underground Arts for obliteration. Decked out in a kaftan with embroidered eyes, Buzz Osborne emerged to steer the ship with drummer Dale Crover and bassist Jeff Pinkus. With his grey cloudburst of hair and a gut-punching guitar, Osborne drove the crowd wild. Liquids of all types and flesh and bones of Philadelphians commingled to get as close to the stage as possible. The cacophony of noise and elation made the venue one being of punk mayhem. And to end with Gender Bender on two covers, Pop-O-Pies’ “Fascists Eat Donuts” and Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl,” showed how the two bands fit into the music narrative of the 21st century. Both are certainly relevant and should be admired, cherished and listened to.
For more photos by Chris Sikich, see sikichphotography.com.
