I was a fool. A short-sighted, crowd-hating fool. When I heard that Shellac was playing The Rave in Milwaukee on October 30th, the day before their Lounge Ax show, I figured I'd see 'em up in Cheeseland. Little did I know the night of tomfoolery they had in store: Shellac performing their set as the Sex Pistols, with David Yow of the Jesus Lizard as Johnny Rotten.
Fortunately for you, gentle reader, a number of Chicago Shows List subscribers were kind enough to provide their recollections of that evening's activities.
Yep - I was there trying to bring the rock to the kids and I'll be telling my gradkids about this one some day. During sound check for the evening our bass player looked at me and asked how Steve got John Lydon to play with them to which I replied, "don'tcha know a David Yow when ya sees one?!"
So there ya go - Yow was looking and sounding more like Rotten than the man himself. It was great. The good reverend Weston was wearing his shiny plastic trousers, mesh shirt and a bloody arm bandage. Steve sported a white Les Paul (using a guitar strap as most God fearin' American's do), mesh shirt and red bandana on his head. Damn funniest thing I ever saw - watching Steve consult the chords to the songs on a legal pad in front of him while Yow taunted the crowd in a faux Brit accent. Where they good? Well hell yeah! They were so much fun I thought about clocking the kid who was walking around polling people as to whether or not they felt they'd been cheated. Idiot could see a regular Shellac show six or seven times a
year and he complains about getting somthing a little special for the holiday.I feel I should also mention the wonderful Ms.Fits who also put on quite a show. Damn the John Forbes is something else...I don't know if I was jumping around more on stage or off. I know I sang along more off stage.
All in all it was a happening evening of rock.
What a show it was, too.
I mean, I would have been perfectly happy seeing Shellac proper play (I've only seen them one other time, and that was at a strip club in Atlanta, GA). But I knew something was up about fifteen minutes before the show, when the stage crew set up three microphone stands onstage. That's when the rumors started floating around the crowd; all sorts of speculation on guest appearances, even talk of a Big Black reunion. But I don't know if even that could have topped what happened next.David Yow stalked onto the stage, in full 1970's-era Johnny Rotten attire to the letter. Bleached and spiked hair, psychotically glaring at the audience, the whole nine yards. He'd done his homework on this one. He was followed by the three Shellacs, with Steve Albini doing his best Steve Jones in vinyl pants (!) and a red doo-rag on his head. Bob Weston *was* Sid Vicious, in spiked black hair, mesh shirt (with scratches and scars visible underneath), glassy-eyed, and an impressively bloody IV bandage on his arm. Only Todd Trainer seemed to buck the whole Pistols image. I mean, he could have found one of those big sweaters or something. Paul Cook had style too.
Anyway, they ripped into "Holidays in the Sun", and that set the tone for the evening. Yow had Rotten's nasal Brit accent down pat, even in song. He pulled the whole thing off so well, I tell ya. Weston kept coughing up "blood" and running into things. Steve's guitar sounded kind of sloppy, but I don't think Jones could have done it any better. Between songs the band taunted the audience in mock cockney accents, Steve asking if there were "any PAA-ties about". The audience responded by throwing chunks of a dismembered jack-o-lantern at the band.
The setlist was confined to material from Never Mind the Bollocks, including "Bodies", "Submission", "Anarchy in the U.K.", and closing with "God Save the Queen". Yow seemed to remember the words to them better than he remembers the words to Jesus Lizard songs.
Yow ended the evening by asking, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" and the band walked offstage, barely an hour after they started. For a long time, nobody left. The house lights came up and nobody left. Todd Trainer started taking his drum set apart and people booed. It finally registered that that was the evening, that they weren't going to get anymore, and they weren't getting any Shellac songs.
Anyway, that's what I got from the evening. That and hypothermia, since the temperature inside the Lounge Ax was a good 40 degrees warmer than outside.
Shellac started setting up their equipment and it was strange that they didn't have the big Shellac Silver Amps or the Shellac Green Travis Bean Guitars but other than that there was nothing suspicious. A few minutes later they took the stage with Steve in a punk rawk leather jacket and red bandana and Bob in a see thru mesh shirt, (Todd Trainer didn't appear to be dressed up for the occasion), then came the big surprise: an orange spiked hair skinny tie wearin' David Yow appeared as Johhny Rotten.
They played all the Sex Pistols favorites ("God Save The Queen", "Anarchy in the U.K.", etc.) and sounded remarkably like the originals. Yow taunted the crownd in a British accent ("So this is what its like in the U.S.A.?") and when the crowd started throwing pumpkins he told them to throw money. When they started throwing change he said he wanted paper money or cameras. Steve, also in accent, asked "Are there any parties about?" and called the audience a "bunch of closet cases" Bob did his best Sid Vicious knocking over his mic stand and kissing David Yow/Johhny Rotten.
All in all it was an excellent Halloween show, Shellac is an excellent bunch of blokes who never fail to surprise in one way or another.
Halloween with Shellac and The Jesus Lizard's David Yow as the Sex Pistols, at Chicago's Lounge Ax, was one of those Triumphant Rock Moments for fans, the kind they talk about for years and gather the memories of dropped-jaws and raised eyebrows of friends who thought they had better things to do that night. Perfect fodder for that guy you know who says things like, "Oh, Jon Spencer. I saw him in 1972 on Saturn's northernmost moon." Hipster value aside, the show was as entertaining as any Shellac set I have seen.
I don't think anyone could have expected the band to portray a picture perfect Pistols, or would have wanted them to. Todd Trainer, whose drum kit was at the rear of the stage instead of up front with Weston and Albini for possibly the first time, was simply a less frenetic version of himself. Bob was a chubby and cuddly looking Sid, while Steve donned a bandana and safety pin through the ear, offering comments like, "Oi Hite Pink Floyd," between songs.
Yow's performance is what made the show great, the deciding factor between cute novelty and something-to-remember status. He was a hilariously nasty Rotten, from the hateful wide-eyed glare that never left his face to the flawless English accent he upheld while threatening and berating the audience throughout the set. He even had the physical features down, sporting a spikey hair cut and reddish-blonde dye job.
The crowd was noticably baffled when the band took stage, probably wondering who the hell that fourth guy was and where the Lomo gear was, but they caught on quickly. Soon beer and middle-fingers were flying across the room the way Yow does at a Jesus Lizard show. It was great to see the audience go into character, becoming a Sex Pistols crowd, but also a little scary. Some of the flying containers were indeed bottles. By the time the band got to the set closers, "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save The Queen," Yow had a dribble of blood on his lower lip. Fortunately he is not a stranger performance injuries, so probably wasn't offended.
A notable aspect of the evening that you could notice at almost any Shellac show was watching Steve Albini interact with the crowd, the bands, and the music and contradict those in the Chicago rock media that portray him as a tiresome crank with a stone personality and no respect for nostalgia. He wouldn't have learned those songs and dressed up as Steve Jones if he didn't find use of or humor in the past, and certainly wouldn't have stood in the middle of the audience to loudly support the Misfits cover band that opened to a tough crowd if he was the indie rock Hitler that he is often described as.
It was high time for Shellac to do something surprising live. They have been playing the same set list for about three years. We can only hope now that maybe this lit a creative spark and they will put recording projects on hold for a month or so and write some new material.
Thanks to Craig, Zachary, Tim and Doug for their contributions.
Were you there? Any recollections you can share? Photos? Let
me know!