After an expectedly loud set from Seattle’s Night Beats, the tension in the crowd moved closer and closer to the edge as mosh-ready fans began to stake out territory near the front of the stage. People formed trains of three or four bodies linked at the hands and squeezed forward. Others crashed through the crowd leaning top-heavy towards the stage. A few guys even dragged their girlfriends into the epicentre of the coming storm.

The push to the front only intensified as Segall took the stage with guitarist-turned-bassist Charlie Moothart and drummer Emily Rose Epstein. Unfortunately, the band’s usual bass player Mikal Cronin faced problems crossing the border and Moothart was forced to fill-in.

Ty Segall (right) jamming with guitarist-turned-bassist Charlie Moorthart at the Waldorf, Dec.12. Photo by Ryan Longoz

At one point, Segall and Moothart actually had to swap instruments for a couple songs. “It’s going to get real weird here,” Segall told the crowd. “We’re trying our best.”

And their best turned out just fine. Throughout the show, crowd surfers and stage divers collided, dropped and popped back up above the crowd as it surged back and forth in the slow shove of the mass. By the fifth song, Segall had to briefly address the crowd, asking them to look out for one another and telling them, “There is already one person bleeding up here.”

As is often the case, some people got a little too caught up in the aggression and lost their cool. Near the end of the show two wiry looking guys came crashing out of the back of the mosh pit, one guy spilling onto the ground and the other standing above him. As the first guy shot up off the floor looking for revenge, a long-haired and impressively bearded individual stepped between them. With his arms stretched out from his denim vest and the stage lights glowing around his head like a halo, mosh pit Jesus managed to keep the angsty pair at bay and the situation quickly dissipated.

On stage, the encore provided the evening with an especially memorable finish when Segall and company faltered early in the first song. Instead of trying again, Segall launched them into Black Sabbeth’s 1970 classic “Paranoid.” Needless to say, it killed.

Watch Segall shred Twins track ”Thank God For Sinner” on Conan below.

[view:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCMSYRgRdAo%5D

Hey fuckheads, while your spending endless hours of your worthless life drooling at pics of girls on the net, carve out a minute or thirty and check out this dynamite blog: Girls On Drums and see some real action! You can see the likes of  KLYAM faves Erin Emslie (Hunx and His Punx), Emily Rose Epstein (Ty Segall Band), and loads of covers. CLICK CLICK CLICK http://girlsondrums.tumblr.com/

Band:

Comments: It would be reasonable for a KLYAM reader at this moment to think to themselves, “damn, they’re all about Ty Segall lately!” We aren’t secretly working for Ty, by the way. It’s just been that what the guy has been doing lately is nothing short of incredible. Slaughterhouse, as many of you may know, is the work of Ty’s live band, which in addition to he, includes Emily Rose Epstein (drums), Mikal Cronin (bass), and Charlie Mootheart (guitar). Technically speaking, this is the band’s first studio release. (There is a 2011 complete band live album called Live In Aisle 5.)

It’s hard to tell exactly how this record was produced. In many ways, it sounds like a ‘everyone ready? 1-2-3-4!!!’ click and record effort. The depth and clarity of each instrument is something else. Getting back to the record itself, I find it fascinating to look at this from a loose concept record whose name tells all angle. You think Slaughterhouse and you don’t think of a sunny afternoon walk in the town common. It’s more like the guitars and all associated effects are no longer producers of music, but are more like intelligently crafted guns. Even Ty’s vocals aren’t at all like the Ty that we’ve heard from the beginning. He’s vicious, carefree, and destructive. He screams and he says ‘fuck yeah’ and ‘fuck this fucking song’! The songs themselves don’t fall far from the creators’ tree. The band is on the same page as Ty and the three of them, well they don’t give a flying fuck either. Some might say well “Fuzz War” is just a loada shit noises and random chords. I would’ve said that two years ago. If you look at this from a macro perspective, it’s almost a perfect ending. We start with “Death” and work backwards to when the mayhem began. (Don’t go back and listen to every song in the reverse order — though that might actually be interesting to some… including myself.) At this point you might be thinking, so what’s the best song on this thing? Well it’s “Wave Goodbye”. I believe [after much deliberation] that “Wave” is the best thing that Segall has done to date. It’s a perfectly crafted song. From start to finish, it’s a monster. You know Ty’s up to no good when he starts off “I went to churches and I went to school, I played by all of your mother’s rules”. That solo never gets old, either. The pounding of Emily Rose Epstein. Mikal and Charlie. Man. “Wave Goodbye” is so supreme that it sort of leaves you wanting to compare the other songs to past Ty efforts. But you will find that you can not simply do that. Even the 1 minute 30 second “Muscle Man” most effortlessly can compete with the fuzziest and loudest there is on Melted. Speaking of loud and fuzzy.

Where to go from here with that. Friggin “That’s The Bag I’m In” slaps “Muscle Man” around with its dick. You can’t help but smile when Ty instructs “extra fast” on the “Diddy Wah Diddy” cover. Ty and Charlie get extra giddy at times on that song and Ty. Funny dude. “I got a car with wheels. Who fuckin’ cares? Fuck this fuckin’ song. DIDDY WAH DIDDY…Wait, rewind it, let’s go again!” This is a tight band.  If we care to backtrack a bit, we can talk about some of the other tracks. “I Bought My Eyes” is insane. Some people who prefer damaging aural attacks might say this is the front-runner of them all. It sort of is. The other contender is “Tell Me What’s Inside Your Heart.” First. Any coincidence that they’ve been playing “Eyes,” “Wave Goodbye,” and Tell Me” live? They must love them long time too, right? If songs were people (as I often make the comparison), who would win in a 5k running race, “Eyes” or “Tell Me”? If you are a Melted purist, you might be more of “The Tongue” type (though that means you could be an “Imaginary Person” or “Caesar” purist…cover your ears, kids…and this isn’t an insult, those are my favorite songs, too). Or maybe you like yourself some “Oh Mary,” which indeed is a Ty Segall cover. And by Ty Segall cover, I mean one guitar/two drums one-man band 2009 style. This time around, Ty’s vocals sound nearly identical, but the instrumentation is more bopping, controlled, and clearer. Controlled chaos. I’ve seen it listed sometimes as “Mary Ann,” which either is a mistake of journalists or a purposeful re-branding made for an onslaught of first-time amateur Ty listeners. Let’s go to the bottom of Slaughterhouse.

I was about to say this is Ty’s best release. I’m not sure if it is entirely appropriate to say that though. I can’t imagine too many record reviewers have asked what the roles were of John Hassall and Gary Powell in the making of Libertine records. I don’t have any liner notes in front of me (still waiting for the record to arrive in physical form) so I feel bad coming to any conclusions and giving misinformed credits. I know the band has switched up instruments live and they are all capable of doing that kind of thing. Did it happen on Slaughterhouse? Either way, this really is a special record. This is only the beginning of my experience with it. I can’t wait to drop the needle for the first time and hear the first screeches of “Death” and the final barrage of noise on “Fuzz War”. And everything in between. Right now, I’m going to place it ahead of Hair, which I raved about. Like most great rock and roll, I can see this being under-appreciated. Maybe people aren’t on the same wavelength as I am about the capabilities of these four, but it’s really something that ought to be examined. Excellent!

Ty Segall Band features his regular collaborators Mikal Cronin, Charlie Moothart and Emily Rose Epstein. Their debut album, Slaughterhouse, is coming out this summer.

The album’s first single, “Wave Goodbye,” shows that Slaughterhouse isn’t just a regular Ty Segall album. The band take a much sludgier approach to lo-fi rock than Segall’s solo work. It keeps a steady tempo for most of the song, until ramping up at the end for a killer solo. It’s much heavier, but none of the Stooges-style garage-punk gets lost in the distortion.

Slaughterhouse is out June 26 on In the Red Records.

I don’t understand this “rock is dead” narrative (or the slightly more
optimistic: “is rock dead?”) music journalists have been pushing for the
last year or so. Somehow, they tell us, the Foo Fighters or the Black Keys
are the last bastion of “real” rock ‘n’ roll left on planet Earth. As if,
suddenly, there’s something less compelling about a group of people making
noise with guitars, drums, bass, and vocals.

Well, I may not know much about album sales but ask anyone in attendance at
the Troubadour on the evening of Saturday, March 3rd “is rock is dead?”
Expect a baffled expression in response. The question itself is too absurd
to dignify.

The night opened with French trio The Feeling of Love. I missed the first
half of their set but the tunes I caught were solid garage rock bashers
anchored by repetitive synth bass lines and caveman-style drumming.
Frontman Guillaume Marietta occasionally unleashed some impressive guitar
drone and feedback that veered into Spacemen 3 territory though I felt his
vocals were mixed too low to get a strong impression of his personality.

Next, Mikal Cronin wound up the audience with a set featuring material from
his excellent eponymously titled album. Despite abandoning his acoustic
guitar early on due to technical problems, Cronin led his band with poise
through playful, melodic, proto-punk nuggets like “Apathy” and “Gone.” Ty
Segall ripped some blistering solos on lead guitar and drummer Emily Rose
Epstein kept everyone on track despite the fact that the set-list seemed
composed on-the-fly..

I think I would have appreciated White Fence more if they weren’t
sandwiched by the far more energetic performances by Mikal Cronin and Ty
Segall. I admired the hints of You Really Got Me era Kinks and Piper at the
Gates of Dawn’s rough-edged psychedelia but the dispassionate demeanor of
the rhythm and bass guitarists, and indistinct live mix (turn up Tim
Presley’s guitar and mic!) kept me from fully engaging with the material.

After an adorable shout-out to the band member’s moms (all in attendance!), Ty
Segall proved to be the consummate headliner with “Goodbye Bread” from his
album of the same name. From that song on, the crowd exploded for at least
an hour from the palpable energy that Segall so generously heaps on. Ty
played just about every song you would want him to play: “My Sunshine”,
“Girlfriend”, “Imaginary Person”, “Standing at the Station”. Wall to wall
head-banging, fist-pumping, jump-dancing gems. After aborting “The Floor” a
few bars in (my favorite track from Goodbye Bread), Segall explained that he
wanted to tell his sister to “…stay away from the druuuuuugs!” Throughout
the set Ty’s guitar playing was unhinged, agile, and creative. He is a
showman without being (too) showy. The band felt aggressively good-natured
and totally primed. Close friends making fiery music. During the encore the
band broke out into Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and soon enough both Cronin
and Segall were floating on the hands of the crowd. After the song
disintegrated, Segall revved the band back up for a reprise before forming a
mobile three man human pile with Cronin and guitarist Charlie Moothart.
Drummer Emily Rose held down the fort while the boys wrestled. An electric
performance.

-Christopher Dreisbach

In every sense of that word, I’ve rarely put my experiences on autopilot. I’m a get down, get my hands dirty kinda gal. Instead of being that voyeur who ‘likes to watch’, I decided instead to react. Attempting to follow in the steps of my current muse & teacher, Linda McCartney, I set out to get oh-so-close to the cities sights and sounds . Last weekend, Toronto celebrated NXNE; a festival where 650 bands play all over the city. Other than the deerhoof show at the Phoenix, I had no intention of attending any gigs that I couldn’t buy a ticket to. I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but the festival has gotten, well, a little too exclusive for my liking. Many of the shows weren’t selling tickets, meaning you had to purchase a wristband which doesn’t guarantee entrance. The only way to by-pass the line is to have a priority pass, securing one either by purchasing it or being a  member of the media.  I don’t know about you, Happy Howlers, but I was not willing to drop $250 to be so privileged. Instead, I grumbled and bitched about the whole farce, and decided to go the beach instead. Until, something miraculous happened…I can’t say who or why, but the night of the deerhoof show, I was given one of these coveted passes – no strings attached, no questions asked. Suddenly, everything changed. I was given the key to the candy store…

June 17th, 2011 -Friday 

I rode on my trusty Raleigh, 5D strapped to me, ready for action! I hit up Lee’s Palace, missing the Dum Dum Girls and the Dirty Beaches (total f**cking bummer, but c’est la vie!) I caught The Cults. Great show, great pix. Making our way out of the venue like herded cattle, my friend and partner in crime for the night, Jax, discussed where we should go next. This is the cool thing about NXNE, there are nerds everywhere with their twittering fingers on the pulse of the festival. Always ready to share (God Bless Them!) this particular fellow informed us that deerhoof, yes my beloved deerhoof, was the special guest at the Horseshoe. Knowing I would be only a few feet from Satomi and gang, Jax and I booked it! As he so eloquently put it, this band was his “White Whale” and I was gonna shoot it (with my camera, guys!). When we got there, this incredible duo, the Pack A.D. was tearing the roof of the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. One chick on drums, the other possessed with the soul of Johnny B. Goode were totally unstoppable! I was able only to get a few shots of the singer/guitarist because they had that place jumping. When it was time for deerhoof, I managed to secure a great spot and go in for the kill. Seeing them again, so close, was like nothing else. They were totally on their A-Game as they were the night before. But in the smaller venue, they allowed themselves to get kooky and playful. Check out Satomi in her black & white striped caftan.

June 18th, 2011 – Saturday 

After spending a well deserved afternoon soaking up the sun on Hanlan’s point, I was eager to get out and get snapping. By another amazing fluke of fate, my boyfriend was able to score a pass and off we went! On the West Queen West strip, we were spitting distance from Wrongbar where Diamond Rings had already started his set. Eager to see if he could live up to his hype, we squeezed up front. Clad in white denim, this one-man-band wonder was kickin’it. From keys to wailing on his axe, DR was all smiles and raw power. I couldn’t help but notice what elfish features he had – a total stunner, he anointed his lovely blue eyes in kabuki red and a baseball cap to match. I’m a sucker for heavy colour blocking and performers who clearly love what they do. Eat your heart out, Boy George…

Having to rely on the terrible TTC for transport, we sadly missed the special guest at Elmo by mere minutes. Too bad, so sad! But we knew that another special guest was playing at one of my fav venues – the Bovine Sex Club. Cutting our loses, power walking and giggling like idiots, the Chad and I  managed to get there for the last 20 minutes of Ty Segall’s set. As soon as I walked through the door, I was transfixed on the drummer. Emily Rose Epstein was killing that kit. Ty’s music is fast & loud with a psychadelic flare – she has no choice to be the metronome. Slight with dark hair, she had gattling gun percision. Don’t be shocked at the amount of pix I took of her; quite frankly, I was mesmerized. My siblings would play his tunes for me and as a lover of garage sounds, I was hooked. But I never would have guessed that I would get so close. Boy, were the kiddies jealous. Amazed that I got any worthy shots due to the narrowness of the venue & super enthusiastic crowd, I was pleased. Having bolted for Sneaky’s and catching the tail end of Invasions, the last act of the night, Chad stuck around to talk to them while I photographed them wrapping up. I was gonna post those pix, but I kinda feel like a sneaky creep. Which actually fits the vibe perfectly of this beloved College and Bathurst resto-come-dancehall.

By this point its 3AM-ish and everyone wants to go drinking at the Crawford. I walk through Little Italy, its main artery shut down for the weekend’s Taste Of food fest and meat market. There are no cars, but so many people still awake, still wanting more. I just want a veggie dog. Bailing on the good times, I wander on home, exhausted but excited, thrilled and tired. I done good, I done real good…

Check out the pix, or my flickr site for more. Happy Howling, pretty babies! xo