Post Titled: MUSIK über ALLES
Post Subtitled: Popkomm day 2, Triggerfinger and the Runaway Brides
On my way home from work Magnolia Beacon was playing on the Admiralsbrücke, so nice to come home to- I got a beer at the spätkauf and stood with the fifty other people to watch them play and bought a new CD. Great stuff. THere has just been a ton of music here lately- I try to keep up, i.e. last Thurs:
Two charming shows at White Trash Fast Food (Oct. 9), namely-
THE RUNAWAY BRIDES an all-girl country-pop group with a shitload of talent and a great aesthetic.
&

TRIGGERFINGER. (PHOTOS TO COME---)
At some point you might just get used to being in bars or venues with a band in the background which is "dull" "dumb?" "no, DULL!" -"oh,yea. totally. I thought you said dumb cuz they're kinda dumb, too." and too loud, which does absolutely nothing. Louder isn't going to make us any more interested, but it will force us to shout and misunderstand one-another.
I had not intended to even watch the band Triggerfinger- mainly because I had never heard of them, partly because I just don't expect to enjoy new rock music and also partly because of my own snobbish biases:
A. Their name is Triggerfinger, which sounds like Clawfinger or Bad Motorfinger or any other finger-band/album, -not to mention this choice of name SEEMS like they are trying to be a bit too hardcore, a bit too Tarantino or Chris McQuarrie or just too straight-up 90s with their image.
B. They are older. Older dudes. Not old, but two of them might be in their 40s, and it isn't always so much fun watching older dudes trying to rock.
C. They are from Belgium. No offense, but...Belgian rock?
So A+B+C almost makes this band suck automatically- by default, but they don't. They wail. They rock. Whatever you want to call it- they are good. Visually these three are almost caricatures. The bassist, which was referred to as "the Meat Man" is a large and uniquely featured gentleman- reminded me of someone I#d seen in a movie... (or perhaps Rèmy from the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) a guy you might expect to see working as a longshoreman, not tearing it up on guitar. Ruben Brook, the lead singer (who, with his longish gray hair parted to one side to nicely compliment a chops-oriented beard-stashe) looks like if you only changed is outfit, you could plop him comfortably into several different centuries and he would hardly miss a beat. (Let's say Amsterdam in 1895).
In terms of being that satisfyingly richly weighted flat-out scream he possesses a voice on-par with Chris Cornell, yet he doesn't over-use it, and rather opts for being much more playful, in fact- the band as a whole works so well partly because they ARE playful, theatrical, and it is apparent that they are having a good time while keeping up a sort of hardworking onstage persona. Nevertheless, TRIGGERFINGER are extremely talented musicians,- rarely was there a moment where what you were hearing was reminiscent of a dull/dumb formulaic pop song.So, yea, the end result is three Belgian guys in black black leisure suits with silly-patterned red ties who know how to not only put on a great show but... actually kinda rock.

UNRELATED NEWS: Oh, new song called "The Monster Song" and video from Psapp:
Psapp - The Monster Song