by Adam McGrath
Friday night, Kung Fu Necktie was at capacity before the bands’ weathered vans even rolled up to the Fishtown venue under the El. At 10:00 p.m., two hours after doors and an hour after the bar was three deep, a flock of skinny-pantsed musicians trucked their gear through the side door on Thompson St.
CCR Headcleaner (photo credit Adam McGrath)
As I watched the members of CCR Headcleaner and Fuzz pile out of their vans, Ty Segall emerged with a snare drum in hand, immediately welcomed by venue staff and fans alike. This was the man who sold out the show. The prolific Californian musician had an easy air about him in spite of the stress of the day, and I thought about the energy it takes to write music that spans half a dozen genres with as many different bands.
Tonight, though, Segall’s focus was on turning the audience’s brains into fuzz with pounding, aggressive garage-metal made alongside longtime friends, guitarist Charles Moothart and bassist Roland Cosio. Segall beat time behind a minimal drum kit and took most of the lead vocals as the band tackled the majority of their catalogue, from early singles like “This Time I Got a Reason” and “Fuzz’s Fourth Dream,” to tracks off the new self-titled full-length.
From the second Fuzz opened with thrasher track “Preacher,” the floor in front of the stage turned into an ocean. Ten people at a time would go lunging and crashing from one side of the room to the other. A small circle pit opened up, and a couple especially exuberant chaps insisted on crowd surfing, which led to some hard falls.
Fuzz (photo credit, Adam McGrath)
The band pushed on, pounding through “Sleigh Ride,” “What’s in My Head?” and “Loose Sutures” as bodies crushed against the stage. The lights were low, first blood red then ghostly green as Segall executed killer fills and Moothart and Cosio tightly strummed ascending 8th-note riffs. Segall excelled at using his voice as an instrument, purposely making it nasal to fit in with the searing guitar lines.
Fuzz included their cover of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” in the encore before trading drum and bass solos in advance of a final crashing chord. Exhausted by the 50-minute set, the crowd slowly drained out of the building into the cool night air, leaving a faithful few lingering near the stage clutching their vinyl and catching their breath.
The opening act was Big No, a four-piece from Virginia who mixed chunky, bluesy rock with synthesizer lines and strong drums. Two guys and two girls, the earnest, straightforward group was a good warm-up.
CCR Headcleaner was a terrible wall of noise until finally pulling out some semblance of melody in their final two songs. Plagued by insane feedback from the bass amp, the band’s two guitarists assaulted the room with distortion, coming off like shoegaze for those wearing concrete boots.
