!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA - 04.29.07
Posted by Brian Berry on 05.02.2007
Band with unpronouncable name brings dance-punk fever on a Sunday night. Are they better than LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, and the other bands they're oft compared to? Did asses shake and heads bob? Peep game...
The Skinny on !!!
The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, and Le Tigre may be the most popular dance-punk bands in the world now but the bicoastal rockers in !!! (pronounced “chk chk chk”) are hot on their tails. This year the 8-piece Sacramento/Brooklyn posse dropped their third full-length album Myth Takes, which sits comfortably in my Top 10 of ’07 and has garnered the band with the most critical praise of their careers. They also recently cracked the Billboard 200 album chart for the first time(debuting at #195).
Most tracks feature 2 guitars, 2 drummers, percussion, bass, horns, electronic effects, and synthesizers. Minimalism is not in !!!'s repertoire.
!!!'s first two albums (2001’s self-titled and 2004’s Louden Up Now were stocked with some of the most danceable hooks this side of a Donna Summers record (psychedelic guitars, electronic sound effects, and aggressive rhythms separate these dudes from the lighter fare of '70s dance music though) but their tunes sometimes suffered from being overly long and unfocused. Still, there were some gems in the rough, including the minor hit single “Hello? Is This Thing On”, which received airplay on modern rock radio. Despite a 7 ½ minute running time, the song still got plenty of love and became one of the most requested songs at Live 105 (San Francisco’s modern rock radio station) in 2004.
Myth Takes continues to bring the funk, aided by horns, multiple percussion instruments, and synthesizers but finds the band much more focused and accessible than ever before. Couple this with the fact that they’re one of the best live bands on Earth and my prediction is that this show would kick all kinds of ass…if only it wasn’t on a Sunday. I checked out this clip on Youtube before going to the show and got mega-amped. If Nick Offer isn’t one of the best frontmen in the business, I seriously need to check out more shows.
The Concert
Since when do the kids go apeshit on a Sunday night? If you've been to a !!! show, you would know the how's and why's of this query.
Despite coming off a performance at the Coachella Festival the day prior, all eight members of !!! appeared well rested and fired up. The Fillmore was filled to half capacity but that didn't stop concertgoers from shaking their asses in what quickly became the most exciting concert I've ever been to (on a Sunday).
The first time I caught these cats was in 2001, opening for Trans Am and Minus the Bear at a sold-out show at Great American Music Hall (San Francisco). !!! were virtually unknown at that point, having just released their debut album, but some fans knew them through their connection to experimental electonic troupe Outhud (the bands share three members). !!! received the biggest response of that night and quickly resonated in both the indie and club communities. This was evident in 2005, when I caught them at a sold-out headlining performance at Mezzanine (also in San Francisco).
After sprinting from a local bar where I watched the most exciting pro basketball game of my life (Warriors 103, Mavericks 99), I entered The Fillmore at 9:55 pm to find a comfortable amount of space for me and my buddies at the front of the stage. The lights dimmed as soon as my feet were planted, seemingly a bi-product of The Fillmore's ability to read my mind and appease my every whim. The band members filtered onto the stage, one by one, to a tribal drum beat before busting into the title track from their excellent 2007 album, Myth Takes. The song sounds like an Ennio Morricone spaghetti western theme as reimagined by Gang of Four...and the kids went bananas!
The crowd appeared to be comprised of two parts Indie peeps to one part Club kid. Despite these conflicting styles, everybody danced including this most awkward reporter.
The band ripped into "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" next, which follows "Myth Takes" on the album...and the kids lost their minds! The hardwood dance floor was shaking for 80 minutes straight. Did I mention it was Sunday night!?!
The set mainly borrowed from Myth Takes and Louden Up Now with only a couple B-sides and tracks from their self-titled debut sprinkled in. Vocalists Nick Offer and John Pugh worked the crowd into a frenzy with their Anglo dance skills and crowd hyping.
The band shined brightest on their best known tracks; the truly psychotic "Hello? Is This Thing On?" and the newest single "Heart of Hearts". With it's theme from Knight Rider-like rhythm (my buddy said the whole show was "like a continuous 1/16 note") and strong female co-vocals, the latter track had nearly everyone jumping six straight minutes.
My only qualm with the setlist was the absence of the covers "Get Up" (Nate Dogg) and "Take Ecstacy With Me" (Magnetic Fields). Otherwise, the whole show knocked.
Tonight made me rethink the purpose of Sundays. From here on out, I'm celebrating the last Sunday of April in honor of the Golden State Warriors and the badass concert delivered by (in my not so humble opinion) the best dance-punk band on Earth.
The 411: !!! worked the half-full crowd in San Francisco as if they were headlining Madison Square Garden. All 8 members played super tight throughout and entertained the crowd with their (very) aggressive dance/punk/electronica/funk mash of awesomeness.
