Sunday, May 02, 2004
Musings about the Young Professionals. I went to see my housemates' band again this afternoon at this place called Good Morning Captain on Johnston Street. I wanted to see if they'd got any better. I am gradually piecing together their in-jokes: for example, they have this thing that they're all married to each other, which explains all the Utah references and the fact they had the Melissa Etheridge quote on the fridge about "the wives communicating with each other". But musically, they were just as tragic this time, getting tangled in each others' leads, forgetting if a song was in a major or minor key, Lorelei's bass still didn't have any sound coming from it. They also had long technical stuff-ups during which they told jokes to distract the audience:
Chimere: In a race between a koala and a pie-cost, who would win?
Hannah: What's a pie-cost?
Chimere: About five dollars. (hits cymbal)
It was uncanny. Just last night I was watching Australia's Funniest Home Videos, which now has a special section dedicated to groin injuries. But they also have a thing where audience members get in a booth and record their lame jokes. And then this dick, who probably also provides the 'wacky' voiceovers, would hit a cymbal.
But anyway. As I was telling someone after their first gig (I forget who, there may have been alcohol involved) I kind of don't know what to think about them because I can't decide whether to use "friend's band criteria" of "musical virtuosity", "conceptual originality" or "humour" to assess them. I mean, the songs are cleverly written, and they're quite catchy, and Hannah and Lorelei do a great line in girl-rock screaming, and I could hear in my head that the songs would sound awesome if they could just get their shit together.
But afterwards I overheard this guy next to me tell his friend "If they got good, it would be ruined," and I butted in, "But they're good songs. Wouldn't they sound better if the band was better?" And the guy looked at me like I hadn't understood a thing and said "No." So I got to wondering if the concept is that they are not actually professionals at all, and instead are the most hopeless kind of yuppie dilettantes. Because they'd also been cracking other jokes:
Lorelei: Thanks for coming to our rehearsal.
Gill: Yeah, you guys are so dedicated.
Lorelei: We met at law school. We would go out to places and see these bands, and we thought we'd have a go ourselves.
But then I get the feeling that Lorelei does take it seriously and was annoyed at all the things that went wrong. And I can't actually ask them "Hey, is it a joke that your band is so bad?" And also, is this new tack just me reading too much (as I inevitably do about everything) into what is basically a great concept that is poorly executed?
Chimere: In a race between a koala and a pie-cost, who would win?
Hannah: What's a pie-cost?
Chimere: About five dollars. (hits cymbal)
It was uncanny. Just last night I was watching Australia's Funniest Home Videos, which now has a special section dedicated to groin injuries. But they also have a thing where audience members get in a booth and record their lame jokes. And then this dick, who probably also provides the 'wacky' voiceovers, would hit a cymbal.
But anyway. As I was telling someone after their first gig (I forget who, there may have been alcohol involved) I kind of don't know what to think about them because I can't decide whether to use "friend's band criteria" of "musical virtuosity", "conceptual originality" or "humour" to assess them. I mean, the songs are cleverly written, and they're quite catchy, and Hannah and Lorelei do a great line in girl-rock screaming, and I could hear in my head that the songs would sound awesome if they could just get their shit together.
But afterwards I overheard this guy next to me tell his friend "If they got good, it would be ruined," and I butted in, "But they're good songs. Wouldn't they sound better if the band was better?" And the guy looked at me like I hadn't understood a thing and said "No." So I got to wondering if the concept is that they are not actually professionals at all, and instead are the most hopeless kind of yuppie dilettantes. Because they'd also been cracking other jokes:
Lorelei: Thanks for coming to our rehearsal.
Gill: Yeah, you guys are so dedicated.
Lorelei: We met at law school. We would go out to places and see these bands, and we thought we'd have a go ourselves.
But then I get the feeling that Lorelei does take it seriously and was annoyed at all the things that went wrong. And I can't actually ask them "Hey, is it a joke that your band is so bad?" And also, is this new tack just me reading too much (as I inevitably do about everything) into what is basically a great concept that is poorly executed?
