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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2005)
MC Dracula MC Dracula and Noiseferatu Join Forces Opting for a cape and fangs instead of the traditional Adidas track suit and gold chains (or teeth if you want to draw an odd parallel), the world’s scariest rapper, MC Dracula, will make his Eugene debut at the Bijou Art Cinema’s “Weekend of the Living Dead.” Unlike the character he plays in his famed movie appearances, MC Drac (as he is more commonly referred to in the busi- ness) leaves the horror at home and ap- proaches hip hop with the utmost serious- ness. People often hear his name and auto- matically associate his music with the mor- bid and creepy genre of hip hop known as horror-core. But Drac’s PG-rated rhymes have more in common with Dee Dee King than Necro. His debut album, Hauz of Dracula, was recorded entirely via telephone. MC Drac, who currently resides in Brooklyn, called Carl Diehl, founding member of The JiRCS video collage group, who recorded the im- promptu session and later synched the recording with hip hop beats off of his com- puter. MC Drac will host the Bijou’s three day cult film fest, which showcases Night of the Living Dead and Plan 9 From OuterSpace. The extravaganza starts on Friday with a live performance by MC Dracula (featuring the Wolfman), Noiseferatu (a collaboration between the Audio Schizophrenic and Warning Broken Machine), and an interpre- tive video collage version of Nosferatu performed by The JiRCS. It’s a little short of the Halloween holiday, but jumping the gun adds to the quirkiness of the whole event. MC Dracula, the Wolfman, Noiseferatu and The JiRCS play at the “Night of the Living Dead” kick-off party, 11:15 pm, Friday, Oct. 14 at Bjiou Art Cinemas. $4. — Steven Sawada Hippies Rejoice! I’ve always thought of moe. as Phish on Ritalin. Conceived in 1991, 3,000 miles from grunge in a quaint corner of upstate New York, moe. learned early how to pro- duce jam-band style songs in a tight, radio- friendly format. Not wanting to disappoint the tripped-out college kid contingent though, the band likes to color its live per- formances with unexpected, theatrical touches, like the time they played the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while dressed as char- acterfrom the movie. In short, they’re a lit- tle bit Widespread, a little bit Dead and ob- viously, a whole lot moe. Monday, Oct. 17 at the McDonald Theatre. $25 adv/$28 dos. — Dave Constantin McDonald Theatre. $15 adv/$17 dos. — Danny Cross No Sleep ’til Eugene Young Turks Tegan and Sara will bring some special guests when they visit the McDonald Theatre Tuesday, Oct. 18. Northern State, a female hip hop group from Long Island, N.Y., will hit up Eugene for the first time ever. Northern State (Hesta Prynn, Spero and Sprout) perform a live set similar to older Beastie Boys but with a little more dance to it. Their focal topics are feminism, camaraderie and, of course, rhyming. “One of the reasons we decided to do [the Tegan and Sara tour] is because we knew it was a really good match,” said Spero. “They get a Read a few reviews of The Constantines’ three releases and you’ll quickly notice a common thread: The band is compared, with remarkable regularity, to Fugazi, The Clash and Bruce Springsteen. Does that make them regular-guy punk he- roes? Not quite yet. But a definite nod to each of these influences and a penchant for taut guitar lines tied to sandpaper- voiced vocals puts them in line for the title. At one point on The Constantines’ self- titled first album (released in Canada in 2001 and re-released in the U.S. on Sub Pop in 2004), the singer intones, “Young hearts, be free tonight / Time is on our side.” In the liner notes, the lyrics are in quotation marks, suggesting a tip of the hat to Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks” — but it comes off like they just share the senti- ment without being ironic. The new Constantines album, Tournament of Hearts, doesn’t have quite the same raw heart-on-sleeve nature as their first (de- spite the title), but the intensity is still there from the word go: “Draw Us Lines” builds and crests with each verse-chorus pair, the vocals recited like a manifesto over pounding drums and alternating lay- ers of guitar noise. Tournament of Hearts never backs away from a moment, even if that means a few bits here and there don’t entirely work; some listeners will thrill to the subdued, cooed chorus of “Hotline Operator” and others will want to fast-forward to the ragged wails in another part of the song. The band’s two vocalists, Steve Lambke and Bryan Webb, share a rough, pack-a- day tone; it’s easy to think there’s just one singer. The vocal melodies split between a chanting tone of barely restrained fury on one side and a wry hand with a storytelling influence on the other, but it doesn’t seem safe to assume each singer only plays one part in a band this dynamic. The Constantines straddle a strangely appealing line between a drawling, Southern-rock influence and an ear to the ferocious vocals and angular guitars of the aforementioned Fugazi. They’re currently on tour with The Hold Steady, who pair their bar-rock swagger even more brazenly with their character-driven song- writing. The two bands play at 9 pm Monday, Oct. 17 at the WOW Hall. $8 adv/$10 dos. — Molly Templeton Gov’t Mule Gov’t Mule was pulled from the skele- ton of the Allman Brothers Band in 1994. Founding father Warren Haynes was al- ready a full-fledged Brother when he de- cided to form a power trio with the band’s bassist, Allen Woody and Dickey Betts’ drummer at the time, Matt Abts. The result was fiery, blues-rock thunder seemingly straight off the early ’70s classic rock cir- cuit. Woody’s untimely death in 2000 was a tragedy from which the band might not have recovered, were it not for the quick release of “The Deep End” series in Woody’s honor and the music community’s support. The old-Mule vibe is still alive in the current four-man lineup though, with Haynes working the crap out of the Jimi Hendrix/John Fogerty oscillating wah ef- fect, especially on the slower stuff. For this tour, the two bands will alter- nate between who opens and closes each show, I guess to keep everyone on equal footing, and the audience on its toes. moe. and Gov’t Mule play at 8 pm, cool crowd and it’s diverse and obviously it’s a lot of women.” The group doesn’t know much about Eugene but hopes for a pretty good show- ing because of the headlining band and the college audience here. Northern State also hopes to be taken seriously by music fans who don’t expect three white girls from the suburbs to be able to roll off lines like “sex- ism like racism and racism is ill/ MCs get- ting faker than a three dollar bill.” “I think that we have dealt our entire career with that kind of skepticism,” says Spero. “I think the best we can do is to go out there and show people that we’re serious and that we love what were doing.” Tegan and Sara play with Northern State The Constantines Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the OCTOBER 13, 2005 35
