2009

Hooray 2009, we're glad we're here! We're glad you're here too!

WPO kicked off 2009 at the Electric Factory opening for Gogol Bordello and it simply fucking rocked - there's no better way to explain it. Before we took the stage, a joyous energy was tangible in the house, circulating all around, and the house was packed. We had arrived early, had a rehearsal (not something we do very often), ate a good meal (we do this often), and then waited around to take the stage. This was our first big rock show, and really first rock show since our appearance at Danger Danger in early 2007, so we weren't sure if a rock crowd would like us. When we finally climbed up the stairs and took the stage, the roar coming from the floor below and the balcony above put a huge charge in us.

We let Elliott start us off with some horn calls before we all crashed in with the Prelude. Our brass section was bigger on this night - Larry Toft wasn't there, but filling his size 14 shoes were Dan Blacksberg and Rachel Lemisch, both excellent klezmer trombonists with roots in Philly. We played 'I Don't Believe!' first, as it tends to set the tone - it shifts from a heavy metal funk groove to a cocek and ends with a blast beat polka. We weren't sure punk rock kids would dig a band that didn't have guitars, stage theatrics, or a snarling front man, so we packed our set with the hardest-hitting tunes we have. We played some tunes from our album, 'Out of the Fly Bottle' and 'Epstein.' Another guest on the gig, harmonica virtuouso Jason Rosenblatt, from Montreal and the band Shtreiml, took an amazing solo on Epstein (this guy is a deep musician and we wish he wasn't moving back to Canada). We also played some new jams, like 'Zhokul' and 'Minor Major Threat.' After 45 minutes, WPO is usually just getting warmed up and ready to play a few hours more, but on this night we had to stop early and put off the 2nd and 3rd sets until the afterparty.

The rest of the night was awesome. Some of us met up with friends in the audience, while others got smashed at the backstage party. The midnight mummers, most of whom we know from around town - many artists, some musicians, some simply hip brothers and sisters - had a room with a keg of Yuengling and made a very raucous theatrical party back there, with children dancing on pool tables, having snowball fights with confetti, and playing tag amidst the chaos. (Kids have a way of becoming the life of the party, and they're always the coolest ones - why is that?) It was for me like a New Year's house party in West Philly, except that we were behind a stage that Gogol Bordello was playing on, and occasionally two dancing girls would run past us and then run past us again but with different clothes the second time.

Most of us dug Gogol Bordello's set. The tunes are catchy and anthemic, and the energy is amazing. I wish the accordion and fiddle players had more room to stretch out and play, because they're bad motherfuckers. Their attempts at reggae and funk didn't groove very hard - I'd take Fugazi's bass and drums any day. But Eugene certainly covered it well with his 'wild and crazy guy' routine (the champagne bottles exploding like fireworks, the knocking-everything-over routine that he must have learned from my cat), the dancing girls, and the coordinated band stepping routines. Clearly, the show isn't in the songs. GB spent like 1/4 of their time playing songs, 1/4 dancing around to dance loops, and the other 1/2 was fascinating: they'd just hit the final chord and hold it for an eternity, getting louder, softer, louder, softer, with the guitarist noodling a bit and then the fiddle, the whole band sound swirling and psychadelic, and all the while, Eugene would be performing some act (like pouring bottles of wine into a red bucket) and the girls would be going through a series of poses. It's a good shtick, but we weird. The GB dancers seemed just a version of canned laughter (see Zizek about this, around 17 minutes), and it just felt fake and unpunk, to me. The content and message were dwarfed by the theater. For me, punk rock is Fugazi and the Discord scene, and also the Clash, Buzzcocks, Wire, Slits (disclosure: I play in Ari Up's band), DK, Sonic Youth, and so on. Punk is about the song, message, live nerve, and one's authentic attitude - indeed, the ethos is to be genuine, self-reliant, and honest. Society is a lie, a corporate-created system of manipulation; frighteningly, I'm not sure which side Gogol Bordello is on. John Lydon says it pretty will in this interview (about half-way through it gets good).

To reconnect with our roots, we left Electric Factory around 1:30 am and headed to West Philly, to a warehouse on 50th and Beaumont. Not everyone made it, so we switched instruments around and then invited people to sit-in and jam with us. Dan Blacksberg ended up playing electric bass most the night, with Dawn, Larry, and Elliott jamming out. I played a drumset without a kick pedal, Jack played bass drum. It didn't smell good down there - mold and B.O., but it felt great. Towards the end of the night, when some people were passing out and the others were dragging themselves around (it wasn't as lively a party as we were expecting), I asked if someone had a song they wanted to sing. Some shit-faced guy said he wanted to sing 'Old Man River,' so we did it. It was unbelievable that we pulled it off, and just unbelievable that it happened at all. For me, that guy's performance was the highlight of the afterparty, but I have a strange sense of humor.

Since then, we played another awesome party, one of the best yet, at Tritone on Jan. 8. Before that we played Time (12th and Sansom) with a fusion quintet on the first friday, which we'll be doing quasi-regularly from now on. And last Sunday, while the Eagles crushed the Giants in the Meadowlands, WPO played our concert with Camerata Philadelphia. That was a blast. The Camerata players are incredible and played our tunes so well. Gabor Kari sang 'Fall' with us, and it sounded very classical. It was generally over-the-top and totally funny, at least to me. We hope to collaborate with more orchestras in the future. Speaking of punk rock...