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Weekend Music Preview: Woven Bones Tour Kick-Off [Beerland / Friday]
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Friday, May 15
Beerland (711-1/2 Red River)
10 pm, w/ Tre Orsi and Distant Seconds and Monument to No One
[info]
Despite the fact that this record is a debut, none of these guys are first-timers. Singer, songwriter and guitarist David Williams has been around just about every block there is musically; he's performed with Texas punk outfit Vomit Pigs, post-punked with Self Is On the Throne, and even made his way through NYC's underground hip-hop scene with the Jungle Brothers. Now settled in Austin with his current bandmates, Williams finds himself nestled in a niche somewhere between post-punk and something like classic rock (think: Pavement).
Shut Up was recorded between the Talenti Cathedral and Williams' bedroom, then mixed with Matthew Barnhart at Echo Lab in Denton. It all started when Williams started tinkering around at home with some songs, but things began moving quickly when he reconnected with old friend Bubba Kadane from The New Year. Amidst poking and prodding about the whereabouts of their new record, Bubba checked in on Williams' project. Eventually, an opening spot on The New Year's tour was offered, and Williams had two months to put a band together.
He hand-picked a group of friends and old co-workers to fill out his band and introduced them to the songs he'd been working on. Luckily, they were all excited about the direction he was going. The group immediately began rehearsing and recording at Williams' house. There's no lack of clarity when it comes to how blessed the union is, Williams says. "It can be hard getting a personal army together when it's one guy's "vision". But I'm writing the best songs of my life. I'm free of anxiety of influence. I just do what I do now."
The ease with which all this came about has given Williams a certain freedom when it comes to his songwriting. Instead of looking for a niche to fill, he's problem solving, setting goals, bringing life experiences and overheards into a musical context. There's nothing forced or manufactured about any of it, and its given rise to one of the most gratifying projects of his life. "'Oakland 2008' came from two things: what can you get away with using essentially one riff? And lyrically, I was recalling a story I heard on NPR about gun violence in Oakland," he recalls. "'The Stadium Moves' was one of the first songs, and the idea was similar: kind of like the Rhys Chatham song Trio in E, one chord -- but I have too much love for pop hooks to not explode it into some kind of chorus."
Williams and the Beautiful Supermachines will be supported tonight by Denton's Tre Orsi (including Barnhart, the Shut Up mixing engineer) and one of our favorites, the Distant Seconds. Catch them while you can -- all three of these groups are sitting right on the edge of a stardom their roots chuckle at. Sample tunes from Shut Up at Lastfm.
Beautiful Supermachines [MySpace]
Tre Orsi [MySpace]
Distant Seconds [Official]
Monument to No One [MySpace]
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Don't Forget! MONUMENT TO NO ONE opening up the show at 10pm tonight jamming songs from their forthcoming CD.