I arrived at The Chance Theater around 8:00, just as the doors were opening. I waited in line, in the damp, cold evening, the line growing, the rain falling. Finally got inside, there was already a good number of people inside. I found the best place I could for a view of the stage and waited for the show to start.
At 9:00 two guys walked onstage, one took up residence behind the drum kit, the other picked up a guitar. A third man cam shortly after them, he welcomed us all to the show, but before Les Claypool came out, he wanted to introduce us to Hella. That was followed by a round of applause and the two already onstage broke into this cacophonous din of drum and guitar. Shortly thereafter, they were joined by two more, one on bass, the other splitting his time between keyboards and guitar. The last guy also sang and triggered numerous samples.
At first, I did not like them at all. I also got the feeling that much of the crowd was of the same opinion. Most of the crowd just stood there in stunned, almost silence. I think I was trying to hard to find a sense of melody or sense in the music. Hella is highly experimental in a rebellion against standard musical structure kind of way. It was something akin to an auditory seizure. About halfway their their 45 minute set, I stopped looking for the melody and rhythm, and started listening to the performances. In particular, I picked up on the drum and bass work. The drumming was the most impressive portion of the performance. It was fast, frenetic, technically sound, and at a constantly fierce pace. I cannot say that I will become a fan of Hella, but I am definitely intrigued by the anti-standard that they play by.
Hella left the stage around 9:45 or so, the curtain came down and they started redressing the stage for Les Claypool. We watched as Hella's equipment was cleared from the stage and Claypool's was put into place and tested. By show time, we were all starting to get a little restless.
10:30 rolled around, the lights flashed and the stage was once again populated by musicians. The mad musical genius of Les Claypool standing amidst the drummer, percussionist, sax, and sitar. Les started off with some improv bass work, the rest of the band then joined in. What follows is nearly 2 hours of insane music, jammed and otherwise.
Article comments
1 - buddhawun
awesome review man. ill be going to see mr.claypool this new years eve in SF.
2 - The mortimer
I liked your description of Hella. They are unclassifible but you did as good a job as any. I have seen them numerous times, being a former resident of Sacramento where they hail from, and at first taste they are a pungent stew. But the flavor grew on me like ivy. If one is looking for some ridiculous drum and guitar work, check out their album "Hold your Horse Is" its probably on Itunes. As a side note, one fun fact about Hella is that the guitarist is in another band where he plays drums called "The Advantage" and all they play are instumental covers of Nintendo game soundtracks. Its off the fucking hook.