Bob Log III / Thomas Truax [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 1/5/14]
Although it’s great that alternative culture exists, you have to ask how much it differs from the mainstream sometimes.
Standard-model society promotes segregation on increasingly arbitrary lines (watch an episode of Come Dine With Me for evidence) and “alternative” subcultures do much the same thing – think rock and metal subgenres and the constant bickering between them all. Infighting is frequently justified on the basis of appearance (“just look at him!“) by both mainstream and alternative groups. Competitive snobbery thrives in both worlds, based as they are on stereotypical male values – and yes, despite some progress both the mainstream and alternative worlds are still male-dominated. For instance, “alt girls” have been relegated to the status of fetishised objects featured in magazines that copy the topless-babes-and-articles-which-their-readers-will-say-are-the-real-reason-they-buy-the-magazine-in-the-first-place-but-for-some-reason-nobody-ever-seems-to-believe-them model adopted by their equally standardised shelfmates. For more evidence of objectification, go see a heavy female-fronted band play live, and pay attention to how the men in the audience behave. And the online side of things is, naturally, not much different. Overall, it can be argued that “alt” culture is definable today as “more or less the same as the mainstream at a fundamental level, only with different haircuts, a different soundtrack, different clothes, and more imaginative and visible tattoos”.
So let’s say we want to find something that really deserves to be called “alternative”. Where could we start?
As you’ll no doubt have guessed, I recommend the Boileroom. The best time to begin? Two nights ago. If you missed this show, you’d need to invent some kind of TARDIS-style contraption to get there – and once you were on your way, you’d have to take everything you thought you knew about one-man bands, chuck it in the garbage, stomp it all the way down to the bottom of the bin, and set it on fire. But if you actually went to all that trouble, it would be worth it.
Thomas Truax is no generic copycat, no history’s-own-brand anybody. If it were possible to stick David Lynch’s entire filmography (in experiential, not physical, form) into a blender, pour the resulting cinematic mush into a bowl made from used vinyl, and mix in a few packs’ worth of American cigarette ash, what you’d have would taste the way Thomas Truax’s music sounds. That’s the only way I can even begin to describe it. Beyond that, it would be possible to dissect Truax’s entire set and give you a blow-by-blow account of exactly what happened – but words just won’t do it. Instead, get started here and bookmark this page to make sure you don’t miss out next time Truax is in town.
As for Bob Log III, imagine badass blues played by an American one man band in a sparkly skintight one-piece, wearing a fighter pilot’s helmet with an old school telephone handset stuck to the front. My mind hasn’t quite accepted the fact that this happened, but it definitely did. And it’s happened before – see here – and it’ll happen again. Be there when it does. Surreal, utterly captivating, and delivered with jaw-dropping virtuosity, Bob Log III is mind-breakingly brilliant.
In short, this show has blown my mind so far open that I’m struggling to keep my brain from falling out. It’s a true alternative to everything – something inclusive, borderless, and free of bullshit – and I consider myself better off for having been there to witness it. If you’re lucky enough to see Thomas Truax and/or Bob Log III live, you won’t just leave with happy memories; you’ll be left needing more, and – most importantly – questioning things you didn’t question before. An experience unlike any other.
Links
Thomas Truax official website.
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