Bobby Previte Coalition Of The Willing

[baltostar]

Walking into The Independent Sat night as quiet and low key as it were ... the total casualness ... the usual dope passed around ... the crowd a truly eclectic mix, yes, in terms of age but, far more interestingly, in terms of where life had pulled them ... but nonetheless, for the most part, true believers : a fact that became more and more apparent as the night evolved ... a reminder of what you can easily forget about San Francisco if you've been here too long.

I do not believe anyone was prepared for what was about to happen on stage. The CD is unique ... a new music ... a message to mankind from the heart ... fascinating , beautiful , haunting, overwhelming ... a call to action as the Orwellian quote implies ...

... but the studio and live recordings I had heard are only the barest hints as to where this crew will take you in person.

It was beyond anything I did or even could have imagined -- and I think most there felt the same. This is truly a live band on the highest order ... their intercommunication with each other and the audience can only fly to the ethereal statosphere as it did in a context where the all but a miniscule fraction of the outside world can successfully be negated.

The energy , the commuication , was truly transcendental, extracting you from your body and your life until you see it all ... your childhood, the alternate pathways you might have travelled, how you truly exist right now -- as opposed to the rationalizations and hopes upon which you pin your daily ability to survive ...... and ultimately I saw clearly into the future : myself as a very old man, when most of my time had gone and my ability to change anything about myself or to do anything of meaning greatly diminished ... when all that is left are memories and ghosts.

The personal challenge confronting the audience to see themselves , to escape themselves for the moment , to rise above the pointlessness of material existence in an evil predatory capitalist society .... this challenge almost overshadowed the love that Hunter Skerik Benevento Previte have for this music and the love they have of communicating with each other. All four are creators of such capability as to render irrelevant whatever metrics some might deploy to describe mastery of an instrument, or historical knowledge of music forms and genres ... ... they exist in a space where all musical ideas come together into one and can been seen as of the single origin as they truly are !

This is what music is all about ... four cats digging the raw human communication so much that their vibe becomes hopelessly infectious ... you start grinning , smiling , laughing because it's so fucking amazing that in a world as cunning in its coldness and heartlessness as this one that someone could have found a way out ... a beautiful way out.

I'm not sure anyone made it through to the end sober, as was my unrealized intention. No doubt, if this band lasts, there will be those who will come to criticize it for extreme electronics and noise inextricably linked to hallucinogens and altered states ... to which my only response would be that if you're hit square on with the real message exploding from this band , it is nearly impossible to manage the intensity of the experience without tripping on something ... maybe if you're lucky enough to be in love at the moment ... but, otherwise ...

As scary as it was beautiful , a terrifying reminder that what you believe in is all you are.

Love and Truth. The Ministry Of Love. The Ministry Of Truth. That is all there is.

Edited May 22, 2006 by baltostar

[baltostar]

I heard them in the afternoon (same date) at Amoeba Records in San Francisco, a remarkable band.

I'm probably driving to Santa Cruz tomorrow night. You gotta figure there's a chance it won't last ... as with anything this good.

[kh1958]

I saw a similar band at the 55 Bar last year--with Previte, Skerik, Jamie Saft, and a Russian guitarist whose name I don't recall--they were great. The new CD is good but kind of pales in comparison, except for the last track, the spectacular Anthem for Andrea.

[baltostar]

On the web, it seems like it's a classic case of love it or hate it regarding this band.

Here are some of the extremes:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F4RHO...5Fencoding=UTF8

Previte on the above alluded topic that he's reinventing himself ( successful or not is for the listener to decide, I guess ) :

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=17798

the good:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=21279

the bad:

http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/or...coll=7#continue

the ugly:

http://www.cloudsandclocks.net/concert_rev.../Previte_E.html

All I can say is that if you're lucky enough to be able to see this band live, go see them. You will most probably form your own strong conclusions, but whatever they might be, it's worth the risk not to miss music you might find to be the first to be truly new in a very long time.

Edited May 22, 2006 by baltostar

[baltostar]

Just returned from two smoking sets of Coalition of the Willing at Kuumbwa (in Santa Cruz, CA).

What a band!

I had to work, didn't make it. Did it sell out both sets ? That's what it looked like Ticketweb was saying, but you never know what the really story is. I thought it was interesting that in SF it was 2 long sets for about $30 from TicketWeb (maybe even cheaper at the door), but (according to TicketWeb) at Kuumbwa it was about $30 each set. Well, at least neither place requires that you buy drinks (or at least Kuumbwa didn't last I was there).

How was the crowd ?

[baltostar]

JUNE 2

BOBBY PREVITE + MARCO BENEVENTO + BRIGGAN KRAUSS

55 Bar, 55 Christopher, NYC 9:30 pm

if anyone catches this one , please post. hopefully they fiddle the knobs the right direction a bit on Benevento's machines. almost blew Hunter off the stage and Skerik right off the map. no guitar ... it can only get worse.