Deventer
is a Dutch city with an abnormally high crime rate and home to the Charles
Dickens Festival. The city is also has a fantastic store that not only sells
all sorts of games but also has an impressive vinyl selection to drool over.
What draws me back to the city time and time again is that I stumble upon
something unexpected with each visit. Last Friday, when I found myself in the
basement of De Hip, it was no different. It’s brick walls were covered by
posters of scantily clad women and I was forced to stand behind a pillar
erected in front of the stage drinking miniature brewskies. But with Ten East,
Fatso Jetson, and Yawning Man providing the evening’s entertainment, the
setting became moot.
Ten
East, a band melding Gary Arce and Bill Stinson from Yawning Man with Pieter
Holkenborg and Erik Harbers from Automatic Sam, started the evening off a little
earlier than advertised. Because I’m not one to show up to places any earlier
than necessary, I missed most of their set. I was pretty bummed out about this
and It took me about a song to get over this fact. Luckily the band was able to
convince me to free my mind in their second song, which was exactly what you
would have expected from this combination; watery guitars from stage right and
a slightly more aggressive counterpart over at stage left all held together by
Stinson and Harbers with automatic ease.
When
Ten East finished, my new favorite drummer Tony Tornay took to the stage with
Mr. Lalli and his son, Dino. In these circles, what I’m about to say is
probably blasphemous but here goes, I don’t actually like Fatso Jetson that
much. The funny thing about this, though, is that I’ve seen them live three
times and every time they absolutely, one-hundred percent, kill it. Where songs
like “Bored Stiff” don’t do much for me on record, in a live setting they burst
open at the seams. The same goes for the surf-punk shuffle of “Salt Chunk
Mary’s” and the way Mario and his son shot lead vocals back and forth to each
other in “Swollen Offering,” made for one helluva impact. So once again, Fatso
Jetson showed me that apparently I’m wrong about not digging their records and
I’m cool with that.
Now
that Fatso Jetson had turned up the temperature to desert-like levels, the
moment was ripe for Yawning Man to take their turn at melting minds. Their set
kicked off with “Catamaran” and continued to ascend from there. The band
touched on “Rock Formations” just as much as “Nomadic Pursuits” and even
treated us to a 'Waterways' jam. Somewhere during this hour of humid desert rock,
Yawning Man shared a new tune called “The Wind Cries Riley Lynn” (did I hear
that right?). Stylistically this song used “Nomadic Pursuits” as a point of
departure, slowly drifting along with a thumpy bass line and fluid guitar work.
Elements of Brant Bjork’s “Jalamanta” sprung up here and there and if that’s
the direction the band is going in, then that new album of their’s better come
sooner than later.
All
in all a good night. The Yawning Man/Fatso Jetson combination is a recipe for
guaranteed good time jams. Though these bands fall into two different genres
they seem to cater just fine to the public, regardless who they are there to
see.
Words By: Victor
van Ommen
