I can’t wait to see this band, or at least ask them about the Karl Marx reference. But first…
Some bands opt to throw in some tricks to distance themselves from the pack. I’m short on concrete examples, but I’ve been dragged (or did the dragging myself) to plenty of shows of bands whose names I forget where a cerebral edge is confused with mystifying the audience. I think of the guy dressed like The Gimp spraying the audience with a turkey baster full of God-knows-what. Of course, that was back in Cleveland, and the band needed to do something to get the audience’s mind off the music. What I’m talking about are tricks, distractions, contact lenses that make your eyes yellow… it’s been known to fill the seats. For awhile, at least.
So there are those kinds of bands, and then there are the rare birds whose music kicks ass with the artillery they’ve got, at any time of day, and at any time of Man, or at least post-hippie man. Count Chicago’s Das Kapital in the latter category. Fully-equipped to remind you that rocking-the-fuck-out still does and always will work, their combination of straight rock and punk energy is unique for its honest execution if not originality. Let’s not forget that their chord progressions and key-changes are well above most of what gets filed under ‘punk’, so thank lyrics about religion, social interaction, drinking in Chicago, and obscure characters from required elementary school reading played through music that is so primal that you forget it can still be made.
Imagine some well-read, corn-fed Midwesterners burrowing into the basement of a building somewhere west of the Kennedy Expressway and having a fucking great time ripping out some clean, fast and mind-sticking hooks. There are organ licks on songs like ‘Set Adrift Again’ and ‘Old Blue’ that are pure rock, and lacking the sneering that comes from the Green Day wannabe’s, Das Kapital is more interested in a good, noisy time than in inciting fervor, or slack-jawed drooling, for that matter. Smart rock that lacks pretension and self-righteousness? Someone’s got to do it.
Anger is also a gimmick too oft used by people who shouldn’t be given drivers licenses, let alone guitars and microphones, but these guys have no hubris to defend and they’re not out to fool you by being angrier-than-thou. Sure, they’re pissed about the shit that goes on in the world and locally, but who isn’t? Not like the mouth-breathing punks and their minions who still think that Bush-bashing is ‘edgy’ (though some things don’t get old), DK is keen and efficient. Not that they’re got a chip on their shoulder, they are more perceptive than mad, and loudly so.
Bring it, fellas. Can’t wait to see the show, and that goes for everyone.
3 Comments »
Mark Ruvolo, Das Kapital’s singer, was also in Chicago punk-rock legends No Empathy. No Empathy was the first “local” band I was a fan of - seeing them at the late great Thirsty Whale as a teenager was a defining moment in my young brain. Can’t wait to see what he’s doing now!
yes they do rock( i’m not sure what rocking is ). i still can’t decide if the bass player reminds me of marty mcfly or doc brown but they did make me drink more than those that don’t rock ( what is rocking anyway ).
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Comment by joiezabel — May 31, 2007 @ 9:29 am
as a post-hippie (wo)man, i would have to agree that this band is tight. they better play that tom waits cover, dammit.