Photos: Urban Bolta
Venue: Kino Šiška / Ljubljana
Concert date: 11.05.2010
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: presale €8 / day of show €10
Ever since it opened, Kino Šiška has kept surprising us with great shows that blow right past genre boundaries. From jazz to metal, electronica to pop, Kino Šiška has it all. And we’re not talking second-rate acts either, but top-tier masters of their craft. That’s exactly why the venue has become one of the most visited concert spaces in Slovenia. One of Kino Šiška’s latest pleasant surprises, put together with Buba, was the show by American band Secret Chiefs 3.
There’s probably no need to waste words on Secret Chiefs 3. Anyone who knows Mr. Bungle knows that SC3 is the project of Trey Spruance, the former Mr. Bungle guitarist. So you can draw some parallels between the two bands, but Secret Chiefs 3 is still a completely one-of-a-kind outfit with its own musical vision. What’s more, the band is sort of split into seven sub-groups, satellite bands, of which the most important are UR and Traditionalists. They’ve also put out a few albums under a strange mix of SC3 and one or the other. UR is a kind of blend of surf rock with Oriental melodies, meaning Persian, Arabic and Indian melos, while Traditionalists play film music that sounds like the stuff from cult horror flicks. The band has gone through a ton of musicians over the years, but the core, of course, remains Spruance.
My buddy Urban, who took care of the photo coverage, and I kicked off a great night of music by meeting up before the show, ahead of an interview with bassist Toby Driver, who’s filling in for Trevor Dunn on this year’s tour. Toby actually asked to hang out with RockLine himself, and the SC3 bassist was just as warm and friendly in person. A lot of the credit for the interview going so well also goes to “our” and “your” Buba, who really always shows up at just the right moment and does everything she can to help loyal music fans get what they’re after. After a relaxed and pleasant interview, it was already time to head into the hall, since the sounds of avant-garde music were already echoing through the rooms downstairs. Up on stage, Ches Smith, the Secret Chiefs 3 drummer, was already burning it up, presenting his solo project Congs for Brums. It’s honestly incredible how drums alone can create such an amazing musical mood, while at the same time sounding full of different sounds you’d never attribute to drums. Despite the virtuoso playing, everyone present (and there still weren’t many of us at that point) was waiting for the main event of the night, announced for 22:30. Before Secret Chiefs 3, though, there was one more opening act, the avant-garde fusion duo Fat32. And the two of them, to put it mildly, “set the scene on fire”. Incredible medleys of all kinds of sound samples on keyboards, backed by a mellotron sound and fantastic drumming, gave most of the crowd a reason to dig deeper into the band. If Smith hadn’t warmed up the audience enough, Fat32 surely finished the job, and Toby Driver had already praised them during the interview.
At half past ten, the symbol of genre-free-for-all spirit, Secret Chiefs 3, finally arrived. That was also when the crowd finally filled out, growing massively compared to the turnout during the two opening acts. Before the show, Urban and I had already learned from Driver that the set would be split into two parts: the first soaked in a fusion of jazz and rock with Eastern music, and the second dedicated to post-Mr. Bungle songs, which would definitely be the highlight of the night for Mr. Bungle fans, or for those who prefer the rawer side of Secret Chiefs 3’s personality. According to Toby, the UR “department” of Secret Chiefs 3 wasn’t going to be missing either, so there’d be plenty of surf rock melodies of sea and sun (which will once again be mixed with the musical heritage of the East).
The band showed up in an interesting “getup”, the same one they’ve worn throughout the whole tour: the musicians were dressed in black robes, like the ones monks wear. Before we’d even grasped the scale of this fantastic choreography, Ches Smith was already pounding the drums, opening the show; the band started with “Waves of Blood”, a piece from the UR repertoire. During this song, Timb Harris, normally the violinist (and a member of Estradasphere), took over as rhythm guitarist, as he’d do several more times during the show (his main job was of course wielding the violin). The band carried on playing through UR’s ideas; it was clear from the very start that the next song was “The 15”, with Smith’s signature percussive rhythms and a superb Harris, who had meanwhile picked up his real instrument. He kept it for “Fast” too, a fast-tempo song that still belonged to the “Oriental” part of the show; Timb held onto the violin for most of the first set, where Secret Chiefs 3 served up more jazz-rock-ethno fusion tracks from their repertoire. The band closed the first part with “Halloween”, which likewise belongs to the UR incarnation of Secret Chiefs 3.
To open the second, post-Mr. Bungle part of the show, Harris, just like in the first part, put down the violin and joined Spruance on guitar. Trey’s obscure guitar intro rang out, announcing the start of “Vajra” from the album Book M; the original is actually a traditional East Asian piece, mainly from Buddhist countries. Next came a track considered one of Secret Chiefs 3’s finest creations, “Combat for the Angel”. The mix of stoner rock, death metal and ethno guitar riffs and violin drove even the sleepiest people in the crowd wild. People started dancing as if at some kind of ritual, and the atmosphere became one of a kind. The second part carried on in a similar vein, with all of Secret Shiefs 3’s biggest hits following one after another, and neither “Exodus” nor “Ship of Fools” was missing. The second part, and with it the show itself, ended with “Brazen Serpent”, a nearly ten-minute masterpiece.
But the American lineup saved the best for last, for the “encore”. After the crowd’s first round of shouting for the musicians to come back on stage, Secret Chiefs 3 stayed true to the audience and served up “Renunciation”. It’s surely their best-known “hit”, so it was clear it would be played this time too. After we demanded “just one more” song, Secret Chiefs 3 really did wrap it up with “The 3”.
The night was thus perfect: great company, fantastic music, a successful interview; it’s hard to wish for anything more. Everything went right for the musicians. Spruance was in form and once again impressed with his truly unique playing style, drummer Smith was in a great mood, chatting with us a lot during the show itself and strengthening the band-audience connection even more, and the absence of bassist Gunn wasn’t felt at all, since Toby Driver, otherwise the mastermind behind Kayo Dot, filled in more than well. So I think the Kino Šiška crowd will have a great memory of that night, and the same surely goes for the band itself.
photos: Urban Bolta
Setlist
Part 1: 1. Waves of Blood 2. The 15 3. Fast 4. Sophia’s theme 5. Tistrya 6. The 4 7. Bereshith 8. Halloween Part 2: 1. Observance of the Word: Vajra 2. Combat for the Angel 3. Dolorous Stroke 4. Labyrinth of Light 5. Exodus 6. Ship of Fools 7. Brazen Serpent -encore- 1. Renunciation 2. The 3
Photo Gallery
