Authors: Primož Novak, Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Velden am Wörthersee (Carinthia) / Bluesiana Rock Cafe / Austria
Concert date: 19.03.2014
Attendance: 150
With so-called all-star lineups, the first question is usually: what on earth can musicians from different genres even play together? That question came up with The Aristocrats too, even though the band is made up of renowned players with no limits whatsoever. The trio, made up of guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann, describes itself, with two studio albums and one live record, simply as jazz rock. Well, the music itself is far from simple, that’s for sure. From three highly trained musicians who have already proven themselves in bands like Asia, Steven Wilson, Dethklok and even Necrophagist, and who have worked with a host of outstanding players including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin, you could hardly expect any acts of musical minimalism.
When these professors stepped onto the stage of the likeable Bluesiana club, which feels like a slightly larger living room, nobody could have guessed that The Aristocrats would serve up more than two hours of a show that’s impossible to compare to anything else.
With just the first two songs, Furtive Jack and Sweaty Knockers, the crazy trio made it clear they don’t do jokes. The music they make is so demanding and complexly built that, next to The Aristocrats, all the pros in metal quickly look like elementary school beginners. But the magic of the show wasn’t just in the performance of this outstanding music. Before every song, the band members walked the crowd through a short story of how it came to be and where its title comes from, and they used all those moments to unleash plasmas of boundlessly funny humor that regularly sent the audience into roaring laughter.
The supreme musical polish of each individual in the trio really couldn’t shine any better on a stage. Everyone squeezed out their maximum. At the start, guitarist Guthrie Govan stood out, serving up wildly interesting riffs and exceptional soloing nonstop, as if he had merged heavyweights like Steve Vai, Eric Johnson and Joe Satriani into one, and the list of such masters of the six-string craft certainly doesn’t end there. Govan’s style isn’t exactly the typical »shredder Nintendo«. Instead, he cultivates a unique style that’s a mix of many different musical genres, bursting with whacked-out, almost progressively experimental jazz solutions on one side and blues-inspired passages on the other. Guthrie Govan sounds completely unconventional, and you’d struggle to find a guitarist who comes close to him. He can play anything. One such player might be Dave Kilminster, but he is likewise a self-contained musical entity, a closed-off musical world, hard to compare with any other musician on the planet. One of the most fantastic things about Govan was that he kept surprising us with all sorts of sounds that you’d hardly think could be translated into the language of guitar playing and coaxed out of the instrument. It really showed the universality of the instrument and everything you can produce with it if you have too much imagination. Govan already showed how outstanding he is at the Steven Wilson show, and this time he confirmed his full versatility and musical adventurousness as a »mad guitar inventor« once again! Govan is one with the guitar. An entity.
Drummer Marco Minnemann got plenty of his own moments too, and this time he proved that he can be counted among the best drummers in the world. Minnemann, known as the smiliest drummer around, showed he’s one of those with way too much imagination. It’s worth pointing out that the drum kit was scaled down for Bluesiana’s small stage compared to the colossal one he showed off on 24.05.2013 at the Ljubljana show, when he and Beller backed Joe Satriani. But even though the kit was radically reduced, the inexhaustibly imaginative Minnemann unveiled countless tricks, off-kilter »beats«, rhythmic manipulations, polyrhythms, and the list could go on. The especially inventive use of two snare drums deserves a mention too, giving his transitions even more dimension and intensity. In the song Blues Fuckers, which they also dubbed Bluesiana Fuckers, Minnemann dropped the whole audience’s jaws with his drum solo. It looked like Minnemann had 8 arms and 8 legs. Especially when the trio went berserk in an unbridled stampede of ultra-sonic-speed rock ‘n’ roll!
Bassist Bryan Beller didn’t really get to shine at first. It seemed like he was playing in Govan’s shadow, but over time it turned out that Beller is a first-class bassist as well. Beller wasn’t just a foundation for the crazy rhythms Minnemann was laying down, he pulled out a seriously hefty bag of lively, colorful lines that fit perfectly with Govan’s soloing. At times it seemed like each member was playing his own separate line within the same song, which still always gravitated effectively into a meaningful whole of the band’s artistry.
The whole magic of The Aristocrats’ show wasn’t just in the perfectionism of the playing, but also in the band’s humor. Besides all the funny announcements, in one of the songs Marco pointed out that The Aristocrats would become the first instrumental band to get a »Parental Advisory« sticker, thanks to the title of Blues Fuckers. Guthrie Govan got a lot of laughs while drummer Minnemann started blissfully unwrapping a Mozart ball. At that moment Govan was working out an atonal intro on guitar, full of exploring tones, and when he noticed his colleague wrestling with the Mozart ball, he suddenly jumped into the theme of »Eine kleine Nachtmusik«, which cracked Minnemann up mid-bite so hard that he nearly spat out the candy. The comedy seemed endless, including Guthrie’s story about how he smashed his head on the door frame of his apartment, as well as the moment Beller accidentally broke a glass of wine. It spilled all over the stage and his »pedal board« with its many effects came close to being wrecked. Luckily, Beller managed to save his effects. Beller glanced over at Guthrie, who was calmly sipping a beer, Govan advised him never to try anything like that. And Govan came back with an elegant reply that this can only happen to Beller, since he’s the only one who orders wine. Govan, who christened the bottled beer a »Weaselburger« (the label probably actually said »Weissbier«), since reading German writing gives him no small amount of trouble. Minnemann, as a pure-blooded German, came to his rescue and taught him that he was drinking wheat beer. The Aristocrats got the crowd laughing between songs too. During one of them they played along to the sounds of toy pigs and chickens they’d bought on one of their tour excursions in Turkish Istanbul. During the last song, Erotic Cakes, they played around with the silly sounds of some mobile phone app, to which Minnemann skillfully added rhythm with his feet.
The Aristocrats wrapped up the show with the song Erotic Cakes, taken from Guthrie Govan’s solo album of the same name. Beller explained that all the members have their own solo studio releases. In his typically comic manner, he said Minnemann has around 20,000 solo albums, he himself has three, and Govan only one, so they took pity on Guthrie and picked a song from his one and only album. That very song stood out a bit from the rest of the set, since it picked up elements of progressive rock and, judging by the opening guitar phrase, even metal
In just over two hours, The Aristocrats showed up as a trio of dazzling perfectionists and musical extremists. All in one and the same musical body. No brakes. Loose, relaxed playing, an outrageous blend of three brilliant musical talents, and a drill of fine-tuned, extraordinary manual dexterity!
Setlist
1. Furtive Jack
2. Sweaty Knockers
3. Ohhhh Noooo
4. Louisville Stomp
5. Get it Like That
6. Culture Clash
7. Flatlands
8. Blues Fuckers (plus drum solo)
9. Gaping Head Wound
10. Desert Tornado
11. Living the Dream
—encore—
12. Erotic Cakes
Photo Gallery
