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| El Nino be damned, let's go on a SURF SAFARI !!! Fri/June 5: The Aquamen @ Hotel Utah, San Francisco The surf element I came to witness bobbed and weaved through The Aquamen's (the legendary masters of surf intoxica) charade of 80's hard rock, (they opened with the somber chord progression to scathing guitar intro of Metallica's "Battery") and references to The Scorpions, Journey, and Van Halen all had their places. Unwittingly I had come to see an act who had surf cartilage but a Spinal Tap exoskeleton! They swim in a vast cove of distilled delights, many of which find their way into song titles. "Sour Mash", "Blue Hawaiian", and "Wild Turkey" were the result of the Aquamen's rambunctions weird science that would've had no problem making Frankie and Annette shimmy on the beach - or check into an AA meeting. I could only nod in agreeance with the "Keep music evil" sticker on the bass of lead mouthpiece, Srini' who was a likable host with an often flashed drunken smile (his bandmates affectionately referred to him as "Hindu Elvis"). The Aquamen are very evil indeed. They're a monument to excessive consumption that appears to tamper little with their well-tooled playing. Besides igniting a spit plume of liquor, the Jaguar-wielding Nat garnished The Aquamen's sonic cocktail with chirps from his wooden box theremin while poignant arpeggios were dished out by "First Engineer Turtle". There's really no reason for any band that doesn't take itself too seriously not to cover the "Hawaii 5-0 Theme", so of course, it too was on the menu! Ironically, one of The Aquamen's hardest gallops through the surf is the non-alcoholic "Beans 'n' Rice". New keyboardist/bongo player Zack got his Aquamen cherry broke, and was well looked after by drum auteur, "Cabin Boy" Vic, who could easily be a well-tanned Max Roach from another era. Most surreal of all was after the last official goodnite, when the band had started to put it's gear away, save Srini, who proceeded to do an acappella, kareokesque rendering of Duran Duran's "Rio" with only his bassline to guide him. It became a fun singalong wiht the core group of fans who stuck around, no doubt waiting to go close some bars with The Aquamen. Check out their latest Aquatone release, "Do The Alkeehol", which was recorded in "Gin-O-Sonic Sound", no less. A large salute also to Jumbo Shrimp, who did the warm-up. Significantly more sober and aged, this combo played letter perfect surf classics, but threw in some contemporary instro-covers of Garbage's "Queer" and Weezer's "Buddy Holly" (come to think of it, the band resembled a quintet of Buddy Hollys). -Don Vigeant, Zero Magazine [ Back ] |