Music

NIGHT OF THE ROCKING DEAD

Maris the Great is killing local musicians... and they like it

Halloween is an annual festival of the eternal battle between good and evil, a time when the scales are weighted a little more favorably toward the forces of darkness. Some mortals take this opportunity to dress in costume and dance in the streets, while others lock themselves away in fear, reciting childhood prayers of protection. Still others try to cover all the bases, donning amulets of one kind or another, just in case, then heading out to participate in the mayhem and debauchery. For a growing number of people associated with the local music scene, these amulets have taken the form of laminated vaginas believed to be protection against Maris The Great, a gay zombie who has risen from the dead with the sole purpose of stalking and killing Denver's best bands.

LUNCH ON THE WEB

Maris The Great first came to the attention of the local music scene in June when his website, MarisTheGreat.com, began posting interviews he had conducted with local bands along with disturbing pictures of the local musicians who, for all intents and purposes, appear dead. Blister66, Throat Culture, and Serberus are some of the bands found mutilated on Maris' site along with recently defunct Colemesis raising the question "Does life imitate art, or art imitate life?

But a website is limited by being only two-dimensional. How does an undead gay zombie take his art to the next level? "I realized how cool it would be to make a show as an extension of my website. Kind of like making my website come to life," said Maris. Thus the site spawned "Bite My Halloweenie 2000" celebrating the final Halloween of the millennium at the Gothic Theater, October 31, featuring, as Maris puts it, "some of the spookiest bands in the region." Throat Culture, Colorado Springs-based Filth Industry, the black metal band Serberus and the techno/ industrial influenced Burn Circuit were the first four bands chosen for the show. "From the beginning, all four bands wanted this to be something different. We wanted people to be talking about this show for weeks afterward and the only way we felt to do that was to make the most disturbing show we could," said Maris. As part of the promotion for the event, each of the bands would be interviewed, killed, photographed and featured on www. maristhegreat. com, which effectively made them undead zom-bie musicians under the control of Maris The Great.

OPEN THE FREAK SHOW

This was only the beginning of the elaborate promotion. Fliers for the show consist of a photograph of Maris The Great with a severed "halloweenie" hanging from his mouth. "From the beginning, I wanted to do things and feature ideas that I found to be spooky. Most artists have a canvas to paint on. Most bands wait until they get on stage before they create their art. Since I was moving beyond my website and making it come to life, I wanted to create the same kind of illusion I do on my website: 'Is this real or is it fake? ' I think things are spookier when people don't know if it's fake or not. I wanted to scare people," said Maris.

And scare people he did. Enter Father Cire Bentley with the laminated vaginas. Just as every great horror movie has its token misunderstood or misguided reli-gious authority, so does the continuing promotion of the undead in Denver's music scene. "I wanted to create the same kind of tension as there was in Blair Witch Project. That feeling that something might really be real," said Maris. Father Cire Bentley is portrayed as a former respected and benevolent Denver priest who has found out the truth about the malevolent gay zombie and has devoted the remainder of his life to destroying this great evil. As expected, this unusual calling doesn't come without a price. "I have been dismissed as a heretic, delusional, and at best a total whack É I can only pray that those who read this letter will take it seriously," writes Father Cire in a recent e-mail, attempting to warn the local music community. Several did take it seriously, very seriously. Father Cire's website--buried deep in the heart of www.powdermunki.com began receiving e-mails both thanking him for his protection and com-mitment and condemning him as a religious nut who was in his own right a threat to the music community. Father Cire Bentley began a frantic promotional campaign to try and educate as well as protect local musicians from Maris the Great. Unfortunately it was not a local musician who was the target of the next promotional blitz.

THE COPS COME CALLING

Exit Matt Need. It was in early September this year when Maris the Great broke with his familiar promotional campaign of evil against bands and went after Matt Need, manager of the Gothic Theater where "Bite My Halloweenie 2000" is slated to occur. Apparently some individuals did not view the promotion as imaginative and creative art and forwarded the e-mail and graphic picture confirming Matt Need's "death" to the Englewood Police Department where it landed on Detective Curtis Leoni's desk. "[ They were] staged photos for a Halloween show," stated Leoni. "We had a pretty good idea right away but the pictures looked pretty good ...Matt Need came in with an ID proving he was alive...the case is closed."

"I received a call from the Englewood police at 8 am about occurrences of a disturbing nature at the Gothic Theater," said Need. "At 8 am I'm wondering myself if I am alive!"

"My intent is to entertain people. If there is any deeper message, it would be that the local music scene can do anything it wants if it unifies. If what I do makes you laugh, I figure you probably needed a good laugh. If what I do offends you, you probably needed to be offended," stated Maris.

--Jessica Vogelgesang

The "Bite My Halloweenie 2000" is an 18-and-over show to be held at the Gothic Theater Tuesday October 31, 2000 featuring Maris The Great and the Fagots of Death, Throat Culture, Filth Industry, Serberus, Burn Circuit, and Powder Munki. Tickets are $6.66. Doors open at 7 pm.

Here we go with another powerhouse band for the airwaves. If you are tuning into the hard-core scene, expect to hear these guys in heavy rotation. Cold has a sound that may at first seem consistent with what you may hear on the heavier stations, but there's a little more meat here to sink your teeth into.

I don't feel the need to tell you how tight these guys sound-- you don't just hop on a major label and sound like you are racing drums in between tuning guitars. I do, however, feel justified in saying that the melody and harmony lay-down here is just cool sounding. They play with different sounds and are unafraid to throw in these breaks that take you by surprise like getting a stocking full of deodorant for Christmas.

I see that Fred Durst has had a hand in this project, not only with some help producing but having this band on his Flip recording label as well. I know, some of the other bands that have a Durst influence on them tend to let it seem like he is turning all of the knobs. Don't let that fool you hereÑ Fred has let these guys run naked through the streets with their sound.

All in all, 13 Ways To Bleed has some very jamming tunes on it. One might buy this CD if you were a fan of Bush or Nickleback. But to compare them to either band would be deemed unfairÑ they do have their own sound, and it jams.

With fall in the air, I think of leaves gently falling to the ground. Everything has a dif-ferent color; it's apparent the life that was once in the summer is dying. It makes me feel like listening to a CD like this one.

Then when you get a little morose about things, this disc picks up a little bit and puts you in the mood to either rake the leaves that have fallen or play in them. Grandaddy has been able to put so many little moods into the music that one wants to cry or rejoice. A little electronic yet driven to the point of using a low level scruffy guitar.

With some samples bred to make you think that birds are really on this CD, the content of what is laid out here is real life stuff that we can all relate to. Track seven tries to rock you out and then brings you down to a bare floor of wood only to make you look around to make sure you are not living in the same apartment as the songwriter. It is sort of like breaking your spirit and then realizing it is not your spirit here that has been broke at all.

You might feel alone listening to this CD, but do share it with friends just to make sure you have not made this all up in your head. You might not have a raging party listening to this one, but you might just find some inner part of yourself appreciat-ing the desert view of the landscape that is laid out for you to relax in. This will be on my play list for the cloudy daysÑ whether they are in the sky or in my head. B+

What can I say? Today to be a solo artist, you either have to be an ex-member of a successful boy band, a Latin sensation or a girl with a taut stom-ach with others writing all of your songs. Teen is where it's at to get a deal or airplay. Hell, even Chris Cornell who is a great musician has to claw his way through this load of shit that has been piled onto the truly talented solo artist.

I listen to this guy named James Michael and think, "Man, timing really is every-thing." If talent really is the motor that runs for the long haul, this guy might have enough gasoline to get there once the air-waves are done running on methanol.

This CD rocks out and gets you into the mood for about anything. There is some very honest effort and talent put into Inhale. I wish we could all go out and boycott the shit out there and bring this kind of music and talent back to the fore-front of the scene. James has real feeling behind every song here, and I get the vibe that he is not afraid to let you know it.

B+ --Tenswing

BEAT DIET

It's all a matter of opinion," according to the flyer for Progression Sessions U. S. A. Fall Tour 2000 featuring good-looking artists Nookie, MC Conrad and the one and only LTJ Bukem. That may indeed be the case, but most opinion holders (including myself) are highly anticipating the exclusive five hour set that LTJ is slated to throw down at Soma in Boulder on Friday, October 27. What's so special about LTJ Bukem? In case you've been living like a hermit for the past two years, Bukem has catapulted himself into the international spotlight via constant touring and flawless production. His most recent double-disc offering (Journey Inwards) is a soulful blend of uptempo and downtempo that is guaranteed to coerce even the most stubborn wallflower out of the woodwork and onto the dance floor. LTJ Bukem began his musical career, like so many do, when piano lessons were forced upon him by his well-intentioned parents. It wasn't until a progressive-minded music teacher named Nigel Crouch entered the picture that LTJ got his first taste of a musical style that would change the way he thought about music forever. Jazz fusion, a genre label coined to identify the fusion of jazz and rock, is clearly one of the single biggest influences on Bukem's lifelong mission to combine jazz with contemporary electronic dance music. Bukem got his first big break in front of 10,000 at the Raindance in 1990 and hasn't looked back since. Between juggling successful roles as a DJ, producer, remixer and record label owner, LTJ has definitely got his hands full. And that's the way-- uh-huh, uh-huh-- he likes it.

--orange peel moses