FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| MUSIC The Delta 72 with Huevos Rancheros "Not that the Delta 72 is some kind of Blues Brothers act for the end of the century, slavishly aping the heroic soul singers and their elaborate backing bands in the sort of post-modern minstrel show now popular in places like the House of Blues...." That's John Sinclair, former manager/mouthpiece for legendary Detroit rockers the MC5 and self-proclaimed White Panther, waxing philosophic on the liner notes of Philly R&B deconstructionists The Delta 72's second disc, The Soul of a New Machine. Ironically (and that will be the key word from here on in), The 72's drummer, former Mule-man Jason Kourkounis, originally wasn't sure if Sinclair- who hooked up with the band through mutual friends - was the right man to spread the word on the band's esthetic of Stax/Volt lighting funneled through a blitzkrieg of grimy, SST (Black Flag, et al) punk rock. "John Sinclair has done some real cool shit," says Kourkounis, "and some very...." Shitty shit? "Yeah. It was a 50/50 shot. I wouldn't have been surprised if he came back with a lot of fuckin' socio-political fuckin' bullshit propaganda nonsense. But, I think he wrote a pretty good piece. "Although, I suppose there's some socio-political bullshit in there." And, while Jason may not be all that interested in said BS, it's an issue nonetheless, considering the recent debacle in which a New York writer accused the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - the most obvious reference point to The Delta 72 due to their common interest in old-school soul appropriated into an alt-rock context - of being the very type of minstrel show (the writers exact words in fact) which Sinclair has defended the 72 against. Sure, the Stones, and legions of other bands, have made a career of ripping off black music without nary a bad word (maybe except for when Led Zeppelin blatantly plagiarized Willie Dixon and, oh yeah, Chuck D would like to have a word or two with Elvis when he re-enters the building). But, the point is, perhaps people have a harder time accepting the sincerity of bands like The Delta 72 since they, like the Blues Explosion, Royal Trux, The Work Dogs, etc., have a definitive punk pedigree; a musical form which, from the first three chords the Ramones ever bashed out, eliminated any trace of groove, opting instead for a sphere of pure white noise. How, then, can a bunch of punk brats be anything other than a statement of snot-nose-in-the-air mischief? Well, Kourkounis, doesn't buy it. "That's like asking Jimi Hendrix if his take on the blues was ironic. What we're doing isn't necessarily all that different from what musicians have done since the beginning of time. Everybody builds on what's come before and draws from that. Hendrix based a lot of his lines on B.B. King riffs. But, would he be considered a serious bluesman on stage with his frilly shirts and the whole psychedelic thing?" Kourkounis asks. "Being ironic certainly isn't our intent. We just want to create music that people can enjoy and maybe brings them together for the 45 minutes we're on stage." And with that, having Jason stating that the conversation is getting too "academic," yours truly lets the rocker go and becomes immersed in the final track on The Soul of a New Machine. It's a 10-minute-plus blast of what sounds like Booker T trying to wind down after an interstate joyride with James Brown. Thirty years of music history are congealed into a manic frenzy of farfisa organ, pounding rhythms and joyful punk rock soul. Its title? "We Hate the Blues." |