It seemed like something tried to prevent whole thing happening.
First thing: my car breaks down in monday morning. Manage to get replacement car borrowed. Next thing, waiting nearly 2 hours in airport, MK9 not showing up. Airport staff telling they are now allowed to tell if passanger has been in the plane or not. At some point realize I should try to log online somewhere. Airport internet is used and I find out MK9 missed connecting flight due weather but will be here 18:35. Well, lots of driving around, picking up packages, delivering some of mine, picking up gear / amps, etc. Snow has fucked up entire city of Helsinki and it's additional irritation. Soundcheck starts in time, 18:00, and all gear is there. Luckily I had decided to bring some of my own tables, since turns out venue had none. Then starts wild race back to airport. I get there late, but so did the MK9's new plane too. We rush back to venue and when doors are just about to officially open, MK9 gets his quick soundcheck finished.
21:00 sharp, Golden Rain starts. And night continues without flaws, problems or anything until last band has Finished.
GR good, yet maybe not as strong as with AMP usage? Now it was all PA, and the amps surely add some punch & pressure to sounds. I mention to them it sounds like they played mostly same songs like last gig, and they say it was all new, NONE of the old... hmmm.. band surely have found their own sound then!
Les Manures, was good, yet not fantastic. I think in harsh noise, like of great success and "ok gig" is pretty thin. And perhaps now, it was just lacking the sharp edge to Umpio's amp. So basically, Keränen did what he does well. Sharp, painful, improvised harsh noise, with lots of high pitched synth noises. Umpio used bass amp, and it was muddy. Positive was, that you could hear it distinctly different from what other member was doing, yet all noise sounded as if it would be boombox inside pillow? Low/midrange, blurry, kind of "soft". His stage action was perhaps little more energic than obscure smiling lunacy of Keränen. As said, it was good, yet out of these harsh noise combos mr. Keränen has taken part, there is no match to Testicle Hazard! The arch of the set was little failure. It started well, but the end kind of failed and collapse. Keränen threw out his little feedback-amp to the floor and the abrupt cuts of silence and hiss going nowhere, went on little too long.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE from poland was half louder than anyone else. Either some La Bas sound man advantage or they simply managed to push up mac lap-top noise to take full advantage of all the bass and crispy high end. I did not see the video, but some said it was good, others it was utter shit. And reactions to the sound, was pretty much the same. One could appreciate that it was noisier, harder and fiercer than previous bands, but at the same time, there is the constant wibe of computer noise. Digital cuts, digital effects, digital flatness,... yet.. if there is some sexually charge female moaning and loud volume, I guess it is by default, pretty decent, hah!
MK9, I wasn't sure what to expect. Death Squad was in Finland back in 1998. Then I saw MK9 in Stockholm 2003.. I guess. And this was different from both, yet very "traditional" what you could expect. Not noise, not so noisy. More of layers of synth buzz & hum with some "tracks" of ultra high pitched electronics. Vocals were clean of effects other than delay. They were loud in mix, and very clear. First piece about suicidal emotions, yet failing to actually go through it, resulted some guy yell for minutes "do it... pyssy!!! do it you coward!!! Just do it pussy!!" and, I personally think, it's not to considered as "heckling" the show. I mean, it's confrontational experimental performance, is it? One can't expect that the IDEAL would be people stand, and the clap in the end. Of course, he was some older drunk retard, which could have or maybe even Should have been interactively taken to outside to give what he wants. Vulpes leans towards the guy few times, I offer quick contact with my knee, yet it's more of amusement than anything else. It's one of the downsides to be organizer, that you "can't" really get involved even if situation demands, hehe.. I'm sure the man was just happy for the attention.
I wish there was more sonic action, a'la the early part of the show, which was nearly something Schimpfluch Gruppe or something could do? Man has contact mics taped to his hands, tearing up cardboard box and writing furiously something on pieces of cardboard. Using wireless microphone and yelling among the crowd, crawling in people's feet with "heelp me!!!" type of vocals. It transformed into something, which was surprisingly like Slogun! Loud delay effected vocals, yelling short blunt sentences which sound as if you'd be just yelling to audience, instead of having some actual lyrics. Which may start to take form later.
Death Squad in 1998 show, included the infamous old american mental institution footage. The old topics of releases featured many angles of control, mental issues, death, violence, politics,... MK9 seems like step towards "real". Step towards current issues. Being personal emotion and politics of today. In 2003, when war in Iraq was just fresh, Stockholm show focused on this. American invasion to Iraq. Blood spilled, violence, injustice. And one swede commented to me, asking what one could aim with this? We're in europe. We know this. Our media is filled with critics against USA. Our lifestyles is often anti-american. It's like showing injustice of meat production system to vegetarian punks. They know it. And they have already made choices by it. That propaganda should reach some OTHER audience.
This is the reality now. Half of the set, was failing suicide, frustrations, friends being dead by their own hands,... and continued to USA slaughter politics. Global consumer society, american invasion to here and there to destroy and kill for sake of economy. And so on. And friend of mine commented, "this would be good, unless half of the audience would be so cold, that they don't care". And to me, that is basically in the very CORE of the whole thing. Certain amount of missing idealism underlined!
Where one expects corpses of innocent raising empathy, and it merely raises question of when guy with lubricant bottle enters the picture to.. ehmm. "finish the job". Or when someone is going through actual depressive emotions of near suicide, people laugh and agitate to get it done. When the world is burning and people howl in misery, it leads to mentality of seeking more gas to throw in flames, and amplification to boost the misery.
It talks about the mentality perhaps different from "underground people" in past decades, when bands had some idealism. Banal and "cliche", maybe, but some sort of idealism. And now, within the noise & industrial scene it is often talked, where are the manifestos that came along records? Where are the speaches that mattered? Where are the people who put themselves on the line of actually saying things? One can say, HERE: MK9. To me, that his message appears to be "old" or "dull", and one would rather praise the tanks running over muslim lands and praising any bloody towel remnants appear on video, than think about... hmm "human rights" for example, is maybe some of the best provocation. It underlines the change among the people, where it's not all about some good "aware" underground people questioning the evil control system, but in fact proving the point of hostility, coldness and bloodthirst within. Showing the "state" isn't just someone else, but we really are the state, which looks down and laughs at some "good doer" as if his action would be pointless, worthless and cliche. As if the message being cliche can be determined by its entertainment value. "I've heard this before, this is old.." and so? Is it all only about seeking new thrills like some white upperclass adventure in transgressive entertainment?
So yes, in conclusion, no matter how I would personally feel about concepts as "human rights", or how I would personally feel about suicide, depression, violence, imperialism, consumerism and so on and one, MK9 show, with all its foolish "interactive parts" (read: yelling drunk in audience), it appears to be work of genius. In its simplicity, at least to me, it awakes some of these questions mentioned above. And you can't say the same about... hmm.. well, just about any noise out there. Very few have the "guts" to go on this route, which exposes you to easiest critic. I think its great success of.. should I say "industrial show", that it will give you more than first audial experience makes you assume.
So, with all shows being different so far, I hope I'm able to catch him play few more times in the future!
I was positively surprised about audience. Tuesday show. I wonder how much? 50+ ? All money went to artists, and some old S.I.C.K. funds used to pay more to headliner. 300km driving and hefty bill from fixing my car, thanks for all the guys for making decent sale in distro table to cover some personal expenses too.
