Orangutang
with 6L6 at The Middle East Cafe
by Joey Ammo
Downstairs at the Middle East again, yeah, all that. Nobody understands the concept of walking lanes in this place. I pity the servers. Dave ignored me again, but Beth was cool as usual. O.K., here we go…
I missed 6L6‘s set, but the remarks were good. Pete/The Barnies: “Ted Condo is the Sam Kinison of Rock.” Personally, I think Dischord is missing the boat here. 6L6 should be on tour with Fugazi ruling the world. Let’s just say it – Ted Condo is God. There, I know I feel better.
Anyway, I’ve come to see Orangutang and seemingly so has every suburbanite in Sudbury or somewheresville, presumably trying to feel the buzz they’ve heard so much about. I’m not saying the crowd was dead, but c’mon kids, this is live music, not the Louvre. Happily, the band was unruffled.
They hit it hard, opening with “The Day Before I Died,” all dressed in matching tuxedo jackets. There’s twisty Chris Dyas, his pockets filled with facial expressions barely contained underneath a baseball cap. I love this guy’s style. A very personal blend of humor: Slightly self-deprecating and sarcastic, sadly cynical and smirky, happy to laugh at himself while he laughs at the world. You get the feeling he’s telling you something intimate about himself with every song, no matter how many times he’s sung it. Chris provides the charm and the poignancy of Orangutang’s music.
To the right (and everywhere else) is co-writer Dave Steele stomping the floor to splinters and jumping up and down like a young Townsend on acid. Dave likes to rock. Dave probably likes to throw rocks. At windows. The boys have fun.
Rhythm section Joe Klompus and Todd Perlmutter pound out the rest of this mad monkey as they break into “Sea of Glass,” another tune from their Imago CD, Dead Sailor Acid Blues. I was at the press party two days prior when this song closed the brief set with three minutes of instrumental feedback frenzy, Chris on his knees playing possessed slide with a spewing, frothing Rolling Rock. It was kooky.
The fulcrum point of this evening was the haunting “Shiny like Gold,” a melody Andy Partridge would kill to write today. This song makes me wonder what’s behind this guy, and later I got to ask him about it.
“We came through a lot to get here,” Chris tells me. “All my relationships fell apart.” What about the nautical theme of Dead Sailor Acid Blues? Dave explains, “The water is a metaphor for loneliness and sadness; reflection.” I get the sense listening to the album that this is a collection of short stories that would have made a great novel if it hadn’t been put to music.
During the encore, the band passes a bottle of champagne around. They’re leaving tomorrow on their Imago tour, and this is a night for fond wishes from good friends. I wish them well, too. If there’s any ears left out in jaded America they should do great.
