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Setlist
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The Detroit area has always had a great history of guitar rock heroes—
--from Fred “Sonic” Smith and Wayne Kramer of the MC5, to The Stooges, to Jack White and the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. You can add Warren Defever and His Name is Alive to that list.
The prolific Livonia, MI native is the mainstay of the band and proved his guitar might, with an appearance recently at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. Those that only associate the band with the 1990’s releases on 4AD Records were, I’m sure, surprised that the label’s trademarked ethereal and dreamy sounds were supplanted by raw guitar riffs and more straight-ahead rock by Defever and co. as they played a 90 min. set on their next-to-last date of their 25th anniversary tour.
The evening began with a low-key and low-fi performance by The Murder of Crows, a project featuring Low’s Alan Sparhawk (guitar, vocals) and Gaelynn Lea (violin, vocals) promoting their first EP, Imperfecta, which the wheelchair-bound Lea says refers to her genetic disability, Osteogenesis Imperfecta.
Lea often took the lead, with souldful child-like vocals and elegant violin playing, which she perched upright, similar to a small cello, and Sparhawk strummed along seated, manipulating the guitar and loop pedals. Songs like the reflective ‘Let It Go’ couldn’t help but feel somewhat sad, similar in tone to Low’s own “slowcore” method of minimalistically taking its time for the song to find its way. A stirring instrumental mid-set of Nirvana’s ‘Heart Shaped Box’ sounded more urgent while keeping its dark edge intact.
After a brief break, the members of His Name is Alive took to the stage, amid a dreamy trance-like intro before a booming bass drum took them into ‘The Torso’ from 1993’s Mouth by Mouth album. In addition to Defever, the other members (Andrea Morici - vocals, bass synth, mellotron: Dusty Jones – guitar/bass, talkbox; J Rowe – drums) took to the challenge of playing 25 yrs of music in stride, with Morici referring to lyrics on her music stand as a reminder.
The new 13 min. ‘The Examination’ was next, giving the crowd a proper introduction to their newest release, Tecuciztecatl (London London Records), with Morici (previously of Tranzistors, Sonapanic, and briefly Sparklehorse) staking a confident claim to vocally own these songs as her own. Selections jumped around again, from 2002’s ‘Last Night’ to 2006’s ‘Maybe Again After I Leave U’, back to 1993’s ‘Where Knock is Open Wide’, making this 25th anniversary show truly a broad brush of the band’s career.
Defever, sporting a Swan Song logo t-shirt finally spoke, off-mike and over a half hour into their 90 min set, introducing the band and claiming he read that Minneapolis has a high Aztec population (?!), in reference to the new album’s title.
Most songs started somewhat quiet and dreamy, only to explode with Defever’s shredding and a shaking rhythm section amp-ing the songs up tenfold in intensity. Jones moved between bass and guitar (sometimes within the same song) to help lead the sonic attack, that took no quarter (yep, a Zep reference there).
The performance even became participatory, as Defever handed out numerous tambourines for the audience to use on his cue, which all gleefully did. 1993’s ‘Cornfield’ told of Defever’s days as a kid, picking corn in rural Ontario, which built itself into a fuzzy wall of sound, to end the main set.
People whooped and yelled and the borrowed tambourines shook until the band returned for the encore, starting with a fast instrumental from Defever’s former psychobilly band, Elvis Hitler. An ode to Jimi Hendrix followed, to then end the evening with a delicate number deemed the first song Defever ever wrote, ‘As We Could Ever’ from their 1990 debut.
Twenty five years of catalog songs left the band plenty to choose from, and His Name is Alive made the most of it, playing songs from all facets of their career. At its heart, Defever proved that the notable relationship of Detroit-area musicians and the guitar, continues to flourish.
--from Fred “Sonic” Smith and Wayne Kramer of the MC5, to The Stooges, to Jack White and the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. You can add Warren Defever and His Name is Alive to that list.
The prolific Livonia, MI native is the mainstay of the band and proved his guitar might, with an appearance recently at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. Those that only associate the band with the 1990’s releases on 4AD Records were, I’m sure, surprised that the label’s trademarked ethereal and dreamy sounds were supplanted by raw guitar riffs and more straight-ahead rock by Defever and co. as they played a 90 min. set on their next-to-last date of their 25th anniversary tour.
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The Murder of Crows
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Lea often took the lead, with souldful child-like vocals and elegant violin playing, which she perched upright, similar to a small cello, and Sparhawk strummed along seated, manipulating the guitar and loop pedals. Songs like the reflective ‘Let It Go’ couldn’t help but feel somewhat sad, similar in tone to Low’s own “slowcore” method of minimalistically taking its time for the song to find its way. A stirring instrumental mid-set of Nirvana’s ‘Heart Shaped Box’ sounded more urgent while keeping its dark edge intact.
|
Warren Defever
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The new 13 min. ‘The Examination’ was next, giving the crowd a proper introduction to their newest release, Tecuciztecatl (London London Records), with Morici (previously of Tranzistors, Sonapanic, and briefly Sparklehorse) staking a confident claim to vocally own these songs as her own. Selections jumped around again, from 2002’s ‘Last Night’ to 2006’s ‘Maybe Again After I Leave U’, back to 1993’s ‘Where Knock is Open Wide’, making this 25th anniversary show truly a broad brush of the band’s career.
Defever, sporting a Swan Song logo t-shirt finally spoke, off-mike and over a half hour into their 90 min set, introducing the band and claiming he read that Minneapolis has a high Aztec population (?!), in reference to the new album’s title.
Most songs started somewhat quiet and dreamy, only to explode with Defever’s shredding and a shaking rhythm section amp-ing the songs up tenfold in intensity. Jones moved between bass and guitar (sometimes within the same song) to help lead the sonic attack, that took no quarter (yep, a Zep reference there).
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His Name is Alive's Setlist
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People whooped and yelled and the borrowed tambourines shook until the band returned for the encore, starting with a fast instrumental from Defever’s former psychobilly band, Elvis Hitler. An ode to Jimi Hendrix followed, to then end the evening with a delicate number deemed the first song Defever ever wrote, ‘As We Could Ever’ from their 1990 debut.
Twenty five years of catalog songs left the band plenty to choose from, and His Name is Alive made the most of it, playing songs from all facets of their career. At its heart, Defever proved that the notable relationship of Detroit-area musicians and the guitar, continues to flourish.
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His Name is Alive at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (15 Apr 2015) |
