Acid Baby Jesus at the Charleston, Brooklyn, NY October 16th, 2011
A lot of people have asked me if I’ve visited the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. The movement’s ambiguity has been covered in the mainstream media a lot these past few weeks. While I do fully support the idea of a general assembly to voice our country’s need for change, and believe it’s important to get the picture of our economic ferment painted accurately for the history books, the answer is no, or not yet. The reason mainly being fear of police brutality or the accidental drinking of some weird tea-party kool-aid. Perhaps I’ll check it out this weekend [writes on to-do list].
In case you haven’t heard, Greece has been going through a national bankruptcy for years, with the most recent rash of civil disobedience occurring in Athens this past Wednesday after the passing of something called the Austerity Bill, which includes new tax hikes, further pension cuts, the reduced pay of 30,000 public servants and the suspension of labor contracts. I imagine those people could relate. In light of all that, a Grecian band called Acid Baby Jesus has just released a self-titled full-length LP on Slovenly Records and has come over to the good ‘ol US of A for a tour with long-time buddies Davila 666 (Puerto Rico). They landed in NYC last week, and I’ve been checking out their shows. Their music sounds like a psyched out dreamy fuzz punk party, with songs that rival the jangly dance-ability of any Black Lips ripoff band, but are delivered with enough conviction to separate them from the herd. Lyrically, the songs are hitting the right spot, and the more I listen to them, the more I love them. It’s hard to pick a favorite tune out of the 13 tracks, but “Tooth to Toe” is the most apt. Tonight is their last show in the states at Death By Audio, so I should probably wrap this up and go get ready!
Here’s a short conversation I had with Otto (Guitar/ Acid Baby Jesus), Tili (Bass/ Acid Baby Jesus) and AJ (Bass/ Davila 666) outside of Don Pedro’s in Brooklyn on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011. Just imagine this conversation spoken with heavy Spanish and Grecian accents!
JR: Hey guys, I just want to say I’m so happy that you made it over here for your tour. When I hear your music it sounds like something right out of Atlanta or New York, or like all the music that I love. Tell me your name and what you play.
Otto: I’m Otto, like the bus driver in the Simpsons that smokes a lot of pot and listens to Black Sabbath. I play Guitar.
Tili: Same guy actually. I’m Tili, and I play the bass.
JR: Can you tell me a little bit about the economic atmosphere in Athens?
Otto: It’s fucked up. Everything is shutting down right now.
Tili: My dad actually had the oldest job in Athens since 1857 [textiles], and they shut down this year, and lots of jobs were lost. Sometimes, though, I think it’s one of the best places in the world to live.
(AJ from Davila 666 approaches from behind)
AJ: What’s up you Greek motherfuckers! Hey Jackie-baby!
JR: Que pasa?
JR: Compared to other places in the world like Libya, Egypt and the United States, how would you describe the uprising in Greece that’s happening right now?
Otto: I think Greece and Puerto Rico should become one country, don’t you think so?
AJ: Yeah, when we [Davila] toured in Greece there were big riots.
Otto: Today there were 30,000 people in the streets burning everything.
Tili: Fuck money, let’s do something else, like play music!
AJ: I see the same thing happening in Greece that happened in Egypt, even though their governments are very different. The only difference is that the Greek people are more fearless.
Otto: We had a show in Belgium, and those guys there were saying that they are going to be the next Greece.
JR: The next to go bankrupt?
Otto: Yeah, you hear in the news about every country going through this shit, even America. The truth is, now that everything is fucked up, Greece has to reach the bottom of the well, so it can be born again. After every destruction there needs to be, a how-do-you-say, regeneration, or something.
