The Warlocks

As the relentless riff of Spaceman 3’s ‘Revolution’ fills the Garage prior to the gig, I’m reminded of founding member Sonic Boom’s infamous quote, in which he claimed that his band were in the business of “Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to.” The same principle could all too easily be extended to The Warlocks – especially given the often-repeated media myths regarding the LA septet’s reputation for hard living and their propensity to anchor songs with a single fuzzed-up note. But there’s much more to The Warlocks than drugs and drone, and in any case it’s all been said before. We’re here to see them play, not to deal in yet more media hyperbole.

We’ve arrived late and, much to our annoyance, missed upcoming support band, Dead Combo. Not long after securing a pint from the bar the background music fades, the lights dim and the band quietly assume their positions on stage. Without introduction the heavily flanged and ethereal guitar chimes of ‘Above Earth’ fill the room to announce the start of the gig. First impressions are that the band look too big for the stage – well, there are seven of them! However, right from the first note the band’s timing is spot on, and the sound is good – there’s something to be said for poky venues with low ceilings! The Warlocks have a naturally big sound, and in such a small room it feels as every bit as wholesomely overpowering as we’d hoped it might.

The band is here to promote their new album, ‘Surgery’, and for the first four or five songs the band sticks to songs from this. Surgery is a comparatively bleak and detached affair, especially when compared to their more celebratory and upbeat albums of old. There are no 15-minute wig- outs either, with songs mostly lasting around the four to five minute marks.

It’s a sure sign that their label, Mute, hope to make them more accessible by making them more, dare we say, radio friendly. While nobody would begrudge The Warlocks a bit more commercial success, long-term fans know that one of their biggest strengths to date has been the hypnotic crunch of their protracted live jams, where 15 minutes can easily go by in a blaze of swirling, multi-layered guitars and psychedelic feedback. In any case, it seems unlikely that Surgery will conquer either the charts or the airwaves, as it’s simply too dark and heavy for the majority of today’s Prozac-pop generation.

But that’s not to say that Surgery is bad album – far from it. There’s a luminous, iridescent beauty that shines throughout, lighting up even the darkest passages of the album, coupled with a newly discovered melodic maturity that translates brilliantly when performed live.

The main descending riff of ‘We Need Starpower’, combined with Hecksher’s lament, “I wish that I could… laugh about it…” is enough to induce butterflies, while the implosive crescendo to ‘Thursday’s Radiation’ is enough to send shivers down the spine. Like rabbits caught in the headlights, it’s not long before the crowd is entranced deep within the band’s rich, multi-layered wall of sound.

On ‘Come Save Us’ the tangible force of the twin kick drums bury themselves deep in our stomach. Having two drummers on stage playing much the same thing might seem like a bit of a novelty on paper, but when experienced live it’s a bit like having Lennox Lewis jab at your right ribcage, while Mike Tyson pounds away at your left. While the two drummers do their best knock us backwards, the rich, overlapping textures conjured up by the other five catch us gently in a velvet-lined aural envelope of shimmering warm fuzz. You’ll always feel safe listening to The Warlocks.

After most of Surgery has been showcased, and showcased brilliantly at that, Hecksher announces that the band would like to play a few older songs. And so we’re treated to some more upbeat numbers from the band’s back catalogue. The hip-shaking stagger of ‘Shake the Dope Out’ is followed by the masterful ‘The Dope Feels Good’. And indeed, it does. The change in tempo seems to wake the crowd from its trance-like state a bit, and even Hecksher breaks into a smile as he bounces about on stage. ‘Caveman Rock’ harks back to a more primal Warlocks sound, while ‘Jam of the Warlocks’ (I think) gives those long-term fans in the crowd exactly what they want; Bobby and Co giving it their all in a prolonged, distorted psychedelic wig- out.

Long before time and it’s all over. The crowd duly barks and whistles for more, and the band obliges by returning to the stage and launching into the stomping guitar mash of ‘Red Rooster’, followed by an elongated version of another Phoenix classic, ‘Hurricane Heart Attack’. The final song of the evening sees a return to Surgery, with album-closer ‘Suicide Note’. It’s not nearly as dreary as the title suggests, and a laughing Hecksher happily plays with his Theremin to create a spacey backdrop to the song’s otherwise desperate lyric.

All in all, it’s been a real pleasure to spend an evening with LA’s finest. The Warlocks are unlikely to make much headway into the mainstream, but on this evidence the band remains both assured and worthy of cult status for their live performances. Make sure you get to see them next time they visit town and in the meantime, go check out their mighty Phoenix album or the darker but ultimately beautiful Surgery.

FUTURE GIGS

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