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Re: Favorite C.H. band?



Jennifer Joy Dinsmore <jjdinsmo@unca.edu> wrote:

>Okay, so who would you say is the best band in Chapel Hill?

So let's talk about Spatula. Chuck Spatula plays the guitar parts of a
song with the third three fingers of his left hand, and the "bass" part
with his first finger clamped down on the two low strings, which are tuned
funny. Dropped D or something, but that's irrelevant. He was basically
mediocre when they started, but now he's some sort of unconventional
virtuoso. 

Now technical merit has little to do with being the "best" (witness Joe
Satriani, to whack a dead horse), but if you do with your technical merit
what Spatula does with their technical supremacy you're in good shape. 

Matt Spatula is a solid (but not great) drummer, who works perfectly in
the band's framework. When was the last time you heard the drums so
completely *integrated* in a rock band? Spatula writes for the drums
almost like Cole Porter wrote for the voice, if I may be allowed to
exaggerate wildly. There's a distinctive Goecke-matic drum pitter-patter
that makes me wow and flutter. Maybe it's the tom-tomishness if it. 
Anyway, it works perfectly. 

Chris Eubanks is of course the funkiest cello (or whatever that upright
bass thing is) player in the state. Again, integrated nicely. Most bands
that start off with no low end noise generator tend to end up sounding
somehow diluted, or maybe impure, when a bass (or whatever) player is
thrown into the mix; I'd argue this happened to Lud recently. With Spatula
it sounds so organic that in retrospect it seems obvious. The neat thing
is that Chuck sets up the bassline tones so nicely with his guitar playing
that it allows the cello to *not* be a standard low end rock instrument. 
It's more integral to the song melodically and harmonically (if you will)
than the normal "set up the chordings for the melody and re-emphasize the
rhythm" ghetto that most bassists are shunted into. In other words, it's
almost a second "lead" instrument. That's remarkable in a trio setting. 

Spatula play rock epics without bombast, they play atmospherics without
getting dull, they make noise without grating, the don't sing and I don't
miss it, or even notice half of the time. They're not my favorite Triangle
band, but I wouldn't feel at all silly if I went on record saying that
they're the best. 

>******************************************************************
>Jennifer Dinsmore              jjdinsmore@unca.edu
>
>Indeed la, without an oath
>I'll make an end on't. - Ophelia from Hamlet
>
>******************************************************************

Nate Florin                     O villiany! Ho!  
                                   -some guy near the end of Hamlet


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