2022 - the year of the dan: chapter 29

chapter 29

the bonk seems to be a band in coughlans for the quiet lights festival and i had to go to this one cos they were supposed to play in july but it got cancelled last minute probably covid you know yourself gutted like

they didn’t bring the bass drum but it turned out they had all the other drums – stuck at the back was hard to see it was stuffed naturally and there was a drum machine for sure which is a departure from the last time i saw them and these were filthy beats now as if it was techno slowed down right down while the jazz stew cooked up around them – dirty beats alright yes

they were five with phil of course and the brother on drums then dan walsh not surprisingly involved on sax and clarinet and piccolo flute i think it might have been sure he even pulled out a harmonica at one point and the two other lads on guitar and trumpet ripping it up i don’t know their names but fuckit they’re good

african jazz influences and of course american jazz somebody thought they heard david axelrod in there somewhere but i’m not sure about that they had no bass guitar like even if phil was covering the bass end alright quite nicely thank you

less of a bang of beefheart than previous shows and no sign of that absolute banger ancestor from the debut album which has possibly the most genius backing vocals ever recorded but there was in praise of vril and by christ that’s a great slow groove

no the overriding sense is of dance music simple as that in one way though of course very difficult to make it seem that simple and the improv sections are a treat for all as phil calls the tune and fades down the drum machine by hand here and there

so in short the bonk seems to be a band still doing awesome things and it was such a joy to be in the room along with 50 other bodies whooping and hollering and congratulations on the new direction well new to me anyway and i cannot fucking WAIT for the new record



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