aOn Nov. 18, the Middle East Downstairs was invaded. It was an orderly invasion, with the audience first softened by the loud pop of Tyro, then brainwashed by the Causey Way, and finally abducted by Man … or Astro-Man? Though the invasion was not without drawbacks both technical and musical, it was ultimately successful.
Tyro took the stage around 10:15 p.m. and immediately launched into a synth-heavy instrumental that got the crowd moving. However, the band’s main weakness was apparent on the next song. Its female vocalist/keyboardist had a weak, breathy voice that was hard to make out over the instrumental racket and was not very pleasant when discernible. The band, consisting of two guitars, bass and drums along with the keyboards was solid, but hampered, by its vocalist.
Lack of diversity also hurt the band. The majority of its songs were either slow and minor in key or happy verses followed by heavy choruses. Their few instrumentals were the high points of their set. The very nature of their distorted pop made them inoffensive, though, and they left the crowd cheering. They were an adequate opening band, but changing vocalists could make them a headliner.
The Causey Way included two women on bass and keyboards, which made them “twice as good already” as Tyro, according to the gentleman next to me. Rounding out the band was another keyboardist, a drummer, and Causey himself on vocals and guitar. The preaching Causey had a passing resemblance to David Koresh, which several audience members were quick to point out, and his white-clad followers certainly resembled cultists. However, Causey was chimed in, “The Causey Way is NOT a cult,” and I feel it is my duty to report his view, despite all appearances to the contrary.
Religious questions aside, Causey and his compatriots rocked, combining heavy keyboards and wild guitar to produce loud, skewed synth-and-roll.
The cultish stage show was also interesting, as Causey alternately preached happiness (“Everybody hold the hands of your neighbor/ What the world needs now is love!”) and hellfire, challenging one unruly concert-goer to a fight (the miscreant declined).
For the revival’s, I mean set’s, conclusion, Causey forsook his guitar for a Moog and eventually rid himself of that as well, diving into the crowd. He was passed around for awhile, but was unceremoniously dropped onstage- he was heavy. Aside from a few unbelievers, the crowd loved Causey, and sang along with him at the end, Causey… Is Awesome!”
The band reminded me of a more insane and musically diverse Reverend Horton Heat, but like the Reverend, their stage antics took time away from the following band. And taking time away from bands like Man …or Astro-Man? (or in the Reverend’s case, Bad Religion) is a sin not even Causey can cleanse.
Besides the problem of The Causey Way’s extended set, the Astro-Men took a large amount of time to set up. Wires and cables were strewn all over the stage and various computers were brought out, which, combined with normal sound checking duties, pushed the starting time back to 12:30.
The start was well worth the wait, though, as MacinTalk Fred, the computerized voice that sounded like Stephen Hawking’s voicebox, led a rousing call to the audience (“People… on… the… left… say… yeah!”).
Bassist Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard played the theremin on the raucous opening number, which grew more insane as Coco doused the theremin with lighter fluid, set it ablaze, and continued to play.
The next song, “Theme from EEVIAC,” illustrated MOA’s ability to seamlessly fuse sci-fi themes with matchless surf-rock. Then, the troubles began. Coco’s bass malfunctioned, and precious minutes were spent trying to fix it. Even a representative from The Causey Way was unable to heal the ailing instrument. Eventually, Coco abandoned the bass and joined Blasar the Probe Handler on keyboards- computer keyboards hooked up to guitar notes.
The proceedings became more computerized when MacinTalk Fred reappeared, singing “Within One Universe There Are Millions” from MoA’s new album, A Spectrum of Infinite Scale. Drummer Birdstuff then played a small solo, which, like the rest of his output that evening, was superb.
After some slower, even spacier material, Coco wheeled out the strangest instrument of the night: the Imagewriter II dot matrix printer. The Imagewriter was supposed to perform “A Simple Text File,” which is exactly what it sounds like: a text file that when printed, makes a musical statement. Unfortunately, the “very shy printer” was not up to the task, offering only a ten-second burst that, according to Coco, was the “remix.”
The band took this other setback in stride, though, tearing through “Interstellar Hardrive” before moving on to their closing number, a slow, trippy journey through space with impressive work from lead guitarist Trace Reading. The impressive stage was destroyed in slow motion, and Coco wheeled out a giant Tesla coil that spewed static electricity and ozone into the club as the band itself retreated from the stage.
Man…Or Astro-Man?’s set was loud, fast and fun. The only problem was that there was too little of it, due to their technical problems, extensive setup, and the theatrics of The Causey Way. Even though most of these problems were not the band’s fault, most of the crowd could not help feeling a little cheated, and many people hung around the wrecked stage hoping for an encore despite the obvious inability of the band to perform one. However, the music of the evening was fine enough to overcome the brevity of its performance, and was definitely worth the $10 to get in. Hopefully, Man… or Astro-Man? will return to the Boston area to provide their fans with a full, unimpeded concert. Until then, keep watching the skies.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
