Odd double bill of disparate sounds. DVG are a young female-centric California quartet. Young women at bass, drums, organ/vocals and a young man on guitar. The sound was punk and the lyrics had a lysergic bent. Front woman was a character and had large sea-green swoosh makeup around her eyes a la Dale Bozzio from Missing Persons. While I won’t make comparisons to the Go Gos or the Bangles, this crew showed the lineage of girl bands of yore. The singer urged patrons to meet her at the merch table to talk about the existence of aliens.
WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc) is from Zambia and seemed to have some releases in the 70s. I was curious to see the geometry of the players. Youngsters on bass, percussion, drums, and two guitars were joined by two elderly African men. The sound was full on Afrobeat with one of the original members on organ while the other sang. It was clear that someone, probably the bass player, coaxed these two (and their band name) out of retirement. The beat was infectious and the crowd was receptive. I would be remiss if I didn’t describe these musicians, as they were as disparate as the double bill. One guitarist was American, he wore a Flying Burrito Brothers country rock shirt and looked like Burt Reynolds. The other guitarist was Canadian and looked as if he were in a Romantics cover band. The percussionist played bongos and congas and was dressed in white overalls and wore a Gilligan hat. His “kit” was graced with a plush Woodstock (snoopy’s pal). The drummer was a young African American man from New Orleans. The bass player was a sight, at sound check he (they?) wore a satin jacket with the Fame logo on the back. During the show, they opted for an orange frilly pirate shirt. They is Dutch and goes by the name Jacco Gardner who has some excellent solo offerings. The Zambians were equally colorful. The organ player looked like a day-glo Art Blakey, and the singer appeared to be a psychedelic Huggy Bear. The twin guitar assault emphasized the James Browness of the afrobeat. I notice that the recent WITCH release has some nice rap vocal guesting from Sampa The Great.
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