Arcane Candy

Sir Richard Bishop & His Freak of Araby Ensemble.

Sir Richard Bishop & His Freak of Araby Ensemble.

Huntington Park, California
Saturday, May 30, 2009

This show was originally supposed to go down at some place called Gilbert’s, which I’ve never heard of in my life. Even Google Maps couldn’t find it, and neither could I after an hour or two of driving around in circles. I’m convinced it doesn’t exist. Luckily, a gigantic carnivorous insect landed on my shoulder and whispered into my ear a rumor that the show got moved at the last minute to the Escarpment–a rad, raw office / warehouse set-up in Huntington Park. By the time I got there, a good-sized crowd of at least 200 teens and 20-somethings had gathered. Earthless had just finished, which was a bummer, because I’ve always wanted to catch one of their sets.

Wolf Eyes.

A few minutes later, Sir Richard Bishop & His Freak of Araby Ensemble took to the stage. After numerous solo acoustic guitar tours over the past several years, Richard embarked on this, his first tour with a full band after the demise of the Sun City Girls, and it’s great to see him show off his highly skilled, intricate fretwork in an all-electric setting. The band, which consisted of guitar, bass, drum kit and a hand percussionist, offered up a short but sweet set that recalled the most melodic, perky, Middle Eastern-singed Sun City Girls instrumentals.

A big-ass crowd of smokers.

The second half of the show was dedicated to a legit, non-stop noise fest for the kids. Complete with a coonskin cap, a double sax machine, snarling vocals and electronics, Wolf Eyes fed the feedback-hungry crowd a deafening, hour-long, abstract electronic tonic. Black Dice followed suit with more of the same with the addition of an electric guitar and a psychedelic film that battered every pair of eyes in the house with 6.8 billion images per moment. That’s one image for every person alive on the Earth every second.

Black Dice.

Saturday Night Fever.

The most amazing part of Black Dice’s set came near the end when a random girl behind the crowd started dancing to the tune of the electronic maelstrom, wildly flailing around and falling down in the process. The only bummer about this place was that they sold alcohol out of a back room. I would have been more stoked on a vegetarian burrito. Anyway, this show was a rousing success. P.S. I was really stoked on all of the old, rusty steel fences out back, some sections of which looked kind of like sculptures. Look for a full gallery from this concert coming later.

Text and photos ©2009 Arcane Candy.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Sir Richard Bishop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.