A couple of night ago I went to see Maserati here in Austin.
Maserati at the Mohawk, Austin 2011.04.10
One of the psychological effects of an elevated stage, especially when one is close to the stage, is to make the performers appear taller than they really are- literally “larger than life.” My experience, however, is that it only happens for me with certain bands. (Maybe this is what is meant by “stage presence.”) The first time I noticed the effect was when I saw Bad Brains undergoing a temporary bout of vitality at Cardi’s in 2000. Looking at Dr. Know like he’s eight feet tall is kind of scary, actually, in a totally awesome and thrilling way.
Maserati have that quality. They play with a fluidity and ease that commands a stage even when they aren’t moving around much. And they sound fucking great. They ought to; they’ve been touring with this band for nearly 11 years now. That’s an awfully long lifespan for an indie rock band. At this point, guitarist and bandleader Coley Dennis is the only original member that most audiences will see, as their other guitarist, Matt Cherry, doesn’t tour. Mason Brown, an old friend of mine whom you may remember (prolly not), is filling in on this tour.
Mason Brown
Although Maserati played ten dates or so around the time of the release of their most recent album, this is the first long tour the band has done since the death of drummer Jerry Fuchs in 2009.
Although I’m from Georgia, and Fuchs and I had some mutual friends, I didn’t know him. To me Fuchs was just a member of a band I like, and not even an original member. I saw Maserati a couple of times before he was even in the band (including once in the summer of 2000, which I now realize was more than a decade ago). I had no idea who he was the first 30 times I listened to Inventions for the New Season.
However, since his death, I and other fans of the band have devoted a significant amount of time to remembering Fuchs. I’ve spent enough time listening and playing along to his records and thinking about his place in rock music and in this band- whom, I should note, I first saw more than ten years ago without Fuchs- my idea of the band’s music is tightly wrapped up with my idea of Fuchs as a sort of musical icon.
For that reason, I went to this show carrying some baggage. And what I discovered, watching this show, is that I no longer know how to listen to this band without Fuchs in it. They have a fine drummer, Anthony Paterra of Zombi; but all I could think watching them is that it’s not the same.
Brown, Chris McNeal, and Anthony Paterra
The same year that Inventions for the New Season came out (2007), Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett of Silkworm came out with the first Bottomless Pit record. This was the first LP they did after the death of Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist in 2005. At the time, I called Bottomless Pit’s Hammer of the Gods “a great argument for rock as serious art, because almost no other form can capture the brutality of grief and anger as plainly and viscerally as this.”
I wouldn’t call Maserati’s music “brutal.” However, I think it certainly can be transportive or transcendent. That’s what I was hoping for from them on Sunday. Perhaps part of the problem was that their music is no more transportive or transcendent now than it was when Fuchs was alive.
Coley Dennis
Perhaps another part of the problem is that, while rock music is certainly capable of producing powerful emotions, and you can make a case for it as serious art, as a cultural product, however serious, it’s still low art- which means that it’s experienced in bars in the middle of the night. Therefore, a bunch of fratty dudes can wander into the Mohawk from the condos across the street, get hammered, and express their appreciation for live music lustily, loudly and repeatedly. That’s just as elemental an experience of rock and roll as a feeling of emotional fullness or transcendence. Knowledge of the foundations of rock requires us to admit as much.
At the same time, it’s awfully hard for those two experiences to coexist. Drunken cheers tend to deflate the more elevated ideas about rock music. That’s how I felt watching this show- deflated. Coming to the show with baggage, and not being able to hear the band for what it is now, I felt foolish. Like a failure as a music fan. I don’t know what to do about that.
