OK, I love wonky guitar playing. Goes back to my days as a wannabe shredder in Criminal Justice. Not the class. The pimply faced, virginal hair-metal band from Pittsburgh, P.A. (Our drummer, who was studying CJ in college at the time, came up with the name. To the rest of us, who were still in high school, “Criminal Justice” wasn’t the least bit lame. Not at all.) I’m not being coy or anti-cool cool by admitting my fondness for listening to axe-men basically masturbate. I would actually spend hours with the headphones on, jamming out mainly to Yngwie, Satriani, and Schenker. (“Captain Nemo” has to be right up there with “La Villa Strangiato” as awesomest wonk-rock instrumental of all time.)
I had other faves, but I had to forget their names to be “cool” once the artfully bland, suspicious-of-artifice ’90s rolled around. So I’m jazzed about Virtuosity, a North Texas-local wonky-guitar summit taking place early next month at Dino’s Sports Bar & Grill (2707 Race St., 817-222-2608). The gig marks Virtuosity’s inaugural Fort Worth show — the event usually takes place in Dallas. On the bill are Millennial Reign, Michael Harris Tranz-Fusion, and two Fort Worth acts: The Underground Railroad and Addnerim. And to Addnerim’s Tyrel Choat and The UR’s Bill Pohl, let me say that I’m using the term “wonky” lovingly. You guys are superb. Pohl, if you must know, has a dreamy/fiery Mahavishnu-era McLaughlin thing going on, and Choat incorporates a little bit of everyone — you might catch some bubbly Satch and Eric Johnson in there, with a sprinkling of 2112-era Lifeson and, of course, Yngwie. (Of course, Yngwie. He’s the original shredder. Any shredder who sweep-picks — and most shredders do — sounds a little like Yngwie, who effectively introduced sweep-picking to the metal guitar-playing community, lo, these 25-plus years ago.) The date of the Virtuosity show is Sat., Sept. 5. The cover is five measly bucks. Visit www.myspace.com/mjroxxpromotions.
The Tool-ish trio Addnerim, as I recently told you (“Dead, New Media,” Aug. 12, 2009), will be releasing a song on eight-track soon. I asked the guys in the band, “Why eight-track?” “It seems like a cool idea that not a lot of bands are doing right now,” said Choat. “It is something I can see being kind of trendy down the road like releasing an LP is now, so if we are going to be trendsetters, I’d say we need to do it now. Besides, eight-track tapes are very warm-sounding, even more so than a record or cassette.” My man, drummer Damien Grober, said, “I think it’s also symbolic. Personally symbolic. The need to encapsulate ourselves (not unlike a time machine) in something from the past to be discovered by someone in the future. The need to perhaps find our past selves. Find the things that might be useful to us there. … They might be useful to help us grow. They might destroy us.” Alrighty then! Fort Worth’s The Dead Media is the company that is producing the cartridge. Visit http://deadmediatapes.com. Also note that the band has a gig on Saturday at Ridglea Theater (6025 Camp Bowie Blvd., 817-738-9500), with Tyrade, Shining Silence, Hammer Union, Palm Tree, and Urizen. Visit www.myspace.com/addnerim.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
