Pan-American postskronkjazzcore supergroup
Garage A Trois's
new album is a stone-cold killer: It'll lure you in with sultry
saxophone wails and vibraphone licks, root you to the spot with a
lurching organ drone here and a cop-drama suspense motif there,
and finally club you to blissful death with an unrelenting, slightly
idiosyncratic rhythm section. Also, it's called
Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil, which rules.
The
quartet has been on the prowl since 1999 -- though the present
incarnation was minted in 2007 with the addition of keyboardist/organist
Marco Benevento (of the excellent
Benevento-Russo Duo) -- taking just enough time from the members' respective projects (Seattle industrial-jazz veterans
Critters Buggin! New Orleans funk ensemble
Galactic! Underrated R.E.M. offshoot
Tuatara!) to record five albums, including the soundtrack to a never-released French film called
Outre Mer.
That
last bit of information confirms the eerily precise cinematic quality
to Garage A Trois's jams, and also suggested the framework for today's
Q&A: we asked percussionist Mike Dillon (far left in the picture) to
describe an imaginary movie featuring each song on
Always Be Happy.
If his answers don't entice you to check out the quartet's free 2 p.m.
in-store at the Haight St. Amoeba on Saturday, or their
show at the Independent that evening, maybe
a sampling from Garage A Trois radio will do the trick.
"Omar": This song was actually inspired by
The Wire.
It was composed after a tour with Les Claypool. We watched all five
seasons. This song plays as it pans to the kid's face after he offs our
hero.
"Resentment Incubator": Four men
in a van, on tour with their first band. The idea of touring has been a
dream. They talked about it all through high school. At the end of the
tour they hate each other, two of the guys are strung out, and one
dude's girlfriend has left him. The glamorous life.
"Earl Harvin": African-American man gets gig playing drums with the French band
Air. He falls in love with Europe. A few years later he moves from LA to Berlin. Becomes fluent in German. Meets his true love.
"Shooting Breaks":
A man is on the top of a beautiful hill overlooking Lake Austin. He is
massively depressed. He graduated valedictorian of his high school. He
graduated with honors from law school. It all seemed perfect. His girl
left him. Life seemed empty. He didn't know he was bipolar. In a split
second he puts a gun in his mouth and shoots himself a break.
"Kansas": Feel the '70s, man. Dust off the ghost of the tube, brah. Experimental cinema.
"Swellage":
Crazy guitarist from huge rock band hangs out in a hot tub with ladies
on Molly. People always trying to get next to him. This is a beautiful
experience on ecstasy, so he often repeats it.
"The Drum Department":
A modern drummer poster child has a beautiful wife who is a genius.
They have crazy adventures in the world. Traveling, sweating, airport
stalls. He recalls his first hardcore show, which was Bad Brains. He
quits being a studio whore and joins a punk band from New Orleans.
"Thumb":
A wonderful man leaves Brooklyn for upstate New York. They find a
place with a pond and 8 acres. He realizes that HR from Bad Brains has
been squatting in his barn. The drama unfolds as his daughter teaches HR
the one lesson he failed to remember.
"Baby Mama Drama": A
creative woman is always asking her jazz millionaire ex for more money.
She drives across the country to put stickers on public buildings. She
is preparing for 2012. She must instill the Native American spirit, or
else.
"Chimp and Flower": A New York City woman falls in
love with a dirty ape. The dirty ape is always on the road. He cannot be
had. His world consists of fossil fuels, tabla practice, and espresso.
They travel, love, and fight. However, the limbo of not knowing what
he can give drives her back to the world she left. She ends up a
curating the Tate Modern and he relapses on heroin and dies in a hotel
on Lombard.
"Dark Bogul": Same film. The friends of the dead jazz musician play music at the wake.
"Assault on Precinct 13": See
John Carpenter movie.
