-
You might imagine that meeting up with Low frontman Alan Sparhawk for the purpose of shooting a photo documentary for his new band Retribution Gospel Choir could be an intimidating venture for anyone, let alone a Low junkie for the last 16 years. It was. Luckily the night couldn’t have gone better and the band couldn’t have been more accommodating to my prying lens and the click click clicking noise made with every snap of the shutter.
Retribution Gospel Choir played at The Crocodile in Seattle, WA a few days after Alan and Mimi of Low had finished performing a series of shows for a modern dance performance – sounded very interesting. Meeting Alan, Eric and Steve was amazing and seeing Alan rip at the guitar with his mouth was quite a moment. Highlights included but were not remotely limited to: eating pizza at Via Tribunali, watching Alan give rocks and some money to a war vet with a sign about getting F.U.B.A.R.’d, watching the guys soundcheck and meeting Alan’s wife and Low vocalist Mimi Parker. Did I mention Alan playing guitar with his mouth?
meeting up with the band before sound check
Alan getting into the sound check
Steve warming up the room with his bass
Mimi
Live
Sound check with nary but a few employees, tour manager and myself. Lucky me.
Alan and his lucky cowboy hat. He played a show with it on once and it kept falling off. You would understand if saw you him play.
Just before hitting the stage.
Why don't I ever keep notes? This is their stand in guitar player who made the long drive all the way up the coast from LA to Seattle in a day to play with RGC!
Seattle is an interesting place.
Alan working on some new songs in the green room.
Alan gave this guy some money so he could get F.U.B.A.R.'d. I later saw the guy walking down the street after the show with a smile on his face like he had reached his goal for the night.
Set list with Alan
Steven
On our way to Via Tribunali for their life altering pizza
“As a teenager I dreamed of being a rock star – I’m not ashamed to admit it, however I soon learned that music is not a career – the best you can hope for is a chance to play your stuff in front of people.”
- Alan Sparhawk
Retribution Gospel Choir recently played a terrific show at Seattle’s historic The Crocodile in support of their new album 2. Local band – and Sub Pop label mates – Kinski played a solid opening set, warming the crowd for the much anticipated appearance of the Johnny Cash Trio. Ok, so Cash didn’t actually appear on stage, but all members of the band came out dressed head-to-toe in a solid black motif that would have made the country legend proud. And, technically, they were only a trio for part of the show, as the band played with an extra guitarist on a number of songs to add texture to their live sound.
The set leaned heavily on songs from the new album, but mixed in cuts from their self-titled debut. Album stand out “White Wolf” was again a highlight, but the biggest transformation from studio-to-stage came by way of “Poor Man’s Daughter.” Much like the album version, the song started slow, and then exploded into an epic guitar assault, with Alan Sparhawk assuming the role of guitar God by playing a solo with his face. Quite entertaining! After the main set, the band made their way back onto the stage for a brief encore before waving goodbye to a pleased Seattle crowd.
Despite the fact that the band conveyed very little to the crowd verbally (I believe the first thing said all night was when Sparhawk thanked the crowd for coming at the end of the main set), the band engaged the audience through their animated stage antics. As quoted above, in music often the best you can hope for is chance to play in front of other people, and given this exuberant performance, it appears Retribution Gospel Choir enjoys doing just that. If you are looking for an exciting rock show, get out and see them when they play your town.
-
Retribution Gospel Choir is a rock trio founded in 2007. The group features Alan Sparhawk on guitar and vocals, Steve Garrington on bass and Eric Pollard on drums and vocals. Alan also fronts the band Low with his wife, Mimi Parker, and Steve also plays bass in Low. 2 is Retribution Gospel Choir’s 2nd full-length and Sub Pop debut!
- Written by Mark Grace
8.4/10 -
It seems that every review of a Retribution Gospel Choir album has to begin by talking about Low, frontman Alan Sparhawk’s more well-known band. While it would be nice to be able to consider an RGC album independent of other projects the band members may be involved with, the fact of the matter is that for anyone who has heard Low this is a difficult task. The loud, heavy sound of RGC serves as such a dramatic counterpoint to the hushed and glacially paced minimalism of Low that it’s hard not to think of them in a comparative context. -
My first look at RGC came in the 2008 documentary You Made Need a Murderer. The documentary followed Sparhawk and wife Mimi Parker – also of Low – through life as parents and musicians in Duluth, Minnesota. The Sparhawk that emerged on film was pensive and thoughtful, if not somewhat unable to fluently convey his internal conflicts. For a guy whose music in many ways relied on the absence of noise to evoke emotion, there sure seemed to be a lot of noise bottled up in his head that he struggled to release. Thus, to see a clip in the film of him cranking out walls of sound with his RGC bandmates seemed to make sense as an outlet for what he couldn’t express in the context of Low. And what was seen in that short clip has been the basic template for RGC over their first two albums: heavy rock riffage with blasts of feedback and distortion that would make the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, and Neil Young and Crazy Horse proud.
2 more or less picks up where their self-titled debut left off with these elements, but sees the band adding new instruments to their sound for additional texture (banjo, cello). The album’s lead single, “Hide It Away,” is a catchy album opener that features a strong chorus and harmony. The sprawling and epic “Electric Guitar,” checking in at around eight minutes, is an aptly named song if there ever was one and serves almost as an argument for the existence of the instrument itself. The song starts slow and builds before releasing into a swirling guitar frenzy backed by propulsive drumming. The biggest highlight, however, is “White Wolf,” featuring the album’s most memorable hook and guitar lines.
Elsewhere, “Poor Man’s Daughter” is a terrific encapsulation of the Low-RGC divide. The vocal delivery and pacing on the first half are very reminiscent of what you might find in a Low song, but after a bridge in the middle section the song turns to heavy, messy guitars and pounding drums that are unmistakably RGC. But this juxtaposition of sound is life for Alan Sparhawk. Sometimes it’s hushed and quiet; sometimes it’s loud and chaotic. Often times, it’s both.
If you are young, have nothing better to do, like bad music, but like to criticize bands you know nothing about then send an email to info @ indierockreviews.com
