“No stop signs, speed limit/ Nobody’s gonna slow me down/ Like a wheel, gonna spin it/ Nobody’s gonna mess me around/ Hey Satan, paid my dues/ Playing in a rocking band/ Hey mama, look at me/ I’m on my way to the promised land!”—The second verse from a song about going to hell, made famous by a notorious rock and roll band from down under.February’s done and spring has sprung. Or has it? March means blustery skies, big clouds, the chance of rain and maybe even a surprise snow storm as the humans of Burque head toward another vernal equinox.This time of year also means more concerts, kids. As the air around you heats up and life returns all greenly, graciously to foothills and river forests, so too does the volume on locally stacked banks of Marshall amplifiers get turned up a notch. Everywhere you listen guitars are being tuned while flowers bloom.There’s also Weekly Alibi’s Best of Burque Music Showcase coming up at the end of the month. That’s going to be as sick as ever, with the best bands in town playing for you, our rocked out readers.Until then put a spring in your step, continue to ignore old Scratch and check out these concerts on your way to the promised land.
Show Up!: Thursday
Trippie Red
courtesy of the artist
Life’s a trip according to a dude named Michael Lamar White IV and he will rap to you all the astonishing details as Trippie Redd, a flowmaster with his head in the clouds and the rest of his physical form dedicated to pouring out a brand of hip-hop some call emo rap. That’s a truly stirred and sliced genre that literally throws the finger at previous rap aesthetics by focusing on lyrical themes that include heartbreak and general sadness. Throw in some nods to rocanrol via rhythm-burying instrumental breaks and killer guitar gymnastics and the sound is a new animal, all dangerous and digital in nature. For the rock side of that rule check out “How You Feel” from Trippie’s new record Life’s A Trip or better yet, get the ill effect by checking out his concert at the Historic El Rey Theater (622 Central Ave. SW) on Thursday, March 7. You’re bound to come away from there full of love, numb from the distortion and mostly at a point where you kinda grok where hip-hop is headed in the 21st century. 8pm • $39.50 • All-ages.
Show Up!: Friday
Red Mesa is an awesome power trio with puro Americano Southern-fried inflections, twisty guitar emanations and a heart made out of the purest heaviest metal to be found in this uranium-soaked state. Fronted by guritarist Brad Frye and completed by local rock heavyweights Roman Barham on drums and Josh Vigil on bass, Red Mesa kicks off its latest tour of Hades and the surrounding world on Friday, March 8 at Launchpad (618 Central Ave. SW). In case you haven’t had the time or opportunity to listen to this outrageously articulate ensemble, spend an hour or two absorbing their debut The Devil and The Desert. With its hot sauce blend of bluesy, instrumental prowess, relentless string studies, deep lyrical ruminations—and the dankest of rhythm sections all committed to creating a musical symbology that elevates the darkness of Earth toward the light of the moon via sacred datura—it’s one heck of a statement to the power of metal in Nuevo Mexico. SuperGiant, Beerwolf and Guadalupe Blue open. To quote words from the aforementioned record: “My god, I feel so alive.” Rawk! 8pm • $5 • 21+.
Show Up!: Saturday
Back in Sept. of ’18, I ran across a demo by a group of seven local players going by the moniker SubTractor. I was danged impressed by this group and looked toward the day they’d be up on stage demonstrating to the good folks of Burque the same incalculable awesomeness that I had taken up company with on that fateful day. Well six months went by and wouldn’t you know it, I get my wish come true. SubTractor will be gigging at Sister (407 Central Ave. NW) on Saturday, March 9. In case you are wondering what the big deal is, this is some of what I wrote about listening to the band’s demo:“I got it that this group of musicians (trumpet player Eric Coker, trombonist and vocalist Brian Evans, saxophonist Brent Kelly, guitarist Richard Kilmer, bassist and vocalist Jens Langsjoen, drummer Luke Phillips and organist Dan Waldman) sure can play their way around the complex genre popularized by outifts like The Band, Chicago and the Tower of Power. … Tracks like ‘Mercury’s Oddysey’ have a jazz touch that would have Walter Becker blushing, could he hear its majesty from the strat-shaped clouds that buoy his flight through eternity. ‘Detroit Twice’ is a dark and driving funky groove wound up in a musical description of a city perfectly understood by Coker’s horn and Kelly’s sax. This album should be required listening for two reasons: Number one, it’s like straight outta Burque. Number two: It’s totally arch.” DJ Leftovers opens. Be there or be square, I reckon. 8pm • $5 • 21+.
Show Up!: Sunday
On Sunday night, March 10 Launchpad (608 Central Ave. SW) hosts a ’90s fashion party fundraiser for a film called Millenium Bugs, by Burqueño filmmaker Alejandro Montoya. The film is “a dramedy set in the 1990s that deals with family issues, alcoholism, and the potential end of the world… all with a killer soundtrack.” The rocking live event, where concert-goers are urged to party like it’s 1999, features some of the most interesting bands in Burque. In other words, this money-making show will have a slaying soundtrack as well. Be on the lookout and keep your ear to the ground for sounds by Duke City stalwarts Red Light Cameras, Crime Lab (featuring second generation Burque über-rocker Oskar “I’m Carl’s kid” Petersen), super ritualistic chingasos Ceremonies and the very, very funky ruminations of DJ Buddhafunk. Remember it’s for a cause. Drop a Hamilton on the whole thing, listen to your body that night and remember I was dreamin’ when I wrote this. 8pm • $7 in advance, $10 at the door • 21+.
Show Up!: Sunday Part Ii
If you like caveman battle doom death music emanating from the awesomely dark chasm that exists somewhere in the semi-industrial wasteland that is the upper West Coast of Old Blighty, then you sure as shootin’ should sally forth over to Sister (407 Central Ave. SW) on Sunday, March 10. It’s at that precise location you will be able to be witness to a beast called Conan. Yes, these dudes (guitarist/frontman Jon Davis, bassist Chris Fielding and drummer Johnny King) tune down their sound to make it resemble the toothy growlings of an ancient dragon hellbent on mankind’s destruction, but that’s kinda the point, isn’t it? When Existential Void Guardian dropped at the end of last summer, I was sure it was a harbinger of the apocalypse. Thankfully tuneage like “Paincantation” and “Volt Thrower” are actually hopeful when thought upon deeply—these are joyful neanderathalisms being bashed about in the name of transcendence, dig? Adding to the sense that all of this is about to end, but with a blistering belief that it will happen in sync with a solid backbeat leading the way are supporting acts Marsupious and Street Tombs. Smile now, cry later, rockers. 8pm • $13 • 21+.
Show Up!: Tuesday
Prism Bitch
courtesy of the artist
Prism Bitch has escaped, yo. Add them to the list of of dutifully dank, soulfully serious hard rockers that have de-orbited Dirt City. That is to say they have apparently made it to the next level and are gathering their magic rings, guitar strings and other things together as the quintet prepares for an engagement later this month as SXSW, at the Freakout Records showcase. They’ll be jamming at Javelina bar on March 14 in Austex if you really wanna know. But before they ascend the inevitable stairway to heaven that some such Burqueño playas get introduced to in those auspicious environs, you can check them out live and in person at Sister (407 Central Ave. SW) on Tuesday, March 12. According to their press release they started out playing the open mic at a local punk rock coffee house (likely Winning, but probably not Starbucks) and ended up opening for outfits like Shonen Knife and Le Butcherettes. Last summer they were on the road with Built to Spill. Damn. One of our favorite Burque bands of all time, we here at Alibi HQ are damn proud to say that we knew Lauren Poole, Lilah Rose, Tris Walsh, Teresa Esguerra and Nelson Crane back when. Now they belong to the future and rocanrol will be a damn sight better for it. Meryl Streep Jr. and Talking Hours, another bodacious band making it bigly in El Burque, open. 9pm • $5 • 21+.
