With Mockery And Satire, Allegro Makes Musical Fun
One thing that drives me up the wall is when musicians or bands include testimonials of selfappointed know-it-alls, like critics, radio programmers (who don’t play the music) and business owners, in their press kits to help sell the record.
The basic premise is this: If these guys say the record is good, then it must be. Which, of course, is not necessarily true.
Allegro uses the same ploy in its press materials for its debut “2 Cool 4 School,” gathering a smattering of testimonials from various rock figures. But it’s obvious from the quotes that Allegro’s agenda is not to move units but stir up a few yucks. Because, they got actual rock stars to comment on their music.
For example: “Twice as good as Weezer or the Rentals, but then again, I hate those two bands,” writes Pat Wilson of Weezer and the Rentals.
“Two guys and no bass? Sounds like a rip-off,” chimes Dave Dederer of the Presidents of the United States of America. (The Presidents employ a three-string guitar and a two-string bass.)
“Until Allegro leaves town, Everclear will have to settle for being second-best in Portland,” observes Everclear bass player and former Spokanite Craig Montoya.
Garnering that kind of praise from contemporaries is not common. Even Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic went out on a limb, calling the band “the next big thing.”
Not bad for a couple of high school punks. That’s right, the two members of Allegro, brothers Jona (drums) and Joel Bechtolt (guitar, bass, vocals), are barely old enough to grow facial hair.
Even so, they’re rapidly becoming a name in the Northwest. The band plays Outback Jack’s on Tuesday.
As boasted in the title of their new album, Allegro is too cool for school. The band shells out more wit and keen observations not typical of kids that age. Even better, they have a natural sense for writing hook-heavy songs. While most high school bands imitate the big-sellers of the day, these guys actually write their own songs.
Judging from song lyrics, the brothers Bechtolt have slept through their poetry classes. There’s no William Blake, Walt Whitman or Edgar Allen Poe present in Allegro’s songs.
Instead, they’ve been vigorously ingesting the Violent Femmes’ off-kilter writing style. In “Timeagain,” Joel uses sarcasm above a punk-rock sprint to chastise rock stardom: “Gonna marry a big supermodel/ take up drugs, get back on the bottle/get a big bodyguard to beat up my fans/ … bask in glory and bathe in bile.”
Allegro’s youthful exuberance couldn’t have come at a better time. Rock’s self-indulgent and selfrighteous stance has grown more stale than last week’s moldy Pop Tarts.
The band is aware of this. Perhaps the Bechtolts put it best in their self-deprecating but honest bio: “Allegro is about fun, not musicianship. Allegro is about mockery and satire, not angst or melancholy. To take Allegro’s music seriously would be to miss the point completely. Allegro plays stupid little pop songs and will do so until it gets boring.”
Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll.
Incidentally, “2 Cool 4 School” was engineered by Dave Friedlander who has worked with Prince (forget the silly “artist formerly known as” hog-wash). The reason? “Allegro chose Dave because someday they, too, would like to have a strange, mysterious symbol for a name.”
Finally, if the band’s debut were to be graded by a music teacher, they would get an A-minus. The songs are good. The melodies are sturdy. Their attitude is snotty but not jaded. Their humor is wicked.
So why not A-plus? No budding rock star should be caught with a mouthful of braces (this is a joke, so laugh, jerky).
Allegro is being matched up with two unlikely bands, Cotton Mouth and Morning Breath. And, no, that’s not a jab to either band. They’re just not pop bands.
Music starts at 9:30 p.m. The cover is $3.
Good clean fun
If you haven’t heard already, kids, the Blue Dolphin in the Valley and an entertainment promoter in Montana are trying to bring foam dancing to Spokane. Yes, the dance craze that was all-the-rage two years ago on the East Coast and in L.A., is finally making it inland.
What foam dancing entails is a club fills an entire dance floor with soapy, frothing bubbles. And people dance in it. Fun, huh? Think of it as a public bubble bath with your clothes on.
The Blue Dolphin is just waiting for approval from the liquor control board, which is examining all possible things that can go wrong by frolicking waist-high in soapy suds (like allergic skin reactions to detergent or accidental consumption).
We’ll keep you posted on the club’s progress.
It’s the return of the Jerk
Seattle’s Shoveljerk returns to the Northern Corner tonight. Joining the quartet is Spokane’s Buddha Leadbelly. The cover is $5.
On Dec. 20, the band will be featured on an episode of “Dance Along the Edge,” a rockumentary series, produced by KXLY-4, spotlightling local bands. The Shoveljerk show was shot while the band still lived on this side of the Cascades. The show airs Fridays at 1:30 a.m.
Bands who might as well move to Spokane because they play here all the time
Inflatable Soule plays Outback Jack’s Saturday with Jackie on Acid and The Day I Fell Down. Tickets are $6 advance ($7 at the door). Sweaty Nipples stops at the Northern Corner Saturday. Morning Breath opens. The cover is $6.
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