massimo

Between the end of the swarm's arm set and the start of massimo's I did something I've never done at a concert before - sneak in a couple of sandwiches from the convenience store near the venue. It's hardly rock n' roll, is it, but me and M were hungry. M, by the way, is my better half, and she is responsible for the photos that adorn these posts as wells as frequent insightful comments which I may or may not attribute to her (aren't I a bastard?). Anyway, back to the show. massimo are a four piece instrumental band very reminiscent of Slint or a less oblique Tortoise. One of the guitarists (centre in the photo) played with FIRST DAY ACTION, and I think massimo are an indication of what FDA could be like. The two guitarists slug it out, F/X pedals distorting, stretching, compressing, expanding and generally fucking with the sounds they produce. In my notepad I've scribbled something about an "unfussy rhythm section backing up the dueling guitarists" (it was the sandwich rushing to my brain) and scored it out. They may have been unfussy at the beginning of the set but as it continued they ceased to be merely timekeepers, the drummer seemingly morphing into John Bonham while the bassist showed that slap bass still has a place in music, just as long as it isn't Primus.

A lot of bands overstay their welcome, especially instrumental bands. It's difficult to escape being dismissed as 'prog' if you play twenty minute songs with eight minute guitar solos, and justifiably so. massimo on the other hand, could be one of the only instrumental bands I've ever heard that understay their welcome. A few times during their performance they would draw a song to it's end and I'd be left wishing they had explored it for a while longer. Mind you, the guitarist putting in his second appearance of the night ended the massimo set prostrate at the front of the stage, his guitar seeming to have overpowered him, so it's probably unfair of me to expect more.