31 KNOTS
it was high
time to escape
CD, 54°40’ or Fight!
My personal faible for records with an intro sparkles again, especially
when it is called “a half life in two movements”. Wow, what a title for
such a little piece of music! And then again, there is that feeling of
late-Seventies / early-Eighties prog-rockers dripping through the music here
and there (also see labelmates Houston for further detail), stemming from the
cleverly and carefully constructed and executed songs, that still thrive on
tension, that grip me and make tingles run up and down my spine. Like most
of you out there, I have found my first high-dosaged musical freedom and
energy with bands that couldn’t care less about how their playing was. But
then I grew up and older, suddenly finding that being able to technically
hold down a song and play “good” was a preferable point in music. It is
not only the what you do, but also the how you do it, that counts in the
end. That’s where all those “post”-bands and –genres started: with
musicians suddenly interested in playing and in sound. Or rather: in playing
better and getting deeper into sound.
31 Knots have both bases covered, the technical side and the songwriting
side, and they are able to pull them off with a degree of diversity rather
unheard of from your average indie-rock band. This might be the reason, why
they have been compared to so many other bands from so many other
directions, that the whole comparison-things finally shows its utter
nonsensicality[1] Actually every single song would span different kinds of comparisons.
Like the interplay of bass and vocals in “We still have legs” does
remind heavily of fIREHOSE, that legendary band with bass-monster Mike Watt
doing the four-stringed works. But that association is gone as soon as the
song strikes another part – in this case an attempted hack at new-metal
legends God Machine – or ends. So where would that leave us all in all,
except for a glimpse at the reviewers record collection (one bigger than it
should be, usually)?
These three musicians, Joe Haege (git, voc) Jay Pellicci (drums) and Jay
Winebrenner (bs), definitely know what they are doing. Excellent technicians
on their instruments, but also able to build dynamic and variety into songs,
think of unusual ideas and harmonies drawn from all over the place and
decades. This is what profound knowledge of the instrument you are playing
can bring you; the ability to pour ideas into songs without hindrances and
barriers. Without the danger of repeating yourself. The freedom to
concentrate on the core of a song rather than on the execution of a
half-written idea. The various parts of the band and the songs perfectly
balanced to one another. Not one bit made for showing off, but all of them
carefully tailor-made to fit the song, the idea, the vision .Compared to all
those bands nowadays make millions by kicking the same half-witted semi-idea
around and around heavily for four or more albums, this little band seems
like prophets from forgotten days, when quality - in terms of musicianship and
vision – counted over marketability.
Within all that 31 Knots never forget their root as a “rock”-band;
which at this point of time would mean a band playing amplified instruments
conceived and invented within the first half of last century, in a darkened
room to a crowd that is there for the noise, the beer and the escape from
average lives. A broad description, but the band keeps on filling it. Easily
flowing from soft and mellow parts to harshly rocking stuff and back into
those weird yet grooving bits and pieces made of fast single-note guitar
runs, a thumping bass line and fitting drums. I never liked the term math
rock, but 31 Knots put the rock back into that formula.
[1] Though my wife has compared them to Valina upon
first listening, which I let stand as a sensible remark, due to both
bands being trios, both showing a wide range of abilities and interests,
and both bands being unashamed of using strange sounds, chords and
riff-runs before setting into melodious parts.
