Del Fuegos Rock Brooklyn

You might not know it from this occasional blog, but for the past 7 or 8 years I've been reliving the '80s in the '00s, or something like that. Even though I played at CBGB's twice in the early 80's (with my band The Vegetables) I kind of felt like I missed the whole punk/new wave scene when it was hot. Other than the Gang of Four and the Talking Heads it all just kind of slipped by. Well, I don't think I'll get a chance to see The Clash or The Sex Pistols, for some reason. But I have made a point of getting to every reunion or contemporary continuation I could. This got me a ticket to The Psychedelic Furs, the Meat Puppets, Camper Van Beethoven, Wire, The Ex, Blondie, and maybe a few others if I think about it.

The Del Fuegos at The Bell House in Brooklyn

So it seemed like a natural to check out the Del Fuegos on the next to last stop of their why-did-we-stop-touring-again? tour, at Brooklyn's Bell House. Beats me why the place wasn't packed; maybe after Dan Zanes' second musical career people were expecting a night of children's songs. Or is it that spring training just started and these guys are from Boston? That origin immediately marks a band as suspicious, in my book, not just because of that city's eponymous entry in the stadium rocker catalogue but because when I try to think of bands from Boston that I like, it kind of goes Aerosmtih... Aerosmith... Aero..... Okay, The Lemonheads, aka Evan Dando & Friends, had a couple of decent albums. I had a friend who tried to convince me that the Mighty Mighty Bosstones were a great band. Guess I'm picky.

I frankly knew nothing about the Del Fuegos other than that they were yet one more post-punk band that I'd never seen live. I still know only as much about them as Wikipedia has to offer. Can't even give you a list of the material they played. But "I Still Want You" was in there, and I assume "Don't Run Wild" went by at some point. The band was tight both vocally and instrumentally, notwithstanding some technical problems with Warren's axe that marred a couple of numbers.

Dan Zanes is visually interesting on stage, in addition to having a voice that doesn't seem to have lost much over time. Inbetween lines he moves about like a flesh and blood gumby figure, as if he had his joints replaced with rubber bands. That and a harido straight out of a Tim Burton film tend to grab your attention.

Tom Lloyd upends the stereotype of the reserved bass player, bouncing around the stage with movements as liquid as Zanes', a kind of R. Crumb figure with his Groucho strut. Ph.D. or not, there's nothing overly intellectual about either his solid bass lines or how he gets around on stage.

Professor Tom Lloyd demonstrating his knowledge of Environmental Engineering... or at least, Fender engineering.

Warren Zanes is the straight man in this ensemble, laying down simple but clean and effective lines with his Epiphone, which (after some research) I'm guessing is a mid-60's Riviera (you can see the Frequensator tailpiece that Epiphone often used on these ES-335 knockoffs at that time). Warren temporarily switched to what looks like a Gibson Firebird Non-Reverse axe when his Epi stopped talking to him. He didn't seem too happy about it. I hear this Firebird has a fat neck that takes some getting used to.

Warren with drummer Woody Giessmann at right.

 

Warren on the Firebird

The main thing that came across from the performance was how much the band was digging the idea of being back on the stage doing their classic stuff after all these years. That comes across a lot in reunion tours and concerts, when it is not a purely commercial venture to court aging Gen X nostalgia bucks. These guys are playing small clubs, and Zanes even professed deep appreciation for the Brooklyn audience of maybe 150 people, saying they had been playing to half that or less. They had better be loving it since they ain't getting rich with those attendance figures. Looks like they are pretty happy up there:

Okay, Del Fuegos de Beantown, great show, and welcome to Brooklyn! And seriously, sorry about the Super Bowl...