As
Beck fans go, I am a moderate one; I own a handful of his albums, and generally enjoy what I encounter, but am by no means an aficionado. However, I’ve had a long-standing love affair with 1999’s
Midnite Vultures, starting the year of its release with an illicit viewing of the music video for
“Sexx Laws” during my ritual daily viewing of MTV (the channel having been expressly banned by my parents) in the unpoliced hour between the time I walked home from middle school and my mom returned from work. Between the anamorphic kitchen appliances getting freaky with each other and the silly and sensual declaration “I’m a full-grown man but I’m not afraid to cryyyayyyyyy,” it was funny and sexy and weird like nothing I’d seen, and I wanted more. I managed to get my hands on the whole album fairly soon after, and sixteen years (and exposure to much more music and freakiness) later, it is still one of my favorites, having been the soundtrack to several funny, sexy, and weird periods of my own life.
As you can imagine, I was psyched to learn that Asheville’s own
Holy Ghost Tent Revival will be performing the entire album at
The Mothlight this Saturday, July 11th. I asked frontman
Stephen Murray a few questions about his introduction to
Midnite Vultures and what we can expect from the show.
Louisa Amsterdam: What was the impetus for this show? Why Midnite Vultures? Has this album had a strong influence on you all (music-wise and/or life-wise)?
Stephen Murray: Admittedly, I was just introduced to this record not even a year ago. When I asked a couple buds of mine if they had ever heard
Midnite Vultures, they guffawed, as I didn’t even realize at the time that the record was released in ’99. Our bass player in particular was a big fan of the album and brought up the idea to cover a few songs, which quickly became the idea of us performing the whole record from start to finish in Asheville. It was remarkably quick, that decision. Previous to learning the record, he wasn’t a major influence on my writing but now after we’ve logged a mini lifetime into this maniac of a magician musician he will have an everlasting affect on how I think a song is or could be.
Louisa: What was your process for preparing for the show? How long have you been planning to do this?
Stephen: We started rehearsals at the end of April. We'd all sit down and listen to each song intently before working on it. I know that sounds pretty basic but it’s what you got to do. You can’t have one person teaching everybody, you all have to sit there and listen for your part then recreate it. Repetition has been the key to learning this record.
Louisa: What can we expect from the performance? Will it be a pretty straightforward rock show, or will there be other elements to it? MV has always struck me as a very theatrical album, and performing it seems like a situation that begs for a bit of spectacle.
Stephen: Spectacle, sure. That’s what we’re in the middle of talking about now. We’ll need some lamp lights, cream, leather, bizness, visine, hot dogs, no doz, hot sex in back rows, and milk. And honey. So, we’re hoping the audience can help us make it the spectacle we all deserve! Bring any and all Beck-related items and outfits to the show and sing your hearts out. It’s gonna be fun. Energetic and most definitely weird.
Louisa: How faithful to the original album to do you plan to be? Can we expect a distinctly HGTR spin on the proceedings?
Stephen: We start by trying to be 100% authentic in our re-creation of the record. Once we get as close as we can, we start drawing influence from videos of Beck performing the songs live. Eventually, the HGTR sound creeps in since our instrumentation is different than what was used on the record. It’ll probably sound quite a bit like us covering Beck, covering Beck. We will be fortunate enough to have
Dulci Ellenberger and
Alyse Baca, singing with us! They add this chilling level of soul to these songs and it’s gonna be dynamite.
The freaks will be flocking together for this extravaganza on Saturday, July 11th at the Mothlight. Show starts at 8:30 PM, tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 at the door. Check out the Facebook event page for more information. Keep your lamplight trimmed and burning, and bring your sister (you know which one). Holy Ghost Tent Revival will be touring the Midwest later this month, and will be back in town to play Downtown After 5 with The Suffers on September 18th.
