Drumming Out Of Time
Despite being the most mystical band on the planet, the Boredoms (pictured) still have yet to figure out how to be in two places at once. After 77 drummers joined the Japanese noise shamans for a cosmically proportioned beat circle under the Brooklyn Bridge last July, the expectations for this years follow-up have been about as high as Yamatsuka Eye, the groups inimitable frontman, must have been when he famously piloted a forklift into an Osaka stage back in the d90s. Dubbed 8/8/08, the concert will see something of a resurrection of last years mind-melting must-see, except the progenitors have relocated their expanded army of percussionists to the toxic shores of L.A. That, and Nike has slapped on a sponsorship.
The saving grace for an East Coast show lies in Brooklyns own Gang Gang Dance, handpicked by Eye to carry the groove torch forward. Moving the party to the Williamsburg waterfront, the protégés have assembled 88 trap-masters of their own in an attempt to realize the centurys first bi-coastal rock show.
In California, theyre going to be arranged in a counter-clockwise spiral, and were going to be going in a clockwise spiral, elucidates Gang member Josh Diamond. The two spirals will then combine to make an infinity symbol.
Sacred geometry is nothing new to the Boredoms. Last years concert, 77 Boadrums, took its theoretical impetus from the bands Sevena, a towering noise maker comprising seven stacked guitars, and some Okinawan creation story about stars and caves. Flip the 8 of 88 on its side, and this years agenda becomes clear.
Less spiritual is the intervention of the worlds most popular shoemaker into the mix. The organizers were really apologetic about all this corporate stuff, explains Diamond. Apparently they told Nike running was a lot like drumming. The logic of repetition, it seems, has no limits: Everything is the same as everything else. Its a philosophy those skeptical of a Boredom-less Boadrum, and certainly the members of Gang Gang Dance, might do well to honor.