The Aristocrats - Boing, Well Do It Live! DVD (2012)



The band was formed after a wildly enthusiastic response to a concert performance at The Anaheim Bass Bash
during the Winter NAMM show in January. The trio had just one rehearsal
before the concert but still performed well and amazed the audience as
well as themselves. Guitarist Guthrie Govan stated “The chemistry was so
great, that when we came offstage we all said to each other, ‘This is
working. We should record this.’” The band would later get together and
meet in Chicago to record their debut album, which took just under two
weeks.

The music album reflected their respective influences, ranging from ’70s
fusion (Return To Forever), to progressive (King Crimson), to
instrumental rock (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani), to groove metal (Rage
Against The Machine) and to just plain absurdity (Frank Zappa). Bassist
Bryan Beller stated, “We ended up using our different influences to
write for each other. I wrote "Sweaty Knockers" specifically for Guthrie
to have fun with, while Guthrie wrote “I Want A Parrot” with bass leads
in mind. As for Marco’s material, we’re just lucky to be able to keep
up with it!”.



DVD FEATURES
* Complete show, including bonus tracks & additional between song footage
* 5.1 surround mix by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree (and 2-channel stereo mix)
* Bonus audio from soundcheck
* Interviews with each band member

Line up:
Bryan Beller bass
Guthrie Govan guitar
Marco Minnemann drums

Quality: DVD9
Format: DVD video
Video Codec: MPEG2
Audio Codec: AC3
Video: NTSC 16:9 (720x480) VBR, Auto Letterboxed
Audio: Dolby AC3, 2 ch
Audio 2: Dolby AC3, 6 ch

I have no trouble admitting that upon reading of the birth of this new
group, The Aristocrats, being ailed as "A Fusion Supergroup", I felt
something halfway between indifference and hostility. True, I hold
Beller in high esteem, but the very idea of "a trio of virtuosi",
coupled with my scant knowledge of the past work of the other musicians
in the line-up - whose members are (in alphabetical order): Bryan Beller
on bass, Guthrie Govan on guitar, and Marco Minnemann on drums - had me
anticipate long listening sessions that invariably turned into
snoozefests.

It goes without saying that I have nothing against "prodigious technical
skills". It's just that, in certain musical contexts - and here I have
to say that, in so totally different from the excellent CD of the same
name the group released about a year ago, the cover of Boing, We'll Do
It Live! is exactly the kind of repellent cover I see in the windows of
those shops that sell musical instruments, which would never make me
feel any curiosity about the music featured inside (is there really no
alternative to this "Caveman Macho" aesthetic dimension?) - the music
that's performed amounts to scales played at the speed of light at
maniacally fast tempos, with the music content at about zero.

So it was with great surprise that I had to admit - my impression being
confirmed when I caught the group live, and now by this release,
recorded in concert - that the only "fusion" thing in this group is the
name of the bass head (to be precise, a Fusion 550 by Gallien-Krueger)
that stands behind Beller. (Endorsement rules being what they are, even
Beller's wha-wha pedal - a Cry Baby bass, provided my glasses still work
- gets a couple of close-ups in this movie, and deservedly so.)

I have no doubts about it: The Aristocrats are a "rock" band that plays
complex instrumental music. It goes without saying that those who
identify "rock" with the post-Nirvana scenario will find my meaning hard
to share - or even difficult to believe - but they are invited to walk
the extra mile: they could be pleasantly surprised.

The featured members of the trio are all fine composers - 'cause it's
compositions we're talking about here, not hastily concocted "heads"
followed by interminable solos (for this writer, the only interminable
solo is always the drum solo, in this case I would have preferred the
one featured here to end after the fine two-sticks on the hi-hat
moment). I also have to mention the mature melodic dimension of the
themes and solos featured here, it's all material one could whistle (at
one's peril, of course!). To me, Govan appears to be the most mature and
versatile composer of the trio; Beller makes great use of what to me
appear to be the main ingredients of his compositional palette - i.e.,
fusion (ahem...) and Zeppelin-rock - (but it's obvious that something
like the very fine piece titled Flatlands shows new horizons in sight);
while those pieces that Minnemann brings to the group show his mature
way of assembling simple material in order to shape a greater whole,
with some funny links to the music of 60s-era "Beat Groups" (while, in
concert just as on the album, the long "metal" coda to Get It Like That
is for me a source of incredible tedium).

The DeLuxe version of this album that features two CDs and one DVD-V is
the one to get - there's a CD-only version, but to me it's the live
footage that really shows the interplay between the players. About 2h.
30', well recorded live sound by Tim Pinch, recorded live on June 2-3,
2012 at the Alvas Showroom in San Pedro, California; stereo mix by Mark
Niemiec, 5.1 Surround by Steven Wilson. Directed by David Foster and
Bryan Beller. Produced by the group.

I don't know whether the group's decision to include three interviews as
"bonus material" (there are also some audio soundcheck excerpts,
nothing too important, I think - but what's that, a quote of Something
Stupid by the Sinatras?) was in any way related to the Cream movie
Cream's Farewell Concert. Anyway, these are fine interviews: Govan talks
about chords and phrasing; Minnemann shows the way his new piece Dance
Of The Aristocrats is built, and shows how to perform a difficult drum
transition; while Beller brings back some moments from his own creative
path by featuring the electric guitar, an instruments on which he's
definitely not a virtuoso - which is precisely the point he wants to
make here (I think).

The repertoire features all the material the group recorded for the
album, plus some pages from the members' past solo repertoire. So we can
watch - already apparent on the album, the interplay is impossible to
miss here - and listen to Bad Asteroid, Greasy Wheel, Boing... I'm In
The Back, Flatlands, I Want A Parrot, Blues Fuckers (a track which -
with or without the drum solo - for me is the weakest track in the
group's show) and Waves by Govan, whose theme reminds one of a mono
synth with portamento from the 70s (there was something very
Mini-Moog-sounding on the Govan-penned track Bad Asteroid, on the
group's album).

Then, Get It Like That, Furtive Jack (sounding not too far from cartoon
music, a dimension that to me seems not too far from Govan's musical
dimension), Train Tracks by Minnemann (a track which I've never heard
before), played as a medley with Cave Dweller by Beller, then Mr.
Kempinsky by Minnemann (which I had listened to in concert without
properly understanding its title), See You Next Tuesday, the new track
Dance Of The Aristocrats by Minnemann (check Beller's right-hand bass
part - a true human sequencer!), then the concert ends with a perfect
ending: Sweaty Knockers by Beller and Erotic Cakes by Govan, the
guitarist featuring - as in a few other pieces here - a fretless guitar.

The video is quite democratic in presenting the players' performing
skills - even Minnemann's feet (he obviously sits on a "brand" stool,
which as a non-musician I found quite amusing) get their fair share of
the action, shot from behind; but in my opinion it's the guitar player's
right hand that's the high point of the video - a versatile
articulation which is the product of long study and meticulous
application. I also have to mention Beller's taste and maturity, he
never plays those "pyrotechnics" that give players cheap, easy fame.

In closing, I have to confess that I root for this trio (but not, I
hope, at the expense of my critical objectivity), a fine specimen of a
group whose musicians - "still young, but not too young" - try to do
their best in a scenario where knowing how to play your instrument can
actually be held against you, and who go on stage "casually dressed".

Tracklist:

1. "Bad Asteroid" Guthrie Govan 7:14
2. "Greasy Wheel" Bryan Beller 7:52
3. "Boing!... I'm in the Back" Marco Minnemann 8:07
4. "Flatlands" Beller 8:31
5. "I Want a Parrot" Govan 10:00
6. "Blues Fuckers/Drum Solo" Minnemann 15:30
7. "Waves" Govan 5:50
8. "Get It Like That" Minnemann 11:25
9. "Furtive Jack" Govan 7:48
10. "Train Trax" Minnemann 4:48
11. "Cave Dweller" Beller 8:11
12. "Mr. Kempinski" Minnemann 7:08
13. "See Your Next Tuesday" (on deluxe edition only) Beller 5:09
14. "Dance of the Aristocrats" Govan, Beller, Minnemann 5:54
15. "A Very Metal Introduction" 2:00
16. "Sweaty Knockers" Beller 11:29
17. "Erotic Cakes" (on deluxe edition only) Govan 7:45
Total: 02:14:41



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