Frank Black, Reid Paley Trio
@ Mr. Small's, 10/27/06
Grades:
Frank Black: A+
Reid Paley Trio: B+
"I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)"—a perfect song for someone who hates Pittsburgh and doesn't want to acknowledge he's lived here. Well, guess what? Reid Paley wrote it. Never heard of him? Me neither, until he opened for Frank Black at Mr. Small's Funhouse in Millvale on October 27. Frank Black, the one who rocked the hell outta that little (former) church!
But first, let's talk Reid Paley. I bought his cool, standoffish style at first, and that of his cohorts (Eric Eble on upright, Czechoslovakian bass and James Murray on drums). They, the Reid Paley Trio, stood there in their black suits and boots, waiting while Reid tuned his guitar with his back to the audience. None of them interacted with us throughout the show except Reid, but he mostly just frowned incredulously, scoffing over the paltry lot in front of him: Pittsburghers who weren't writhing in passionate ecstasy over his music. As he pointed out to us later, we were all sort of "milling around" in front of him and his band. But, come on, we were there to see Frank Black!
I'll admit, Reid and his guys did rock the hall. It was flat-out rockabilly, no bells or whistles. I had thoughts of Johnny Cash and The Reverend Horton Heat as they played their first few songs, although Eric Eble ain't no Jimbo Wallace. I've also read a lot of comparisons of Reid to The Stooges, at least on his first two albums, released in 1999 and 2000 (Lucky's Tune and Revival, respectively). So the show…Reid had a beat-up, hollow-bodied 1955 Gretsch guitar that dominated the sound blaring from the stage. That may be because I was standing directly in front of the guitar amp, but either way, my ears were ringing after Reid's set. They started with the anti-hero anthem "Lucky's Tune," where the chorus was "Gimme one chance, I'll fuck it up." A highlight was a song called "Your Polish Uncle" from a forthcoming new album. The music was definitely Polka style with the oompa oompa beat. Another good bluesy tune had "You might think it's rain, but it's just water comin' down" as the chorus.
The chorus of the Trio's last song that night was, "Gimme a fuckin goddamn drink. I don't want to take the time to think"—it seemed to capture their not-so-Pittsburgh state of mind. They really didn't seem to want to take the time to play a show in the crappy ol' Burgh, but they did, and they rocked, and that's what counts. Look for their forthcoming album.
Well, it also counts that Reid and Frank Black are friends and associates. Without those credentials, I don't know if I could've taken Reid so seriously. And Frank did co-write that song "I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)" with Reid; it appears on Frank's latest release, the double-disc Fast Man/ Raider Man (lyrics available at www.frankblack.net). But ya know what? Frank performed that song too, and he played that song and every song as if he'd been born here and was proud of it, n'nat.
Frank didn't come on till ten minutes to ten, but when he did, he came with his acoustic guitar and no one and nothing else. He played some old tunes, which really pleased the crowd, and everyone sang along with righteous, nostalgic fervor and danced a little bit. The opening numbers included The Pixies' "The Holiday Song," his own "Los Angeles," and another Pixies' song, "Velouria." I began to wonder if this was just a Frank solo night with the audience, when Frank said, "I'd like to bring out my rock n' roll band now…so I don't have to listen to you fuckers talk to me." The audience laughed. Pause. "Where the fuck is my band?" Then the guys came out: Duane Jarvis (The Odds, etc.) on lead guitar, Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu, etc.) on bass, Billy Block on drums, and another guy on baritone sax, which he switched for a harmonica depending on the song. Frank also switched between acoustic and electric guitars throughout the night.
I had just been thinking of the song they opened with in regards to Halloween, thinking it would be a good one to play at a party with its scary lyrics. Maybe Frank was thinking the same thing about "Black Rider" (Black Letter Days), because he gave a really sinister rendition on the vocals. Instead of "I'll drink your blood like wine," he screamed, "The blood will run like red ribbon in your hair!" Muahahaha! Even better, everyone was wearing black clothes and shit-kicker boots (except Duane was wearing cowboy boots, but they were still black).
A lot of the songs I heard for the first time that night, only having owned Frank Black and the Catholics' Pistolero, Dog in the Sand, Black Letter Days, and Show Me Your Tears prior to the show. Surprisingly, they played none from Pistolero, which is one of his harder rocking albums. The other albums I owned have more country-sounding tunes than Frank has recorded on earlier albums, with some melodic piano and pedal steel guitar. Tracks like "Goodbye Lorraine" (Show Me Your Tears) and "Llano del Rio" (Dog in the Sand), neither of which Frank played that night, are good examples of the more country sound. In a pre-show interview with Regis Behe of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Frank spoke of his tour: "There are some more-relaxed tempos, but I have to say that the set we're playing now is fairly hard hitting. It's more natural to me to go that way rather than take a more restrained, Nashville approach… I'm still playing to a rock 'n' roll audience, so in a way, if there's anything I have to prove, it's that I'm still a loud rock dude."
And did he rock! Even some of the more subdued songs from Frank Black with or without the Catholics got a kick in the ass, like "I'll be Blue" (Dog in the Sand). On the album, this track has a slow, soft feel to it with piano and pedal steel guitar the dominant instruments and a quiet, sad rendition by Frank with Eric Drew Feldman and David McCaffrey on vocals. But on stage…no piano anywhere in sight, no pedal steel guitar, just hardcore rock. I especially noticed it just after Frank sang the lines, "I think you," ROCK! "had no clue," ROCK! Having Frank's and Duane's blaring guitars there instead of the soft piano was an unexpected and much welcomed jolt! Likewise, on "Bullet" (Dog in the Sand), the live version had much more of a rock than country feel. Frank opened this one with a guitar solo and the band jammed for several minutes mid-song. The baritone sax came to the surface in this jam, where usually I couldn't even make it out. Frank also made an effort to draw out some of the lyrics for eight counts instead of four to give the band more time to jam under his vocals.
Frank threw in a few slower tunes, like "Horrible Day" (Show Me Your Tears) and "I Burn Today" (Honeycomb), the latter of which he dedicated to Starbucks, ha ha. But most songs were straight up rock n' roll. Billy Block, with his perpetual smile and long white hair, tore up the kit, particularly on "Nadine" and "Suffering" (Show Me Your Tears, Frank Black and the Catholics). "Nadine" has a great big booming drum part, while "Suffering" has a lot of complicated and quick drumming, and Billy was spot on with both. And Frank really did sound like he was suffering, as he strained out that word, just as he did on the album. He did the same on the cover track "Six-sixty-six," originally written and performed by Larry Norman. "My number is up! I'm willing to die!" he screamed, and the guitars, the bass, the sax, and the drums screamed along with him. Frank and the band finished out the night with "Sing for Joy" (Honeycomb), which is reportedly a collection of stories from Frank's own life. There are tales of romance, murder, broken hearts, etc., but the chorus is simply, "Sing for joy/ sing for laughs/ sing for joy/ sing for joy/ if nothing else/ sing for joy."
Before Frank Black and his band played their rendition of "I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh)," Frank announced that it was "a song about sacrifice." Well, whatever Frank Black, Reid Paley, and their bands had to sacrifice to play in Pittsburgh that night, and whatever drove them to write that song about our fair city, I'm glad for it. I just hope they come back.
by Miles Dinnen
Editor's note: Various sections of this article have been edited or removed because of factual inaccuracies. The first few comments below refer to the original version, and thus may be confusing. Watch out.