photo by Adam Wallcavage
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Blonde Redhead
Sometimes you need to listen with the ears of an immigrant to appreciate American music. Just when it seemed that art-punk was on its last legs and groups like Sonic Youth and Pere Ubu had stopped progressing, along comes a band of Japanese and Italian expatriates, Blonde Redhead, to reinvigorate things.
"I like the quality of punk rock music here; people have very sophisticated tastes for it in America," explains Blonde Redhead's vocalist/guitarist, Kazu Makino. The New York band's third album, Fake Can Be Just As Good (Touch and Go), is full of songs that layer brittle guitar parts with hummable discordance, inventively building upon the seminal work of No Wave bands like Wire, DNA and Sonic Youth.
The Japanese-born Makino first visited New York around 1990 with friends and decided to stay. A little while later, she met Sicilian guitarist Amedo Pace in an Italian restaurant and the two eventually fell in love, broke up and formed a band with his twin brother, Simone, on drums.
While Amedo is a dropout from the Berklee School of Music, Makino hardly knows how to play guitar. At first she would only put two strings on her axe. She slowly worked her way up to the standard six, but her tuning is still atypical. She can barely explain it herself.
"I think if someone knew how to play guitar, they'd be ashamed to play my parts," says Makino. "But I think it works well."
Her choppy chords and atonal leads give depth to Simone's punchy rhythm guitar parts in a way that often comes off like a poppy take on the guitar work of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo.
Makino admits she's tired of music critics linking Blonde Redhead to that other New York band: "I don't think about it if I don't read about it; but if people [say we're derivative], I get mad."
The fact that Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley released Blonde Redhead's first two albums on his label, Smells Like Records, didn't help.
But the decision to sign with the Touch and Go label for Fake Can Be Just As Good wasn't to break with Shelley, says Makino, as much as a chance to work with a bigger label.
Another change for this new album is the addition of guest bassist Vern Rumsey from Unwound.
"He actually suggested us recording with him while we were on tour with Unwound," recalls Makino. The band has been through a slew of bass players; Rumsey made the whole mix much more rhythmic than usual.
After years as a buzz band with a cult following, Blonde Redhead seems poised to show America what makes American art-punk great. But that's not to say Makino loves everything about the United States.
"The food here kills me," she says, half-joking. "I'm so used to eating Japanese food that I can't stand greasy American food. I know it's supposed to make me feel hardy, but it just makes me pale."
Good food is even harder to find when the band is on tour.
The next time you see Blonde Redhead live, you might want to track down authentic Japanese takeout for Makino. Some good Italian for the Simone twins wouldn't hurt, either.