5
Space Stars *****
Von Frickle released an album, Mission 4.9, in 2005 that
demands you prick your ears up and listen to them. Believe me when I tell you
that in the very near future Von Frickle are going to be the leading band in
their chosen field of rock music.
Von Frickle is an American quartet from Eureka, Illinois,
but they proudly wear their British progressive rock influences on their
sleeve. In Von Frickle’s music you can hear a little early Floyd, and the
controlled violence of The Who from the Who’s Next era (but you must remember
that The Who influenced almost every rock musician of that era), but mostly
King Crimson. There is nothing wrong with showing where the roots of your music
come from, as long as you have put your own defining stamp on it, which Von
Frickle certainly have. The first difference the casual listener will notice is
that there are no vocals with Von Frickle which in comparison to King Crimson
is a good thing as let’s face it, since Peter Sinfield left King Crimson in
the early seventies Crimson’s lyrics have been a load of nonsense anyway. The
skill level of all of Von Frickle musicians more than makes up for any wayward
vocals.
Who is Von Frickle? Well I am not totally sure as the only
photos of them in the very well designed CD cover are all of them in stage
attire of which they chose to remain uniformly anonymous in colourless suits
adorned with heavy duty eyewear. It may sound a little odd and quite frankly it
is a little odd. But then Von Frickle ARE a little odd.
The music on display here on Mission 4.9 is very angular
stuff. Chopping guitar riffs, combining difficult time signatures, with space
jams that drill their way into your subconscious without you even realizing it.
As each song assaults your senses you are aware that this is musical science
fiction. Although the guys in the band lay down the blueprints of each song,
you personally can interpret each piece on its own merits and your own
personnel mood.
The first time I heard opening song, Kablam, it brought to
mind the soundtrack to a particularly vicious repetitive nightmare with its
driving crisscross rhythms, driving deeper and deeper into your fears before
allowing you a few relaxing seconds to wake up and put your fears behind you,
then out of nowhere, grabbing you from behind and plunging back into your worst
fears. Clever stuff. Of course I was not quite so scared the next time round,
but I do not think it would be a good idea to play Kablam again late at night
unless you had your teddy firmly wedged under your arm and the nightlight on.
Von Frickle are led by the faceless Lee Fehr, who wrote
single handed six of the pieces on this album plus had a finger in the other
three. His guitar playing is nothing short of excellent, combining heavy
riffing with some splendid solo work. What goes on in this man’s head is
something that most of us will never want to know about, but at the same time
we are always glad there is someone out there prepared to show off their
visions, so we can have a quick peek, and then retire to a safe distance.
Tim Pierson has nailed the bass work to the space rock mast
of Von Frickle and in the same way as Lemmy did with Hawkwind many moons ago,
he has been skilfully heavy handed with it, leaving your speakers in tatters if
you dare turn the volume up past eleven.
Ken Thornton is the ship’s engineer to Lee Fehr’s
captain, making sure that at all times the good ship Von Frickle is at warp
factor 8, laying down a blanket of sound with vintage keyboard flourishes and
following Lee Fehr’s guitar and synthesizer work in almost classic rock
style.
But the jewel in Von Frickle’s musical castle is
definitely the drumming of John Ganser. The man never even remotely sounds like
missing a beat; in fact his crisp drum sound is almost leading the songs on the
heavier up tempo numbers. If Bill Bruford was the drummer’s drummer, there is
a new kid in town.
Not all the songs have the nightmarish quality of Kablam.
Unlike most bands of their ilk there is only one truly epic number, the very
eerie mood piece POD, which closes the album, clocking in at eleven and a half
minutes. The rest are more like short, sharp shocks, before the next song drags
you off into an entirely different direction. Look out for the two minute mark
in second song, Cranium Controller, when the whole band comes crashing in on
the riff together - a great rock ‘n’ roll moment.
The whole band takes it one step further, really wigging out
on Attack Of The Giant Eyeball (great thing about instrumentals, you can call
them whatever you want). Terra Firma Exodus provides the listener with some
wonderful soundscapes, a slow moving piece allowing one to dream of being in a
multi coloured lava field, as the molten metal weaves its pattern around you;
beautiful atmospherics.
Then, just before the listener or the band themselves are
allowed to take themselves too seriously, we are all slapped on the back of the
head by Protoplasmic Squid Eater. If some of the other songs by science fiction
comparison are from Stanley Kubrick’s A Space Odyssey 2001, then Protoplasmic
Squid Eater is from the TV sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, a hilariously heavy version
of The Flight Of The Bumble Bee. I am sure when this is played live on stage by
Von Frickle they have all got great big Martian sized grins wrapped around
their faces behind the masks.
Von Frickle are:
Lee Fehr: Guitars, Roland GR1 and GR33 Guitar Synths
John Gasner: Drums, Moog, Vintage Keys, Roland SP020 Drum Pad
Tim Pierson: Bass Guitar, Farfisa Organ, Moog
Ken Thornton: Guitars, Ebow, Vintage Keys
Music
Kablam
Cranium Controller
Shapeshifter
Petri Dish Incident
Attack Of The Giant Eyeball. (a) Evil Eye (b) Retinoblastoma
Terra Firma Exodus
Protoplasmic Squid Eater
Zombie Stomp
POD
A
disturbing book this week from the Bookazine shelf. The Natashas, Inside the
New Global Sex Trade (ISBN 1-55970-779-8, Arcade Publishing 2004) looks at the
human trafficking in young women and their subsequent plight.
