The Aliens live!
The Aliens
Schubas, Chicago
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
When the core members were known as The Beta Band, The Aliens dealt in a sort of musical disinformation campaign. The promise of their debut EPs was purposefully sent up in smoke, live performances abused patience, and it seemed their interest was inversely proportionate to their fans’.
After The Betas broke up, John Maclean and Robin Jones regrouped with original Beta member Gordon Anderson. Anderson, who had been recording as Lone Pigeon, has suffered from an “acute psychosis” some rumors allege resulted from heavy psychedelic drug use. The name “Aliens” may or may not be a nod to Roky Erickson’s backing band — fitting because Anderson’s and Erickson’s stories share a similar arc.
Almost too similar. Far removed from the funk-party vibe of their Astronomy For Dogs (Astralwerks) debut, the concert edged closer and closer to Erickson’s acid rock with 13th Floor Elevators and later with his Aliens. Fuzzy guitars and Byrds-ish vocal harmonies brought the 40-year-old Summer Of Love back into view and nearly sent Astronomy‘s space-age rave-ups packing.
In fact, by the time opener “Setting Sun” subsided, the quintet — including two southpaw guitarists! — looked more like a reunited ’60s outfit with long, frizzy hair and the song’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” nods fresh in the memory. But one thing separating Aliens from Betas was the fun factor. Anderson, provoking the crowd with a megaphone and a lighted, interplanetary bicycle helmet, would later joke “I’m feeling crazy!” And while his tales of space (“The universe is near . . . The universe is not so far”) often sounded as if they were etched in crayon from the confines of the sanitarium, his crazy was most welcome.
Still, the classic rock groovin’ ebbed away at the audience’s enthusiasm, and laboring through five songs in the first 45 minutes wasn’t helping. The donning of the flashing headwear, however, coincided with the P-Funk-fed “Robot Man,” and Schubas eventually got to party. Finally, after nearly a decade, The Betas and the people were on the same page and “The Happy Song” was appropriately there to capture it.
— Steve Forstneger
Category: Live Reviews, Weekly
