Music
Press
“It’s good to see all you hillbillies again. I’ve missed you,” Great Northern Guns vocalist Jerid Morris welcomed the crowd on Thursday, June 7, at The Mattress Factory.
The Factory’s proprietress, Eva Trimm, is ambitious and determined to make the three-month-old venue a key part of San Antonio’s diverse, prolific art and music circuit. Its charm is fueled by a proximity to Union Pacific’s heavily trafficked tracks, carrying freight and passenger trains close enough to pierce through any conversation in sporadic metallic tangents. Currently, the Factory is BYOB, but Trimm is working on a wine and beer license,
As Trimm scurried about, tweaking lights, organizing, and connecting cords to equipment, her determination was laced with a kind of warm hospitality that seems to be waning with each surfacing venue. Making sure seating was ample, Trimm covered her bases adeptly, running herself hard, and sweating with the best of us. “I’m learning so much,” she explained, since the air conditioner had decided not to comply for the rather humid evening. “Now, I can look at an AC unit and figure out what’s wrong. I can even hook up a PA system now.” But one of the things Trimm has learned is that BYOB has its drawbacks; when mommy isn’t there to clean up after baby, sometimes baby leaves a mess. “I’m janitor, booker, and promoter,” she explained, though unperturbed.
Keeping morale high before the show and in between sets, DJ’s Colin and Daecos of The Shape of Phunk to Come maintained an admirable of enthusiasm and exhumed essential albums from Gang of Four, The White Octave, and others.
On a petite stage, Great Northern Guns were industrious and spry, sharing the narrow plank before the drums with learned caution and respect, but taking advantage of mobility and the afforded floor room. With “All the King’s Horses,” demanding as it is of extended breath and attention to its mosaic structure, the boys were diligent and tempered by drummer Patrick Schowe’s “dirty” form. Goading the audience along with confrontational lyrics, the Guns adeptly identify the various stages of cause and effect, and then proceed to shatter any deduction because it is still insufficient. Infused by sardonic commentary on progress, which thereby negates that progress, the Guns’ crash into external expectation sometimes comes phonically, as in the aforementioned song, and sometimes it comes in a convergence of the four quadrants of the band, embodying the process of creation and delivering it in the rawest form to whoever will listen.
- San Antonio Current
'There are obvious debts to bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Quicksand in Great Northern Guns' propulsive, shoulder-to-the-grind attack, but to call a band "emo" or "post-hardcore" these days is to basically write it off as another in a long line of mall-friendly pretenders, and this Austin group doesn't deserve such an ignoble fate. Between Jerid Morris' voice--which goes from a do-you-really-want-to-hurt-me waver to cathartic scream without either sounding like affectation-- and a watertight rhythm section, there's plenty here to recommend Great Northern Guns to any fan of aggressive rock, whatever label you want to slap on it. If you're still lamenting the loss of Recover, this may be your new favorite band.'
- The Onion
1/23/2008 0
Music
THE SOUND & THE FURY
(a week on the scene)
By Nicole Chavez and Gilbert Garcia
Great Northern Guns’ January 18 show at the Limelight drew a mix of underground-rock devotees and curiosity seekers anticipating hostility after a series of SA-bashing blogs from the band. The Guns set up shop on the floor in front of the stage, as if to invite adversaries closer. Despite the tittering crowd, the night was anticlimactic, apart from drummer Pat Schowe crashing through his kit to bring the set to a cathartic close.
- San Antonio Current
Great Northern Guns, Yoshimoto, Altus, Consider the Source, & The Last Starfighter
This event has already occurred.
Event Phone
210-846-1897
Limelight
2718 N. St. Mary's
San Antonio [Map It]
210-735-7775
Selections
By: Current Staff
“San Antonio is a shithole” reads a particularly inflammatory blog that’s been the primary focus of MySpace music circles as of late. Posted by a member of Great Northern Guns, the three-part blog slams the city for being ignorant and insular, then launches into a rant about a music scene with “a turnover rate like the circus” due to kingpin promoters who monopolize the scene. But they have a point. At what point do bands stop accepting their fate? The Guns have subsequently vowed never to play SA again, and their insults have predictably incited a flurry of rejoinders. A circulating flyer reads “Great Northern Guns hates San Antonio and they hate you too! Come help us beat the shit out of them at their last show ever in the 210!” Publicity stunt? Maybe. Hilarious? Definitely. 10pm, Limelight, 2718 N. St. Mary’s, myspace.com/greatnorthernguns.
See Also More about Limelight in Drinking
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- San Antonio
Discography
The Great and Secret Show E.P.
Photos
Bio
Great Northern Guns, a dynamic, Austin-based quartet, delicately traipses along the border between sometimes-sadistic censure and self-deprecating disgust with their solid, patchwork rock and roll. Infused with steady, though momentous drums and wild bass guitar, the lead and rhythm guitars navigate through accessible story lines, bringing their intelligent, aggressive rock to the fore. An inimitable grasp of spatial and sonic relationships underscores a potent cognizance of the human condition, impelling the Guns to accost audiences with lyrics laden in elegant metaphor dressed in creepy husks. Their sound is truly like the sharp corners that hurt when you run into them in the dark while in transit between 2 crucial points.
Imbibing the rawest aspects of traditional rock and roll and extracting from a medley of bands, the Guns have fused potent sonic elements with painfully candid lyrical ones to create their brash, weighty rock. The proficient songwriting and variegated guitars of Dinosaur Jr. and Small Brown Bike reside reliably in their bedrock, while the turbulent, yet melodic accomplishments of The Who, Shellac, Archers of Loaf, and The White Octave, are in equilibrium with the earnest, ruminative elements of Sunny Day Real Estate, The Smashing Pumpkins, and The Weakerthans.
The Guns’ stellar live performance not only illuminates the contemporary scene with shrewd understanding, permeating an evening with audacious appraisal of the banal—while always wearing any onus proudly—they energize listeners with lofty insight and fervor rarely seen at shows today. Great Northern Guns avoids any pretense of reconciliation with long-departed subjects; their candor and intensity implore us to salvage ourselves, and gives just one shake of the head when we cannot.
They Just finished recording 3 songs for a split to be released with local friends Sohns and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy on Forgotten Empire Records. In mid December the guns are heading back into the studio with Brian Beattie (who has recorded with the likes of Okkervil River, Daniel Johnston and The Dead Milkmen) to record thier full length record entitled "The Salvo: An Improbable History of Some Wholly Unimportant Goings-On"
By Francesca Camillo
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