Thursday, February 8, 2007

weird beards, ents, and lungfish

Beards are pervasive in all music genres post 90s hardcore, emo(the DC kind), indie rock, metal-all subgenres, etc. Metal has the market cornered on the weird beards -filthy forked goatees and braided beaded zztops , etc. One of the funnier stories related to me about the last SUNN show was the high % of bearded men in the predominantly male audience. A "weird beard convention". This reminded me of a similar phenomana I've witnessed at Lungfish shows. Certain bands seem to have the ability to summon the weird beards. As if the very appearance of their name in the concert report sends out a signal calling all beardos to respond. And they do respond, marching with Ent like determination towards their goal.
Ents are of course the druid like tree creatures from Lord of the Rings, so bearded men who rarely touch soap or women should be comfortable with that comparison.
Especially at lungfish shows were everyone is swaying trying to mind meld with the triumphant lord of the weird beards Dan Higgs.
Lungfish rule and not even a traveling circus of poorly socialized weird beards as a fanbase can detract from this. 10 albums and 17 years they have been perfecting the perfect song.
Check this link to the Dischord site for an awesome 20 minute audio "documentary"/interview about Lungfish. Higgs drops quotable jewels at a rate that even the most rain man-ish Ent fan would be challenged to keep up with.
http://www.dischord.com/news/124

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