The events of Hurricane Katrina have obviously devastated the United States and greatly impacted the lives of its victims. More unfortunate is the fact that many of the victims were in difficult financial situations to begin with. As is well-known, artists are no exception to facing financial hardship and the toll of the hurricane has been especially harsh. Experimental/plain-weird artists Quintron and Miss Pussycat, for example, have lost their unique property and living space in the aftermath of the Katrina.
Tomorrow never dies:
Quintron, named after Quintronics – the company where his father worked, can be considered a mutli-instrumentalist electro wiz kid. With an intuitive and creative outlook in electronics, he has made several instruments and noise gadgets that he uses regularly in his music. The most famous of his instruments is the Drum Buddy, which is a drum machine/noisemaker that can be operated with light. Miss Pussycat is a puppeteer who hosts avant-garde music shows. Quintron and Miss Pussycat have been collaborating on albums and highly elusive shows ever since their marriage. Their music, surprisingly, is still accessible and even danceable. With their left-field approach to art, it would be an understatement to dub Quintron and Miss Pussycat “struggling artists.” With the destruction of their home, their studio for building their instruments, puppets and various projects is long gone.
Dan Wise, guitarist of Kill Me Tomorrow, got pissed about it one day. With benefit shows popping up everywhere, why isn’t there one for Quintron and Miss Pussycat? Of course, the solution to the problem, as all things in underground rock, is to do it yourself. Being the guitarist for the successful trio, Dan put his DIY skills to work and organized a benefit show with the help of the Che Cafe. Unfortunately for Dan, that same night, UCSD hosts the annual FallFest.
This won’t slow down Wise though. While disappointed that more bands are not contributing to various benefit shows throughout the country, he has decided to organize the event.
Kill Me Tomorrow is one of San Diego’s best-kept secrets. While Blink-182 imitators shred the credibility of the city’s fragile music scene, KMT injects the town with mega doses of creativity it desperately needs. The trio of Dan Wise, Zack Wentz and K8 Wentz perform dark no-wave songs that are usually noisy, yet highly rhythmic and danceable. KMT is a band that every San Diegan should know and take pride in.
Their latest record, The Garbageman and the Prostitute, is critically acclaimed, and twists guitar noise and electronics together into musical bliss. In addition, Zack Wentz is an electronic percussionist whose live performance is visual art in itself. According too Wise, a new KMT record is in the works.
My Sexual Dad, the slick moniker that confronts our awkward realities, is a promising band. Songs such as “Take the Cartridge Out and Blow It” are signals that MSD intend to maintain the integrity of indie rock. With humanist tendencies, their efforts can help the benefit show. On the other end of the spectrum, Lipstick Terror, hailing from Mexico, is best described as a hybrid of electro-punk and hardcore. Lipstick Terror has big plans for playing more shows in Southern California, so you might as well do your homework and be familiar with their screams. Liqdzunshine (pronounced ‘Liquid Sunshine’) bring even more diversity to the lineup, producing new cutting edge hip-hop, injecting a needed blast of funk back into the formula.
Kill Me Tomorrow, My Sexual Dad, Lipstick Terror and Liqdzunshine will play at the Che Cafe at 8 p.m. on Oct. 7. Tickets are $6.
