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the messthetics

  • lallo pirog canty AntoniaTricaricoJoe Lallo, Anthony Pirog and Brendan Canty. Antonia Tricarico photo.

    “There’s no line between improvisation and self-indulgence!” It’s all the same thing, so just be forewarned before you come to our shows. It’s rampant self-indulgence, 100% of the time!” laughs Brendan Canty, drummer with Washington DC band The Messthetics.

    Canty’s reply to my question is deliberately facetious: The Messthetics explore the jazzier side of rock’n’roll, eschewing the melodic and lyrical hook of a vocalist for an improvisational instrumental sonic aesthetic enabled via guitarist Anthony Pirog’s reedy guitar lines. But the contrast between The Messthetics’ exploratory style and the brutal discipline of Canty’s former band Fugazi is stark.

    “We don’t have a vocalist, so I like to think that Anthony’s guitar lines are the vocals,” Canty says. “There are times of course when we do rampant self-indulgence but for the most part we have written music, and we try and diversify what we play and make it interesting for everyone.”

  • tmoc 2019

    The Mark Of Cain returns to the stage this October performing their debut album “Battlesick” in its entirety. 

    Originally released in 1989 via indie Adelaide label Dominator, Battlesick sounded like no Australian album before or since. Tracks like “Wake Up”, “Dead Man’s Mail”, “The Setback”, “Call in Anger” and the title track addressed the fear of dreams, the threat of death, anger over disappointment and personal setbacks; not exactly the subject matter of an era when Kylie Minogue was queen and Ratcat were primed to become the pinnacle of the underground.