BELLMER DOLLS FEATURED IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF STOOL PIGEON -
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Photo taken by Zina Brown/Fall 2006 Performance at Tonic NYC. Click on pic.
BELLMER DOLLS
PlayLouder @ The Old Blue Last, London UK
Wednesday, December 6th 2006
Three years ago I interviewed a man called James Sclavunos. If that name rings a bell, it might be because Sclavunos is the Bad Seeds' drummer, The Horrors' producer and a member of the emergent Grinderman. The subject of our conversation, though, was Sclavunos' own band The Vanity Set, creators of avant-garde music that's equal parts jazzy, progressive, gothic, literary and burlesque. At one point Sclavunos told me about his guitarist Peter Mavrogeorgis. "I quite disliked him when I first met him," recalled the six-foot-eight-inch aristocrat of his six-string accomplice, "but I've come to quite adore him... There's a couple of Greeks in the band; there's some sort of weird magnetism there."
Based in New York City, Bellmer Dolls aim to infuse ugly trash-blues with an air of Weimar decadence. Mavrogeorgis is their singer and guitarist, so it's no surprise to see Sclavunos in the audience. It's even less of a surprise to see Gallon Drunk singer (and erstwhile Bad Seed) James Johnston here, for his is perhaps the band that Bellmer Dolls most resemble.
The week before this gig, I saw the Dolls play a slightly sloppy, indulgent show at Hoxton Bar & Grill. Tonight, it's a different story: they're fierce and focused. Driving the band forward is bassist Anthony Malat who, rather perfectly, runs a New York menswear boutique called Sinner/Saint. Malat looks like he should be in a cowpunk band and, equally, like he could kill with his bare hands, and he plays his bass like he's wrestling an enraged serpent. Yet in sonic terms he's the band's sensible one. His pounding, hypnotic bass-lines provide a solid structure from which Mavrogeorgis (and drummer Daniel Sheerin) can depart on flights of fancy.
Always a restless, twitchy presence, Mavrogeorgis occasionally goes through something like an onstage exorcism. It happens tonight during the penultimate 'Push! Push!' (the fire-and-brimstone sermon that opens debut EP 'The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over'). As the song slow-burningly builds toward climax, Mavrogeorgis flips out. Diving from the stage, he starts screaming the song's titular invocation while swinging his guitar wildly about by the strap. It whizzes within inches of the front row's noses, but nDONOTBLOCKOURADSobody moves a muscle. We're transfixed.
Mavrogeorgis here exhibits the same deranged preacher-man intensity in which James Johnston once specialised. Also like Gallon Drunk, Bellmer Dolls are maybe best described as blooze-hounds: their take on old-school rhythm & blues sounds like it's full of strong liquor and tweaked beyond reason. Behind the drumkit, Sheerin is a cyclone of intensity. Out front, Mavrogeorgis frenziedly coaxes noise and feedback (plus the odd shimmering melody line) from his Rickenbacker, while delivering reference-loaded lyrics in a breathless, strangulated croon.
After 'Push! Push!' has provided the set's crescendo, Bellmer Dolls find themselves in the classic Trail of Dead quandary: the stage has pretty much been trashed, but there's still one song to play. They persevere, though: wires are untangled, equipment plugged back in and straps reaffixed to guitars, and during the subsequent set-closer the impression is of a vicious storm dying down and calmness descending. When the Dolls finally take their leave to approving roars, a passing fan records pity for whoever has to follow them.
This, then, is Bellmer Dolls. I disliked them when I first met them, but I've come to quite adore them. There's some sort of weird magnetism there.
Niall O'Keeffe (playlouder.com)
DARK AND DAMAGED --- JUST HOW I LIKE MY ROCK AND ROLL" - JIM JARMUSCH.
ART UBER ALLES νέος κύκλος επεισοδίων... Η μουσική εκπομπή Art Uber Alles σε συνεργασία με το tvxs ξεκινάει το νέο κύκλο επεισοδίων της την πρώτη Τετάρτη του Οκτώβρη. Στην ίδια ώρα και ημέρα, κάθε Τετάρτη στις 20.00. Πιστοί στην ίδια θεματολογία, αλλά και ανανεωμένοι, με πολλές και ενδιαφέρουσες συνεντεύξεις Ελλήνων και ξένων καλλιτεχνών, νέο κύκλο επεισοδίων στην στήλη «Do it yourself», παρουσίαση καλλιτεχνικών δρώμενων στην εναλλακτική σκηνή και άλλα πολλά... την art uber alles μπορείτε να δείτε στο internet χρησιμοποίηστε αυτό το link για να πάτε στην εκπομπή. http://www.tvxs.gr/c37
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD, WE DID IT. ABSINTHE ROSE IS ON ITUNES! HELP US OUT IF YOU GOT 2 BUCKS OR WRITE A REVIEW ON THE ITUNES THAT IS FREE AND IS WELCOMED!
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Take care of each other and thank you
Kimbo Rose Workman and the team from SCREECH OWL RECORDS!
You guys ever gonna come back out to the West Coast? I can understand why Gallon Drunk doesn't bother coming to America ... but you don't even need to get a visa!
We thank you for the add! We’re just a small band, but we’d be delighted if you listened to our Garage Rock songs and you sent us any kind of comment!! ☠
Bientôt Dietrich tour 2010/2011 Tourneurs Troisquatre
DIETRICH : c'est parti ! Préparez vos agendas pour ne rien manquer de la tournée 2010 de Dietrich. De l'Orient à l'Occident, laissez vous emporter par ces voix de la terre au travers de l'album « EVOK ». Venez danser et festoyer aux sons de ce duo unique, accompagné de deux musiciens : Toma Venegoni (guitares électrique/acoustique, clavier) et Greg (percussions).
En attendant leur tournée officielle, vous pourrez déjà vous régaler sur les deux dates additionnelles de 2009 : le 21 novembre au Phare à Tournai (be), et le 4 décembre au festival de la Chanson Wallonne à Mons (be). Retrouvrez les infos sur www.myspace.com/jeucdietrich
Pour patienter... Juste pour vos yeux et vos oreilles, Jeuc, Anik et leurs compagnons sont en train de concoter un film histoire de vous immerger dans l'univers et la folie de Dietrich. <font face=&
Hi my dear friend, great news for you and for me. Now you can buy my album from this post. You can Download It directly to your pc or buy a Physical CD, also you can buy my music as a Ringtone for your Movil. Just click in what you want in the next widget and follow the instructions.
And again, thanks for your support.
Buenas Lunas, Sólo decirles que ahora pueden comprar mi album desde este post. Pueden Descargarlo directamente a su pc o adquirir mi album en CD Físico, también pueden comprar mi música en forma de Ringtone para su celular.
Hey Peter, it's Max from In Wine is Truth. How are things goin' for you guys?
I'm still hoping that it will be possible for me to press the next Bellmer Dolls release on vinyl. How far are you guys away from completion? If you'd be interested, the vinyl would be 180 grams and the jackets would be thick gatefold. Also you guys would receive 500 copies to sell at shows).
September 1:st our 1:st single, Dare To Lick (Hunter's Red Sleeve), from our upcoming album SILENT REVOLUTION,was released and is available on iTunes but also on our MySpace of course!
The album will be released October 1:st and later that month we go on tour in Germany with The Movements.
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