Bad Copy

A wise, freckled man once said “I’d rather hear a mediocre recording of a great performance than a great recording of a mediocre performance.”

Spoiler: Dominic (right) is that wise, freckled man

By that same token, a mediocre band, or mediocre venue, or mediocre equipment, etc. etc. etc. can be elevated to “great” if the presentation is there.

Everyone knows the classic front people, performers who would do their thing to a bar of 30 or an arena of 30,000 with the same level of conviction.

But even they are the first to admit that to do their job properly requires them to be cocky, self-important megalomaniacs. These types of bigger-than-life caricatures of Rock are the heroes in the phrase “Never meet your heroes.” (Disclaimer: Dee Snider – who actually coined the term “Lead Singer Syndrome” – was actually one of the more approachable, present, and self-aware guys of that ilk that I’ve encountered.)

Truth be told, though, the world needs arrogant assholes. Someone needs the self-inflated confidence to fly commercial airplanes and to perform surgeries.

(Speaking of cocky, here was my Halloween costume this year:)

Billy Mitchell (left) from the highly-recommended documentary King of Kong, and me (right) wearing a tie and hairstyle that pushed my wife away like they were a sharp stick.

Despite living in a world where I’m constantly being forced to separate the art from the artist I have still been fortunate enough to experience front-folk with just as much charisma and fearlessness as those I mentioned above, but without the insufferability.

Matty Luv and HICKEY literally started their own cult:

Propagandhi used to spend so much time dressing down their audience that they titled their sophomore release “Less Talk, More Rock” in response:

40 years on and this is still threatening:

Chi Pig was a gay Asian skateboarder in a band full of hockey players:

As has been shared numerous times throughout my features, Sam Newton is as brilliant as he is Canadian:

Rushad just came through town billed as a Grammy-winning cellist. This brought out the upper crust who were very much not prepared to watch a guy do cartwheels, climb trees, and jump on cars (all with his cello):

Heck, the best man in my wedding is perhaps one of the greatest performers and audience-commanders I’ve ever known. (Devon is the one on the wall with no clothes, and this is not a picture from my wedding.)

Even Fugazi – who eschew just about every aspect of a typical Rock concert, save the loud amps – is fronted by two guys who can hold court like few others. In fact, I only know of two bands that have records that are nothing but between-song banter – Fugazi and KISS.

In hindsight I realize that most of these examples of strong front-persons were confrontational but I guess that’s what chocolates my peanut butter – bands/bandleaders who can not just survive, but actually thrive under adverse circumstances.

While I’m celebrating performers who can control a room, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fundamental power of competitive air guitar. This guy below is literally miming a song most people reading this would be embarrassed to know, but listen to that audience at the end and then tell me William Ocean (aka Andrew Litz, aka Seth Leibowitz) isn’t a world-class entertainer.

All of this to say – the singer for the Argentinian band, Fun People, was one of these energetic, dynamic, enigmatic singers. His name is Carlitos (aka Nekro, aka Boom Boom Kid) and he maintains life as a weirdo. He skateboards around town graffitiing rainbows by day and makes music to dance, sing, and steal groceries to by night. (Nevermind that he poached The Love Songs’ original guitar player, Jackson, for his post-Fun People band some years ago.) He’s also been one of my friends since the mid-90’s and even sang the very first LSotM. (Speaking of Fun People and guitar players – it should be noted that the Fun People guitar player, Lukas, is one of the greatest guitar players I ever saw play the instrument, and he also once saved me from sleeping on the streets of Buenos Aires back at the turn of the century.)