INTERVIEWS-5

GIANT SAND Live at The Mean Fiddler, new album details....

After a series of European dates, Giant Sand (Howe Gelb: guitar & vocals and Scott Garber: bass & vocals), accompanied by the drummer from Scottish rockers the Snakes of Shake in lieu of usual skin flayer Tom Larkins who couldn't make the trip, brought a healthy measure of Arizona's rawest sun-bleached rock'n'roll to rainy London.  It was a lone date prior to the duo's return to the USA, and what a show it was!

Gelb'n'Garber are so perfectly suited that they could easily have played as a duo with no loss of impact, but to be fair the stand-in drummer was certainly no gooseberry and fitted perfectly as the third member of the phenomenal power (in the best sense of the word) trio.  Don't get the impression that this was a heads down, mindless blitzkrieg bop assault (despite the presence of Joey Ramone in the audience) 'cos that's nowhere near the truth.  The Giant Sand can burn brain cells when they unleash the fury and when Gelb straps on that Gretsch the prudent take cover double quick!  The good thing is that they know when to drop down and slow dazzle - the contrasts made the show.

The band were on stage for the best part of ninety minutes (including two encores) and their scorching display included a bunch of original songs from the "Valley Of Rain" LP (now available in the UK on Zippo) and more recent numbers plus powerful reworkings (and revitalisings) of "All Along The Watchtower" (owing more to Jimi than Bob), "Waiting For My Man" sung by Scott, and a condensed version of "Who Do You Love" that had the impact of a rhinoceros on speed.  The fifteen song set was alternately tight and loose as the situation demanded, some low key country numbers slotting in perfectly with songs like the majestic "Valley Of Rain" that demonstrated just what can be achieved with simple guitar, bass and drums; Howe Gelb's vocals may have been a little below par (the bands schedule was rather hectic!) but it didn't matter a jot, the passionate playing and obvious enthusiasm overcame all.  Whether grabbing a handy beer bottle for some slide, ripping off an almost inhuman solo on "Tumble And Tear", or playing some ringing lead on a song called (I think) "When The Big Rock Rolls", Mr. Gelb was a revelation.

A stunning gig and a pity that this was the Giant Sand's only UK show this time around.  The good news is that the band will be returning to Europe in June when a festival appearance will facilitate some more gigs in the UK and elsewhere.  If you miss them them it's your loss - don't let it happen!

On the vinyl front there's  a healthy bunch of releases in the pipeline.  First for release is a new Blacky Ranchette album, which I haven't yet heard, but am told it's quite a departure from the "Band Of....", LP, and features a choir- the mind boggles!  Scott Garber told me the new Giant Sand record is well under way and should be released later in 1986.  Thanks to the good offices of Demon Records' Andy Childs and Sand manager Jeffrey Wood I'm fortunate in having had a preview of the band's recent demos.  The nine songs include covers of "All Along The Watchtower", "Who Do You Love" and the Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash".  Amongst the original numbers is the fabulous "Thin Line Man" that does for desert desperadoes what Led Zep's "Immigrant Song" did for Viking warriors!  It's a classic tale of a man on the run pondering his fate in the tender hands of the law, "they'll string me up and then put me down, say I wouldna have to hang if I wouldn't run".  Great imagery shot through with some mighty guitar from Howe results in a song that sounds like a more dangerous (and left field) cousin of Green On Red's "The Drifter". In fact, here and there, Gelb's vocal comes across like Dan Stuart at his most deranged, where you suspect booze is the cause in the latter's case in the former something more unholy suggests itself.  "Last Legs": a ramshackle cocktail bar wail with tinkling piano illustrating the dangers of alcoholic over-indulgence; short'n'slurred just the way you like it!  The Sand men rape Ellis McDaniel's "Who Do You Love" with a wicked gleam in their eyes, it's a savage attack that constantly threatens to fall apart but ultimately stays the course and climaxes in a frenzied burst of naked aggression with Gelb screaming the lyrics over thrashing drums and frantic piano pounding.  "Jumping Jack Flash" is given similar irreverent treatment; Howe hammers out a grimy version of the familiar riff as he'n'Garber whip out a crazed cat's chorus of a vocal.  Undoubted highlight of the covers is "All Along The Watchtower" where a stark (bowed guitar?) intro prefaces a ripping monster version of the Dylan classic.  Gelb tears some unearthly cries from his instrument, which sounds as parched and manic as someone out under the blazing sun for several days too long and his raw vocalizing (with an occasional strangled hokey twang) perfectly conveys a feeling of perpetual incarceration in some burning desert hell-hole.  "Desperate Man" is the story of a man who's "clock was wound too tight" and, subject matter considered, has a fun-filled vocal that is enticing in the extreme.  "Body Of Water" portrays a dark, ominous place populated by "strange fish" where "the sun don't shine", a translucent nightmare world from the depths of the writer's psyche.  The closing "Paula's Song" is radically different from the balance of the tracks, most obviously because it features a female vocalist and the guitarist employs a lighter touch, indeed the song could be termed pretty, an adjective that I wouldn't use to describe any of the other numbers here, despite their many other merits.

Judging by what I've heard the album threatens to be something of a monster, eclipsing the debut "Valley Of Rain" with ease- nevertheless, if you haven't done so already, latch onto a copy of that record (available via Enigma in the USA and Zippo- with an extra track in the UK) as it deserves a home in all your record collections on the strength of the beautiful title track alone!  Existing fans should be pleased to hear that other projected vinyl includes a retrospective Giant Sandworms LP which will be culled from a host of tapes recorded at various times over the past few years.  Nigel Cross has been working on the full Giant Sand(Worms)/Blacky Ranchette saga which he hopes to complete when the 'Sand return here in June, look out for that and the album in due course.  Partake in the Giant Sand's unique vision and you won't go lacking, begin now!  Howe Gelb, guitar player of the year!

Jon Storey.