On the art of Danny Scheible
Words by Bobby S. Gulshan

In the last few months of 2010, Sacramento’s Second Saturday Art Walk emerged as a hotly contested locus of debate. People wondered out loud if the event had strayed from its original mission; was the benefit to Midtown businesses and artists enough to justify the risks? Because opinions abound on both sides, we will likely not see any significant change to the Second Saturday event any time soon.

One thing, however, stood seemingly beyond contention: the art community is an important and integral part of the Midtown scene and of Sacramento in general. The amount of activity within the visual arts in Sacramento defies the notion that a vibrant art community that generates meaningful and important work can only exist within the major metropolises of New York or Los Angeles. To be sure, those cities remain important cultural centers if for no other reason than the sizes of the markets they inhabit. Yet, as artist and sculptor Danny Scheible tells it, there is something special about making art in Sacramento.

“You meet people here and they want to help you,” he says. “There is a community already there. Having been to bigger cities, it’s very much an exchange, what can this person do for me?” This sense of community, of art as the beginning of a practice of going beyond oneself, or perhaps toward some more complete version of the self, resonates centrally in Scheible’s work.

In sculpture, materiality and spatial context play vital roles in the interaction of the art object and its observer. As Danny and I spoke, he crafted flowers and other more abstract objects from rolls of masking tape. “Tape is something that everyone has in their house or wherever, so it’s something people can immediately identify with,” he says. “But it’s also about taking that everyday object and seeing the aesthetic potential in it.”

This intentional choice represents a movement toward the audience, toward their cultural and social location. With respect to spatial location, Scheible sees the importance not just of the gallery setting but of public space. While it brings with it some level of anxiety (things being damaged, openly criticized) venturing into public space is a further gesture toward the audience. In this case, it is to de-familiarize the everyday and punctuate it with an aesthetic gesture. “I might put a small piece out somewhere and then stand across the street and watch and see how people react, or I may leave things along my walking paths,” he says. Scheible will chronicle reactions, and these impressions further inform his process. In this way he is, as he says, “constantly creating myself as a person through my art.”

Scheible is the self-proclaimed “Art Ambassador of Sacramento.” His primary diplomatic function seems to be to inject into the experiences of his artwork–and thus himself–a dialogue or process by which further discovery can be made. “It’s a spiritual or meditative practice,” he says.

Many of our notions concerning modern sculptural works come from either our experience of sculptural objects in a gallery setting or the placement of sculptures in public places such as parks or commercial centers. These experiences tend to remind us of a kind of critical distance that exists between the object and the observer. In the case of minimalist sculptural works, the movement of the observer is a sort of theatrical gesture, but the object remains mute, having no specific relation to the audience other than its spatial fixedness. Scheible’s entire practice, and indeed process, seeks to reinvigorate this relationship with a certain kind of intimacy. In the works that he has given away, Sheible has encouraged others to produce drawings of his work that may subsequently be used as screen-print images, or alternately as hand drawn images, which again become the subject of his own process, as a sort of perpetual feedback loop. And this is key: The constant dialogue, or even dialectic, that generates the self through the process of offering forth the piece, having it reflected, and then taking that reflection as the starting point for the next iteration of work.

Scheible tells me, “I was born and raised in Curtis Park, and I live here now.” Locality is key to his process. The dialogue with the audience requires an immediacy that his interventions in space reveals. However, I don’t suspect that if Scheible keeps it up for long his bounds will be geographically limited. There exists a crucial point at which his art dares to reach into a universal realm: “An artist isn’t something you are born as, it’s something you make yourself into.” For Sheible, this is as much material and spatial as it is social. As he tells it, his strength lies in getting other artists to work together, to show together, and to promote together. This is a fundamental characteristic of anyone who dares to push the art that they believe in to the fore, and make it geographically and socially relevant.

We could have spent hours talking about the importance of public versus private space, or how hard it is for an artist to fix the damn scooter when it’s wrecked. But I look forward to an upcoming solo show, and the show he is curating, all here in our ever-vibrant Midtown arts scene.

Danny Scheible’s latest solo show at Lauren Salon will have its opening reception during Second Saturday in March (March 12, 2011). Scheible’s curated show will take place at FE Gallery and will also have its opening reception on Second Saturday in March from 6 to 9 p.m.

A Lot Like Birds, Not to Reason Why, Early States, The Dreaded Diamond, Cryptics

Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 – The Refuge – Sacramento

Words by Bobby S. Gulshan – Photo by Cait Loper

The Refuge played host to an eclectic bill of hard-hitting bands from around Northern California. The Cryptics, a three-piece from Santa Cruz, Calif., opened the evening with a set of tunes that combined bite and sweetness. Part power pop, part jagged punk rock, The Cryptics relied on pulsing, driving rhythms and machine gun staccato guitar riffs. As the audience trickled into the space that serves double-duty as a Lutheran Church, the Cryptics took the chance to warm the crowd and prepare them for the night.

The Dreaded Diamond brought an unexpected hint of soul to the evening. The two-piece brother and sister act–featuring Juli Lydell on keys and vocals and Tyler Lydell on drums–combine a heavy percussive attack with melodies that at times soar and at other times lilt with emotional fragility. Despite only featuring two people on stage, there was no lack of presence. Juli’s stage persona is magnified not only by precocious lyrical content, but also her witty engagement with the audience. Songs like “Alphonse Muca” contain enough complexity to run the gamut from indie folk to soulful pop, making you wonder what Natasha Bedingfield might sound like if she had street cred.

Early States brought an air of big stage pomp, featuring a lighting rig and stage smoke that would be appropriate on an arena tour. However, the big-time stage setup was justified by the bright energy the Sacramento three-piece brought to the audience. A faithful cadre of fans crowded the front of the stage and danced to the techno-infused pop and sang along to infectious choruses. Early States sound relates to that of Muse without the paranoia, and in fact presents an epic send-up of an emerging generation flush with optimistic possibility. Fans sang along to “Stop Calling Me Out,” the chorus of which describes defiance in the face of frustration and judgment. The band ended with “Smoke in My Eyes,” a song driven by a jangly guitar riff reminiscent of classic U2 and a perfect coda to an energetic set.

“We’ve been called ‘moody,’” said Not to Reason Why guitarist Ian Simpson. In stark contrast to Early States, Not to Reason Why, a four-piece instrumental group from Petaluma, Calif., enveloped the venue in a sinuous darkness, like objects roughhewn out of obsidian. Combining hauntingly gentle piano melodies and arpeggiated guitar lines, Not to Reason Why lulled the audience into a reflective moment, and then would lambaste them with sonic dirges that would be well suited for the soundtrack to the end of days. The final tune, “Good Afternoon,” began with the bass player picking up a guitar, and the drummer switching to bass, as the band wove a tense lullaby that eventually arrived at epic, post-metal bombast as the drummer returned to his post and stark white light enveloped the stage during a powerfully sludging finale.

A Lot Like Birds closed out the evening with their pummeling brand of hardcore. The screams were accompanied by the melodic wails of Kurt Travis, formerly of Dance Gavin Dance, and the twin vocal attack added depth to the presentation. A Lot Like Birds convulsed with tense energy, attacking with a sonic barrage. Most of the songs they played remain untitled, but what’s vital is the energy. A Lot Like Birds are technically savvy, and some of the tunes proceed with a barely controlled chaos, as if it will fall apart at any moment, only to turn on a dime and crush you with a driving breakdown. These guys can play, and they definitely left a pint of blood up on that stage. The audience was whipped into frenetic frenzy, head banging and writhing to every single break. The final tune, “My Body at War,” drove the crowd into a swirling mosh pit. The pure catharsis of A Lot Like Birds was the perfect exclamation point on an evening of wide ranging sounds.

Words by Bobby S. Gulshan | Photo by Phill Mamula

My editor said, “I want you to interview this up-and-coming band from Roseville. Here is their demo.” I gave it a listen and thought, “Yeah, these guys can really bang it out. Let’s do it.” I asked if maybe we could arrange to meet at a bar, so I could have an excuse to do my job and drink at the same time. Turns out, not a one of them is old enough to get past the door. Coffee then?

Moreover, these guys are serious. Don’t let the “just out of high school” thing fool you. Ten After Two have a precocious feel for both the music and the music business. The forthcoming EP is the product of collaboration between Rise Records, Artery Management and Hot Topic. The tunes are precise and structured, and it became clear through the course of our conversation that these guys have a clear and precise vision of themselves and their creative endeavors.

Tell me how you guys got started.
Vincent Adorno: Back in the day I used to jam with my buddy Pat [Hennion, guitar], after that we had this school thing between two schools, Oakmont and Woodcreek. And we found Josh [Doty, guitar/vocals] through that. He was the singer in this guitar class. Josh and Sean were in a band together at the time called Eleanor Manor. Josh and Sean joined us and we found Danny [Clark, bass].

You are pretty young guys.
VA: Yeah, I’m 17.
Sean Wall: I’m 20.

And this is why we are having coffee and not conducting this interview at the pub. So what made you guys interested in playing metal?
VA: We were into that genre at the time, and it’s a growing genre. And I see it as something that is only getting bigger.
SW: The genre lets us do a lot of things musically and allows us to put our own thing into it. We don’t have to feel so contained into something simple.

So what are some examples of that?
SW: We can do more chord progressions. We can try something new. On the future full-length you will hear it, going out of the box and doing different sorts of harmonies and stuff.

On the EP I noticed that you guys combine the melodic, clean vocal elements with the growling heavy vocals. Is that an example?
SW: Yeah, exactly.

Other than rock and metal, what else are you listening to?
SW: When I think about it, we listen to a lot of stuff. Oldies, classics, electronica, anything that is good musically we listen to.

Let me ask a similar question. What’s the exact opposite of the kind of band that you would want to be in?
VA: I don’t want to be in a band with people who aren’t serious about it. I am trying to do this as a career, so definitely nothing that is only about fun or just a personal thing.
SW: I hate really limited bands. I wouldn’t want to be in a band where all the songs sound the same.

So you are more interested in the idea of exploration and the endless possibilities of what you could do?
SW: Exactly. The endless possibilities of music.

In terms of making it a career, what does that mean for you?
VA: There is going to be a lot of work that goes into it. We are going to be totally broke for a while, but eventually we want to be able to make a decent living and have some fans really love it. I just want to do what I love and hopefully do it for the rest of my life. And this is what we all love doing.

So the EP is coming out on Nov. 9, 2010. What is the deal with Hot Topic and the exclusive release?
SW: Our management hooked us up. They had connections with Hot Topic and wanted us to do it. It will be available through Hot Topic and iTunes.

In terms of style, I know bands don’t like to be categorized, but we writers live and die on categories. Some might call what you do metalcore or emo-core. So what do you think of these labels?
SW: We are a rock band. We have straight 4/4 time, minor key type stuff. You could call it alternative rock or whatever, but we are basically a rock band.

You guys love the breakdowns, don’t you?
VA: It’s what kids can relate to. I don’t know why, but these days the kids love it, and we love it too, so yeah. It’s heavy, and it’s what everyone feels. They can feel the heaviness.

You guys show a certain level of musical sophistication. The songs are well structured and well put together. You mentioned theory earlier, but what about technique? There seems to be an emphasis on technical ability in the songs.
SW: We like to be guitar-driven and very musical. I think our songs tell the story through the guitars.

There was one track, “Behind Locked Doors,” where that acoustic guitar comes in near the end, and I was blown away by how clean the production was on that.
SW: Yeah, Colby [Wedgeworth, producer] does some amazing stuff out of his house and at Hollywood North off of Douglas. It was a great time and the end result was killer.

What are some of the themes you guys are exploring with the music?
VA: So far it’s stuff about girls, I guess. Some of it is about this reoccurring theme about home. It makes sense if you listen to it.
SW: It’s like taking the time to be introspective and knowing within you what home is. When do you know that you are completely comfortable? How well do you know yourself to know that you are at home?

Is it that where you are from isn’t necessarily where you are at home?
VA: It’s like a personal feeling, feeling whole and home in the universe.
SW: Like you are your own universe.

Does this relate at all to being from Roseville, which is nice but it’s still the suburbs, and it’s not that open-minded a place?
VA: Well we all want to get out of there.
SW: Suburban scum.
VA: We don’t like the way the kids act out here. People are really egotistical, even though they don’t have much to show for it.
SW: These themes get brought up. People have stuff, but don’t know happiness. They have material things but not much else. They don’t know themselves.
VA: And the world has gone to shit.

I feel you on that. So what do you guys have coming up?
SW: We are going to Florida in December, be there for a month.
VA: Yeah, we are going to go out there and record our full-length.

Touring?
VA: Yeah definitely, after the full length gets done.
SW: We are hoping to tour all next year, starting in the spring.

So what are the ingredients for future success?
SW: The fans, connecting with our fans.
VA: Fans and keeping up with the writing. We can’t overthink it. We can’t lose what we know. We lose the feeling if we think too much about it.
SW: Like Vinny is saying, we want our fans to be a big part of it. But if we try too hard to write for others, we are not going to be able to write it how we feel it, and in the end the people listening are going to be able to hear that.

Aside from the music, how else can you connect with fans?
VA: We want to try everything–contests and charity events. Basically anything to connect with people on a real human level is really important.

Ten After Two’s debut EP will be available at Hot Topic starting Nov. 9, 2010. The album will also be sold on iTunes.

Helmet, Bison B.C., Will Haven

Harlow’s – Sacramento, Calif. – Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010
Words by Bobby S. Gulshan

As promised on the flyer, Grady Avenell has indeed returned to vocals, and the local faithful flocked to Harlow’s for Will Haven. Some call it metalcore, or post-hardcore, but Will Haven’s particular brand of bombast proves too elusive for quick categorization. Opening with “I‘ve Seen My Fate,” the dual guitar attack combined with keyboard atmospheres and driving rhythmic breakdowns conspired to create a steady sonic barrage. Avenell’s searing screams hammered the point deeper. With his back often to the audience, Avenell and the rest of Will Haven tore through their set with high-energy physicality, head banging in lockstep with one another. Songs such as “Helena” and “Carpe Diem” displayed the straightforward appeal of Will Haven’s approach.

Their music relies on power and heaviness coupled with a driving rhythmic intensity. Tonally, the riffs were almost monochromatic, with guitarist Jeff Irwin providing occasional hints of color with high-pitched staccato runs. Closing with “Stick up Kid,“ the band displayed its full physical force, finishing up a blistering set of six songs that left the hometown crowd hungry for more.

Hailing from the Great White North, Bison B.C. took the stage in the second slot. On tour with Helmet in support of their new LP, Dark Ages, the Canadian metal outfit added classic thrash-style riffs to a night of hardcore punishment. The guys themselves look like modern primitives, as if they wandered out of the same deep forest as the mythical Wendigo, which they reference in one of their more epic tunes. James Farwell and Dan And provide guitars and vocals, one singing with a characteristic death metal growl, and the other providing a cleaner vocal on more melodic sections. As drummer Brad McKinnon told me after the show, “When I first heard Dio all those years ago, it hit a place, and it’s been metal ever since.” Indeed. Bison B.C. fills their sonic space with complex riffs and blistering solos, as well as hardcore breakdowns. “Slow Hand of Death” displayed Bison’s ability to combine thrashing riffs with off-kilter time signatures, moving seamlessly into a galloping melodic section, and then returning to churning extended breakdowns. “Wendigo Pt.1” featured both guitarists locked in harmonies that evoked one part Slayer, one part Iron Maiden. However, the development of the songs–particularly the ability to transition from a blast beat to an extended break with ease–is signature Bison. The Harlow’s audience seemed a bit unprepared for this metal onslaught, but showed their appreciation nonetheless.

Turning 50 doesn’t seem to have slowed Page Hamilton. By the time Helmet took the stage, Harlow’s was packed and surging, and the seemingly ageless Hamilton did not disappoint. He told the audience that he was supposed to be on a juice diet, and then promptly took a swig from his Corona. Hamilton played to the audience, constantly engaging them with wit and charm. At one point between songs, Hamilton brought up the subject of football, taking a quick shot at the Pittsburgh Steelers by pointing out that “their quarterback is a rapist.”

Helmet’s classic album Meantime was released in 1992. While new tunes still bear the signature of Hamilton’s “glory days,” nothing sounds dated. Helmet has mastered extended breakdowns, utilizing various downtuned and detuned setups to create deep, heavy tones. The almost mechanical rhythms are persistent and stark, while the start-and-stop nature of the riffs keep bodies moving with an internal groove. Hamilton’s clear vocal melodies are somewhat refreshing in an age where the growl has become the lingua franca of hardcore and metal. Yet the riffs and breakdowns are as hard as anything out there. Old tracks like “Ironhead” and “Role Model” blended perfectly with new material, like the title track of the new album, “Seeing Eye Dog” and “So Long.” The show, of course, would not be complete without a performance of “Unsung,” which jolted the crowd into a frenzied sing-along with Hamilton. The back and forth with the audience continued during the encore when Hamilton asked the audience to pick three songs. “Black Top,” “In the Meantime” and “I Know” finished off the show, as requested by the fans. For a band that hasn’t toured in some time, Helmet and Hamilton have not lost a step, and all indications point to a long and hard-hitting future for the hardcore legend.

Slayer’s Dave Lombardo talks thrash
Words by Bobby S. Gulshan – Photo by Mark Seliger

I was 13 when Slayer released Seasons in the Abyss. At the time of its release, the United States was engaged in a war with Iraq. Around this time, I toyed around with the idea of becoming a writer. Grunge soon exploded on the scene, and the Seattle sound put the last nail in the coffin of glam metal. Meanwhile, seminal thrash metal records, such as Megadeth’s Rust in Peace and Anthrax’s Persistence of Time, fueled a burgeoning and bludgeoning style of metal called thrash.

Indeed, the tapes confirm it. World Painted Blood shows a return to form, while a renewed sense of creative vigor promises to keep fuel on the fire.

You guys are going out with Megadeth and Testament on the first leg of the American Carnage Tour, and will be joined by Anthrax on the second leg. What inspired this group of bands to get together?
A bunch of agents and managers got together and said, “Hey let’s put this together.” I don’t know how these things come up, we just get word, like, “there is a possibility of Slayer and Megadeth and Testament getting together,” and they ask us if we want to do it and we said, “Hey, why not?”

I want to talk a little about the latest record, World Painted Blood. It seems to me that the record picks up in some sense where Seasons in the Abyss left off, sort of a return to form, if you will. Was there something you did differently as a drummer when approaching this record?
I was in a whole different state of mind when I worked on this record. I had a different approach, a wiser approach and more song constructive ideas when it came to the structuring of the drums, so I think it’s just a very mature record.

I was looking at some videos you had done for Modern Drummer magazine and you mentioned a quote from Art Blakey, when he said he heard violins in his cymbals. In talking about World Painted Blood, did other music such as jazz or groovy sorts of things inspire the work?
Yes, definitely. It’s music but also the movement of the music, how its rhythm is composed. It’s so deep, I don’t know. I live and breathe rhythm and music, and it’s hard to pinpoint.

I also noticed you talked about changing the actual configuration and setup of your kit, eliminating some of the toms and coming in with a slightly smaller set. Did that new configuration provide new ideas in terms of what you do physically?
Absolutely, yeah. It had me think and approach the drums in a whole different way.

Maybe giving you some new ideas to do different things that you haven’t tried before?
Exactly. And it’s like the rolls that I do, the way they come out when you take away some of the toms. When you’re improvising like I am–I don’t write things out, whatever comes out at that moment, whatever inspires me at that moment is what gets recorded. When you take these pieces [of the kit] out, it sort of impacts that ability in a different way. And you are forced into performing something totally different than if you have the extra tom.

Gets you out of the box, so to speak.
Yeah, gets you out of that rut.

You said that World Painted Blood was a bit of a wiser record. I read somewhere that you said the record had a special sort of magic to it. What exactly do you think that is?
I don’t know, I can’t pinpoint it. I can only relate that there are these records that you buy and you listen to from beginning to end and enjoy every bit of music on there, and that can be of course mastery of your songwriting or your art. But sometimes you need more, you need chemistry between the musicians that are executing the hits and strumming the strings. And when you get that combination, plus good songwriting, it’s a magical record. They play off each other. They know how to play off each other, having done it so many years on stage and in the studio, you kind of work out this instinct when you’re playing, you know what the other guy is going to do.

A sense of anticipation.
Yeah, definitely.

I understand that this record was a different approach for the band, in general. You guys went into the studio to write, as opposed to having the material all written beforehand. Do you think that made a difference?
Absolutely. Usually we would have everything ready and go in and bang it out. No, we had to write some songs and we had to work on things for a while, which was good because it put us under a constructive pressure. It wasn’t negative or a deadline, just constructive.

And it probably fostered another level of communication between the four of you.
Yeah, because we didn’t have time to fuck around. We had to get the job done and that’s it. Ain’t no time to go whine or whatever because they aren’t using a piece of your music. Instead we thought, “Let’s just throw everything in the fuckin’ pot and make this album the best as we could possibly make it.” That was my approach, and I sensed that from the other musicians as well. The camaraderie during the recording was unlike any other record that we’ve had.

And how did working with Greg Fidelman affect that process?
He’s like a fifth member of the band. It was amazing.

What advice might you give to aspiring musicians out there?
Never give up. And even if you don’t achieve the status you dream of, it’s always fun to keep playing. You don’t ever need to stop playing, whether it’s jamming at your friend’s house or playing at the local bar. As long as I’m playing, that is happiness for me.

After the tour, what’s in the future?
After this we are touring, after that we are going to tour, and then after that a little more touring.

I sense a trend.
And put out another record. Not maybe, definitely put out another record.

The American Carnage Tour featuring Slayer, Megadeth and Testament will hit the ARCO Arena on Sept. 1, 2010. For more info and tickets, go to www.ticketmaster.com and search “American Carnage.”