Nothing to be Ashamed Of
It's time to be the bigger man. I kind of hate the Murder City Devils, but their two-day reunion at the Showbox this week should be something special. Murder City Devils succeeded in creating inventive death punk that was, in 1997, able to re-appropriate some of Seattle's grunge fury from the scummy proto-nu metal that was then ruining rock radio. They thrashed hard, had an (arguably) sly sense of humor, and Spencer Moody's haunting growl was something to behold. This was Important. And Seattle did not have to feel ashamed of its 90's legacy.
Plus, Murder City Devils made their reputation on punishing live shows. MCD were about confrontation and along with the shit-kicking drums came actual shit kicking. The band was hammered, the audience was hammered, and Moody would routinely get his glasses broken after pushing audience members too far. These two shows might be their last ever in Seattle, and it's hard to image a group this crazy letting you down.
To be fair, the reason I don't like band is less about their music then the fact that Moody is kind of a jerk. To me, he commits the cardinal front-man sin of thinking he is too good for his audience. Here's Moody in the most recent Stranger profile of the band: "The fact that the MCD were, in relative terms, pretty successful toward the end—we were pretty popular, we could play pretty big places and people would come—that sort of makes me assume that it wasn't that good."
Moody's logic here undercuts the potential power of punk music. It makes the political petulant and condescends when it should unify. And in the context of a reunion tour, it definitely makes the upcoming show seem like a fuck-you to fans.
But who am I kidding? Every show they've played has been a fuck-you to fans. That's the appeal. Their gruesome noise and piercing feedback are made physical by Moody's confrontations. It's entrancing nihilism filled with drunken revelations. And this could be your last chance to see it.
(And Seattle, you still don't have to feel ashamed about grunge.)
