A trio that speaks to Bo

In response to Henri's request for a link to the trio I was talking about that I really like (yes, I like Hiromi/AJ/SP too), here's a video link to The Aristocrats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1yQPhGCjPg

A couple of years ago I got tickets to see Stick Men with Tony Levin and Pat Mastellotto, and these guys opened for them. Needless to say, my wife and I were floored, and actually liked these guys more than Stick Men.

They consist of:
Guthrie Govan - guitar
Bryan Bellar - bass
Marco Minnemann - drums

It's kind of long-hair rock 'n' roll, but a lot of their tunes meander through a lot of time changes, very progressive metal. You recall my thread on Marco's 9-tuplet thing throwing me for a loop? This is kind of the same thing but with a whole band doing it

They now have three albums out and are on the road all the time. Very cool trio. I'm surprised some of you here haven't heard them yet - they are making some noise and giving hope that real musicians will eventually return to the spotlight.
Enjoy!

I like it.

Bellar and Minnemann are touring with Satriani.

Matt Bo Eder said:

In response to Henri's request for a link to the trio I was talking about that I really like (yes, I like Hiromi/AJ/SP too), here's a video link to The Aristocrats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1yQPhGCjPg

Click to expand...

Thanks Mo

I liked it, liked it a lot, these guys rocks... and Marco... phew, incredible

My only gripe is that there's wonderful moments at time I wish lasted longer, but alas they moved on too quickly, track like these should be a lot longer so that some key moments could be more exploited, but except that 10 out of 10.

Matt Bo Eder said:

It's kind of long-hair rock 'n' roll...

Click to expand...

Lol, they look like straight out of the 70's, I felt like I was in my teens again

That was... interesting. Even more fascinating is that a guy at the local pawn shop music corner just showed me a clip of them today, too, and I had never heard of the trio before this morning.

Without getting analytical, I prefer the trio that Henri posted. Somehow, that sounded musical to me, while this reminds me of watching a calculus competition performed on unicycles... I appreciate the skill but it doesn't move me at all.

I'm sure it's because I'm just a low-brow Luddite from Idaho, lol. Definitely not an aristocrat.

IDDrummer said:

That was... interesting. Even more fascinating is that a guy at the local pawn shop music corner just showed me a clip of them today, too, and I had never heard of the trio before this morning.

Without getting analytical, I prefer the trio that Henri posted. Somehow, that sounded musical to me, while this reminds me of watching a calculus competition performed on unicycles... I appreciate the skill but it doesn't move me at all.

I'm sure it's because I'm just a low-brow Luddite from Idaho, lol. Definitely not an aristocrat.

Click to expand...

Well, you have to experience a whole show, and maybe listen to one full album. There are definite moments of pure musicality (or else my wife wouldn't have dug them as much as she did). Ironically (and I mean no disrespect here), this is the most musical I've ever heard Marco play. His DVD's and other projects are so heavily-laden with polyrhythms and odd-times, and just so much chops, that much of his stuff is just jarring and I can't take more than 5 or 6 minutes. But him with these two guys and I got to hear him groove and actually do what most other drummers have to do. So that was very cool.

Granted, whenever I hear a jazz trio (be it Hiromi, or Michel Petrucciani, or Oscar Peterson, or Keith Jarret) I assume that's going to be more smooth-sounding and musical - I just take it for granted having listened to so much jazz all my life. So of course, when confronted with electric guitar and bass and drums, with an expanded palette of sonic effect, I expect it to be a bit more edgy and over-the-top, and that's probably where I'm at with the whole trio thing. I like good music played by great musicians, but I want a bit more bite as well. So if that means effected guitars running through Marshall amps then I'm cool with that

I suggest giving them more of a listen by hearing what you can on YouTube, or even buying an album or two. That's how my wife figured me for a fan after their show - I bought everything: their live DVD and their first two CD's. And they just came out with another DVD and a new CD and I just got those as well.