All day yesterday I told people what an amazing show I had seen the previous evening at Gabe’s: the March Fourth Marching Band.
“What were they like, Yale?”
And that was the problem. I couldn’t say what they were “like” because they were so damn unique. I’d never seen anything “like” them ever before in all my years of going to concerts or seeing marching bands perform at football games or parades.
I had to describe them then for what they are, not what they were “like.”
What they are is a band so butch they make the Village People seem like N.W.A. by comparison, but with no tongues in cheeks at all – they mean it.
I think Salvador Dali is their manager.
They buy mustache wax by the drum.
H.R. Geiger designed their drum kits.
After seeing their show I am now sexually attracted to hats.
The space was not big enough for them and the sound and spectacle they brought with them and neither was my brain, it’s still throbbing. (Though that may also be the energy drink-based cocktails I had, lesson learned.)
I wanted to steal their poster from the door of the bar and crawl inside it in live there with the red-headed gal featured on it.
Their show was an Alejandro Jodorowsky film that jumped off the screen only with fewer exploding bullfrogs.
Some mad scientist somewhere took a marching band that died in a bus crash outside his castle, reassembled the bodies, laid them out on a platform that he pulled to the ceiling where it was zapped with a lightning bolt and brought them back to life as a monster, cackling all the time as he admired his creation, a monster of a sort that had never existed before.
A sweaty, beautiful, chaotic, organized, hyper-realized, super tight, fever dream of a monster that defies categorization and pumped out so much beat and rhythm that Gabe’s better call in a structural engineer to look at their roof sometime soon because it may have been blown clean the fuck off.
This was their first show in Iowa City and we all gushed and pleaded and threatened them that they better come back – or else – and I certainly hope they do.
Mostly for the sake of everybody who didn’t get to see them this time and are – rightfully – feeling bad about it given how much those of us that did have talked them up.
Would I go see them again myself?
I don’t know. They set the bar pretty insanely damn high themselves with their show on Monday and how could they possibly top it?
Then again, if anybody could, it would be them, wouldn’t it?
That’s a chance I’m willing to take.
If we’re lucky enough for them to come to our town again, so should you.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barefootadrianne/sets/72157625356996898/show/
See more of Adrianne Behning’s photos
Love this story, Adrianne. It's one of the best descriptions I've seen so far! As someone who's seen M4 about 100 times (really, no exaggeration – I was at their very first show), I can confirm they will top it. They've kept it fresh for more than seven years now and I'm continuously amazed and inspired. Glad we could share a little bit of the Portland joy with you in Iowa!
I first saw them in 2006 at a Junk to Funk Fashion show in Portland, OR. We saw that a Marching band was playing afterward, we said to ourselves, without much enthusiasm, “We'll stay for a song or two and then go home.” Wow, to our surprise, in marches this incredible bunch of people with crazy drums, stilts, dancers, colorful costumes, and loads of excitement. After a few kickin' songs, I inquired where they'd be New Year's Eve and we have been devoted fans and been shaking our stuff to their music whenever we can, ever since. Pretty Fun Stuff!
I am really glad you dig the write up. It was actually written by Yale Cohn, who has written many, many great articles for the Little Village and is presently knee-deep in the NaNoWriMo project. If that weren't enough, he's got a really good, thought-provoking Public Access Show now called Talking with Yale. If you click his name at the beginning of the this post, you can read some of the other things that have made their way from his brain to the mag.
I was the one behind the camera, incapable of snapping fast enough to capture all the amazing feats these folks performed on Gabe's itty bitty stage.
As far as M4 – I expect they will top this show. And when they do, I will be front and center. I have already heard back from their manager who promised they will be back. I am counting the days.