Kevin Wood is a guy who first appeared on my musical radar about 20 years ago when his brother’s band released their major label debut. Because of the circumstances and the fever in which I took to his brother’s music, Kevin was instantly hailed in my mind, as a pioneer and ground breaker. His most known bands would be Malfunkshun and DevilHead
(both saw major label releases in the mid 90’s). He’s a prolific kind of guy, constantly writing/recording and at times jamming in a few different projects.
The ‘Malfunkshun Monument
’ disc is a clever mixture of both past and present “Wood-isms,” containing new musical compositions set to lyrics written by his deceased brother. The record itself is a really good, really accomplished set of songs highlighted by both Kevin’s multi-layered six string prowess and vocalist Shawn Smith’s (Brad, Satchel) vocal contributions. The dude is an amazing singer blessed with a soulful sound, smooth delivery and 100% dedicated to the song. So knowing the opportunity to hear these songs as well as some of the older songs was probably a once in a lifetime thing I was there. I was looking forward to it.
Locals DeepSpacePilots opened the show and all I can say is WOW! The power generated by this trio in a criminally short set was something I wasn’t quite expecting. Their all killer/no filler heavy with instantaneous catchiness trip was really a stand up and notice moment for me.
Vocally, DeepSpacePilots employ melodic and at times an almost hypnotic style of lead vocals that aren’t paired up too often with music this heavy, and if they are they don’t seem to sound this good. These vocals in the rather impressive sounding room tonight were expansive and fully realized. Rounding out the band was a rhythm section that really locked-in nicely, giving the melodic moments a vehicle to operate while providing a rock solid foundation.
Memorable set to say the least.
After a quick set changeover the house lights went down and Kevin Wood and the From The North band hit the stage, opening with the Malfunkshun track “With Yo Heart, Not Yo Hands,” it was a ballsy move, really. Ballsy as “With Yo Heart…” might be one of the most famous of Malfunkshun songs and it was going to take something special to keep that intensity at the level in which it began.
In all honesty it was rather roller coaster-ish. Spread about the hour and a half (!!??) set there were moments of absolute brilliance, Wood’s command of his instrument was a no brainer, the guy can play and shred with the best of them but some of the less than stellar moments sort of dragged. Another thing I can’t get my head around? The absolute brilliance of the recorded versions of the ‘…Monument’ disc just didn’t come across live.
I suppose a huge part of it would be the absence of the CD performers, no question. But the players on stage were, unfortunately, not up to par with the expectations. Not just mine, but several of the people near me during the show. It was just a hodgepodge feel, look and at times sound.
Funny, I just spent like, a week trying to get my thoughts together around this gig and other than the DeepSpacePilots portion of it, I think this will now be erased from my mind. I'd love to see Kevin Wood again in a better situation and environment with a back-up band on par to the support band of the night.
