I'm going to a Swans show by myself tonight...

I'm going to a Swans show by myself tonight. Is it true the Michael Gira picks singles on the crowd and makes them sing lead vocals on a song? I'm really nervous.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtu.be/5ysyB_rhAWs
japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/01/20/music/meat-masochism-swans/
spin.com/2012/06/feel-noise-behind-chase-ear-bleeding-volume/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

was at a show a few weeks ago, he picks singles and makes them try to seduce a woman onstage hope you're prepared

The only true thing about Swans 2.0 M. Gira is if you're towards the front and on your phone he'll probably take it from you.

What if you're just taking photos?

He doesn't like that.

He'll ask you politely to stop.

Good to know.

Doesn't mean you can't take pics necessarily, just means you have to do it when his back is turned.

Christoph on pedalsteel stage right was taking hits on his e-cig when Michael was facing forwards when I saw them.

That is not true at all. You're fine, just don't sit on your phone like an idiot or take videos. He yelled at someone for videoing at the show I went to, which was actually pretty funny

lol what'd he say

Good. I can't stand that shit. What can you possibly do with a shaky iPhone video of a band in a horribly lit room?

Post it to instagram to show how cultured you are

I like to upload little boots of songs I like and watch them back sometimes.

Wouldn't a photo be a lot better than a bad looking video?

Atlanta?

>listening to bootlegs recording on a cell phone microphone

lol get some standards dude

sadly they don't hand out 320kbps recordings at gigs

Don't mosh, don't piss off the people next to you, don't sit on your phone, don't yell things out or talk while the band is preforming. Just shut the fuck up and enjoy the god damned music. Get there early and get a good spot. Keep hydrated throughout the day but stop drinking alot of water the closer you get to the show. There will probably be a line so get there before doors open. Take some painkillers if you think you'll be in too much discomfort from standing for multiple hours on one. Finally, to avoid dry mouth/excessive thirst bring a water bottle but take very little sips and slosh the water around in your mouth. You can trick yourself into believing you aren't thirsty if you do it this way.

Enjoy the show you cuck. Shake Gira's hand post-show and thank him for the evening.

>get some standards dude
Autism

What's wrong with that? I'm not about to go to a rock show and stand stage side with a fucking shotgun mic strapped to my forehead.

I just like reflecting on the energy and theatrical elements incorporated with performances of songs I'm familiar with. It doesn't have to be super high quality or not whatever.

if you aren't with your girlfriend, they'll abduct you and use you to narrate their next album.

I'm down

I do this literally every show

I go to about 1 show a month, sometimes more if there is more good ones to go to. Got this shit down to a science at this point.

>taking painkillers to stand up for a few hours

Do people actually do this? Do you weigh 250 pounds?

>go to swans concert
>everyone starts name dropping Sup Forumscore bands
>"people are actually headbanging? thats like headbanging to a My Bloody Valentine concert" etc

I just bring some of little ketchup sized packages of water. you could keep a bottle at your feet if things aren't moving around

Yep.

He leaned out over the crowd and knocked their phone with the headstock of his guitar or something. When they protested he made intense eye contact with them and yelled "NO!"
It was pretty great.

Based

hehehe

lol

he did basically the same shit in LA last year, as well as kick some dude mid-song for headbanging/hitting the monitor

wow what an asswipe lmao i hope mike gets killed

im literally 120 pounds and cant stand longer than an hour because i have chronic pain

Damn he kicked a dude? Lmao

>implying your tiny little iphone microphone can handle over 140 decibels

You are just the biggiest pussy

haha you must be puny as fuck

HAHN THIN HE SLICC
HE DABBIN

He does nothing rude or violent. He doesn't attack people, and didn't seem to care about recording, though no one I saw near the front where I was was recording. Last year when I saw them there was a skinhead front and center, maybe a few people back from the front of the stage, with no barrier, and Gira didn't give a shit.

This year's tour is pretty good. Cloud of Forgetting was just too long, and I felt like Screenshot just never hit a climax, it was strange. Everything else was amazing though. I really wish they played just a lower volume, this year and last year's shows just sounded blended. Might be the point I guess, but it's just awful, it didn't even hurt with my nice earplugs, just didn't sound great. Still liked it though.

Also Okkyung Lee was actually really cool, thought I wouldn't enjoy. It's too bad, she got pissed at someone in the crowd for something, I have no idea what, she got up, yelled something at them, and walked off the stage. Really strange.


Really though, bring earplugs, it's like standing next to a jet engine.

HE SLIDIN

youtu.be/5ysyB_rhAWs

everybody listen to this now

Who at the concert right now? Idk what I just listened to

I'm actually kind of sad I missed them in Boston. I don't have a driver's license yet, and I would have to get my dad to drive me, and the last show I took him to was The Residents and he couldn't stand that. I probably really, really missed out.
>TFW 20
>TFW can't drive still because I don't like cars at all.

I liked what they did with screenshot. It basically just seamlessly escalated and escalated until it reached max intensity, then ended abruptly when it got there. Different from the album version, but IMO it worked really well in the live setting

Why don't you have a license at age 20?

He singles a guy out and hands them a shovel.

>When they protested he made intense eye contact with them and yelled '"NO!" The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs."'

Literally what

Was at the front of a Swans show on this tour
Don't worry OP
Just bring earplugs don't mosh and have fun
Plus meet him after the show he's really nice

i think its a Sup Forums & /lit/ meme

stuffy fingers....

/lit/ meme where Harold Bloom shits on harry potter books for being turboshit for retarded children.

Every time the meme is posted, an angry (wo)manchild appears to defend their favorite piece of nostalgia.

i sound like a tipper right now

was this the atlanta show? i was there and there was some drunk 40 year old chick trying to take like a selfie-video with the band while they were playing and that's basically what he did. The chick had been pushing her way throughout the crowd and bumping into people left and right. At one point she was standing right next to me and she was grinding on this other drunk 40 year old guy who had been trying to start a mosh pit at one point.

Harry Potter was easily one of the dullest franchise in the history of movie franchises. Each episode following the boy wizard and his pals from Hogwarts Academy as they fight assorted villains has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the series’ only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of special effects, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert.

Perhaps the die was cast when Rowling vetoed the idea of Spielberg directing the series; she made sure the series would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody?just ridiculously profitable cross-promotion for her books. The Harry Potter series might be anti-Christian (or not), but it’s certainly the anti-James Bond series in its refusal of wonder, beauty and excitement. No one wants to face that fact. Now, thankfully, they no longer have to.

>a-at least the books were good though
"No!"
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs."

I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.

>Finally, to avoid dry mouth/excessive thirst bring a water bottle but take very little sips and slosh the water around in your mouth. You can trick yourself into believing you aren't thirsty if you do it this way.

Water is plentiful and free, you fucking retard.

atl sounds horrible

...

>Clifford For President
>not God Tier

Swans is easily one of the dullest bands in the history of music bands. Each album following the cowboy rapist and his pals from the 19th century as they fight assorted bastards has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the band’s only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of pedal effects, all to make guitars unguitarry, to make flexing one's muscles seem inert.

Perhaps the die was cast when Gira vetoed the idea of Larkin Grimm producing the albums; he made sure the music would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody?just ridiculously profitable cross-promotion for The Consumer. Swans might be anti-Christian (or not), but it’s certainly the anti-Death Grips band in its refusal of wonder, beauty and excitement. No one wants to face that fact. Now, thankfully, they no longer have to.

>a-at least the consumer was good though
"No!"
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character raped someone, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched her vagina."

I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Gira's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that he has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of The Consumer by the same Larkin Grimm. She wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading The Consumer at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read my false rape accusations." And she was quite right. She was not being ironic. When you read "The Consumer" you are, in fact, trained to read Larkin Grimm.

was at the ny show last night, one of the best shows ive ever seen. earplugs are for pussies

>earplugs are for pussies.
>the entire band wears them
>every smart person knows to wear them.

You're retarded.

I was at the same show. In the front. Wearing earplugs. Because I don't want to have hearing loss before I'm 30.

>As I read, I noticed that every time a character raped someone, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched her vagina."

I like to keep memories of times I've enjoyed. Months or years later, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll look at the videos/pictures to reminisce. Shoot me, faggot.

Yeah, but what do you know right?

For those who have been at recent shows, what's the new material like?

ITS SHIT!

Gira doesn't wear them

at the show I went to, they opened with the intro from No Words/No Thoughts then segued into some apparently new piece. I guess it's called "The Knot." was very good, actually one of my favorite parts of the set. The rest of the set was stuff from To Be Kind and The Glowing Man

yeah, and michael gira has fucking tinnitus.

How Mark E. Smith Wrote How I Wrote Elastic Man

japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/01/20/music/meat-masochism-swans/

"When Swans last played Tokyo in 2013, the venue itself seemed to be groaning under the weight of the onslaught. Two hours into a set of tempestuous rock catharsis, the power cut out; once restored, the group kept playing for another 30 minutes.

Such marathon gigs are the norm for Swans, the avant-rock ensemble founded by Michael Gira over three decades ago. How on Earth do they keep it up?

“It’s like a construction worker going to the job site, you know?” says Gira, speaking over Skype from his home in New York state. “You just dive in and do the work. We push ourselves, and the music, as far as we can each night. I’m not implying that it’s a heroic undertaking, by any means, but it’s sort of our job, to try and really let the music inhabit us.”

That job comes with certain occupational hazards. Years of playing at high volumes without earplugs have left Gira, 60, with tinnitus, the sound of which he likens to “the constant shuffling of waves in the ocean.”

“I don’t listen to music — at least, certainly for the last four or five years — because my ears are so taxed,” he says. “It’s like someone that’s eaten too much meat. You know, you just feel weighted down — the last thing you want to do is eat it again.”

Does anybody know what Michael Gira thinks about Hip-Hop?

spin.com/2012/06/feel-noise-behind-chase-ear-bleeding-volume/

"“Come on, you’ve been on these rides at theme parks, right?” asks Joey DeMaio, bassist and founder of peerlessly loud-and-proud power-metal institution Manowar. “People don’t know if they’re gonna make it to the end of it or die in the meantime, but it’s a fucking thrill. It’s the same thing for our concerts.” One year after Berendt pondered volume’s effects on his hapless bowels, Manowar broke the world record for loudest musical performance in London, eventually topping it two more times before the Guinness World Records people mailed a polite letter that DeMaio paraphrases as, “We will not print this because we do not encourage this type of behavior.”

So exactly what does encourage this behavior? “A lot of people mistakenly assumed that it was some form of aggression,” says Michael Gira of the notoriously oppressive volume favored by his band, noise-rock bludgeoneers Swans. “It’s really very much an extreme spiritual pursuit, like a heat lodge or something. Or if you’re maybe having tantric sex and it keeps building and building and it never releases.”

But 1982 was truly the year volume broke, seeing the first releases by Manowar and Swans. Gira spent the early ’80s doing construction and demolition work — his nail gun made a guest appearance on the 1986 single “Time Is Money (Bastard)” — and would funnel his earnings into new amplifiers, continually forced to replace the ones he was blowing. “I used to set up four bass amps in a semicircle inside the rehearsal space when no one was around and put a cassette loop in each of them and turn it all the way up,” he says. “I’d stand in the middle of it and just listen to this kind of roar of cacophony; not listen to it, but experience it. Be inside it. I’d throw myself on the monitors, and I actually broke my ribs a couple times doing so…but I didn’t feel anything.”

>The writing is dreadful; the beats are terrible. As I listened, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the MC rapped instead that the character "stretched his legs."
- Michael Gira

Sup Forums or /lit/ meme?

Both, but it's more Sup Forums than /lit/.

LOOK AT THIS NIGGA GOOOOOOOO

>As I read, I noticed that every time a character raped someone, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched her vagina."
kek

I record snippets of songs at concerts ao that later i can listen or watch back a bit and trigger my memory of the rest of the concert or the experience

send me those snippets and i'll make them into a killer beat

As I gather:

Harry Potter = The Beatles
Harold Bloom = Scaruffi

the point is to not get thirsty but also not need to go to the toilet

Yeah it was the Atlanta show.
That's hilarious, good for Gira. She sounds annoying as fuck.

Not in general, but there was a dude standing directly in front of me taking photos pretty much the whole time. He had basically forced his way in front of me too.

Speaking of Atlanta, does anyone who was there remember the woman who pushed her way to the front, yelled to get the bassist's attention, then made the "\m/" horns handsign? What was her deal?

I fucking love this old dude

That's odd how many of american fans act so childish.

European fans are polite as fuck. They just stand around quietly with their arms crossed.

I'm 22 and I don't drive either lol (but I live in as big city). You know that you can get I.D. cards at the DMV, right? That's what I use.

ding ding ding, you fucking retard. I live in a first world country you don't think I know how to get water, fucko?

Saw them 2 nights ago, was right in front of Gira. 10/10 overall

Anyone witness the girl texting during the show in Brooklyn? She looked upset the rest of the show after Gira singled her out.

>purposely dehydrates himself so he doesn't have to walk a few feet to the toilet

>calls other people retards

Yeah that was really rough, She called him an asshole but he didn't hear. I can't imagine what would have happened if he did.

He heard her, he just smirked and shrugged it off. I don't think Gira is petty enough to halt the show just for one person.

Have you never been to a concert chum? Move your feet you lose your seat. Sorry I don't want to spend 2 hours looking at the back of someone else's head just so that my bladder isn't in agony. Suck a dick, I am the one who's in charge.

>Sorry I don't want to spend 2 hours looking at the back of someone else's head just so that my bladder isn't in agony.

literally retarded

>he goes to shows to see the artists playing
>he thinks all shows are standing room only
>he thinks it's that hard to get to the stage in ANY show

wew it sure is summer in here

fucking kek, been here for 2 years but hey, no problem here, you got a problem Tommy Noble? Best take yourself back to Dr. Stevensons Barn and tend to his horses. Get the fuck outta here.

Congratz Colonel Jefferies you can take what I said and post back a Simpsons meme, High Quality Content streaming right from your doorstop. Take a look at the big brain on this guy! You should use a tripcode so we all know how smart you are and when you pop up in a thread we can fall to our knees and spread the holy word of

literal autism

thanks for the reply

How long was she texting for?

you sound upset

you're probably dehydrated, get a glass of water, boy

so fucking based