FTW, 1.11.2020

Magic Maze Records is a floating crapgame of musos revolving around guitarist-vocalist-synthist Michael Eppinette, who fronts garage-psychsters The Cosmic Creeps. His bandmates -- drummer Scott Ladouceur and bassist-guitarist Tony Pirrone -- play together in a variety of configurations, including Fissure 8 (doom metal with Pirrone on guitar), Mike 6 (metal rap fronted by the eponymous Mike), and Possible Shapes (spacey tribal improv with Mike on sruti box and my 20-year friend Aaron McClendon on pocket trumpet). All of the above were on the bill at the Grackle Art Gallery last night.

Watching Ladouceur kick his traps, I couldn't help but think of Rush's Neil Peart, whose passing was announced yesterday. While I have to cop to not having been a Rush fan, one has to respect the Canadian drummer's commitment to precision and craft, which it was easy to discern the young Texan shares. Sometimes you could see him reaching for something just beyond his grasp, but his groove was always mighty. (The beauty of performance is that nobody knows what you're going for, only what they heard.) The crowd of friends was appreciative. His string-playing pal bore a certain physical resemblance to my teenage guitar mentor (although hopefully he is less troubled than that long departed dude), and listening to the way the two musos interlock their rhythms, the time they've spent playing together (six years, a fellow listener told me) is palpable. What I could hear of McClendon's horn sounded fine, but he needs to get on the mic if he's going to play with a powerful electric band. I look forward to hearing these players again.