Boredoms' free Friday night concert at the La Brea Tar Pits was probably the second-most impressive percussion-centric event in the world that evening. But it's a testament to the wild ambitions of Boredoms' founder, Yamatsuka Eye, and the 88 drummers who joined him for a new avant-garde symphony, “88 BoaDrum," that it took the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to overshadow the Japanese art-punk ensemble.
“88 BoaDrum" arrived on the numerologically auspicious heels of last year's “77 BoaDrum," held in New York's Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park on July 7, 2007, where Eye and Boredoms' three full-time drummers recruited 73 local percussionists, many in popular experimental rock bands, to accompany a similar, 77-minute new work. This year's version upped the degree of difficulty and the length of the sprawling new piece by 11 minutes.
Eye and his band led the Los Angeles debut of “88 BoaDrum," while the New York-based experimental quartet Gang Gang Dance led the identical piece in New York on the same night.
L.A. has not been a town for unhinged concert behavior lately, but the unchecked giddiness of the thousands splayed across the hills of the lawn outside the Page Museum couldn't have been due only to the copious joints being passed through the audience.
Boredoms' task of enlisting 85 competent drummers to play a largely unrehearsed work proved easier than it sounds, involving something almost akin to a series of sleeper cells for percussionists. A central group of Boredoms' associates (spearheaded by “BoaDrum" coordinator, Japanese-speaking liaison drummer Hisham Akira Bharoocha of the band Soft Circle) each recruited subgroups of drummers who are based in L.A. or who could travel that day, then arranged them in a spiral around Boredoms' members on the lawn at the Tar Pits.
Dan Rowan, of the L.A.-based all-drum quartet Foot Village, was one who made the cut. “We knew Warren [Huegel] from [the San Francisco band] Tussle, and he's in the inner circle of this," he said. “I heard stories about losers with managers calling up Boredoms and saying, 'You have to let us be in this.' “
Fans of Modest Mouse, Hella, Jawbreaker and Hole would have recognized those bands' percussionists in the throng, along with at least one representative from nearly every local indie rock outfit of note. The lineup was also notably gender-integrated, with drummers from Mika Miko, Unwound and Erase Errata, plus many other women in prominent section spots. The sub-group leaders had a few days to practice the piece, but most drummers had only that day to sharpen their chops for the evening.
“It was a little chaotic, but they wanted chaos," said Aaron Sperske, of the recently reunited L.A. psych-country group Beachwood Sparks. “It was about one-third drummers and two-thirds people who knew how to play drums. If this were a summer camp, you could already see who would hang and who would be left out. It'd be like 'Meatballs.' “
“88 BoaDrum" arrived on the numerologically auspicious heels of last year's “77 BoaDrum," held in New York's Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park on July 7, 2007, where Eye and Boredoms' three full-time drummers recruited 73 local percussionists, many in popular experimental rock bands, to accompany a similar, 77-minute new work. This year's version upped the degree of difficulty and the length of the sprawling new piece by 11 minutes.
Eye and his band led the Los Angeles debut of “88 BoaDrum," while the New York-based experimental quartet Gang Gang Dance led the identical piece in New York on the same night.
L.A. has not been a town for unhinged concert behavior lately, but the unchecked giddiness of the thousands splayed across the hills of the lawn outside the Page Museum couldn't have been due only to the copious joints being passed through the audience.
Boredoms' task of enlisting 85 competent drummers to play a largely unrehearsed work proved easier than it sounds, involving something almost akin to a series of sleeper cells for percussionists. A central group of Boredoms' associates (spearheaded by “BoaDrum" coordinator, Japanese-speaking liaison drummer Hisham Akira Bharoocha of the band Soft Circle) each recruited subgroups of drummers who are based in L.A. or who could travel that day, then arranged them in a spiral around Boredoms' members on the lawn at the Tar Pits.
Dan Rowan, of the L.A.-based all-drum quartet Foot Village, was one who made the cut. “We knew Warren [Huegel] from [the San Francisco band] Tussle, and he's in the inner circle of this," he said. “I heard stories about losers with managers calling up Boredoms and saying, 'You have to let us be in this.' “
Fans of Modest Mouse, Hella, Jawbreaker and Hole would have recognized those bands' percussionists in the throng, along with at least one representative from nearly every local indie rock outfit of note. The lineup was also notably gender-integrated, with drummers from Mika Miko, Unwound and Erase Errata, plus many other women in prominent section spots. The sub-group leaders had a few days to practice the piece, but most drummers had only that day to sharpen their chops for the evening.
“It was a little chaotic, but they wanted chaos," said Aaron Sperske, of the recently reunited L.A. psych-country group Beachwood Sparks. “It was about one-third drummers and two-thirds people who knew how to play drums. If this were a summer camp, you could already see who would hang and who would be left out. It'd be like 'Meatballs.' “
For more information contact All About Jazz.
