AUGUST 21st, 1997
MERCY RULE
OPIUM TAYLOR
& GOING TO GRANDMA'S
21 & OVER @ Safari Nite Club
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Going to Grandma's is a local band that has been kicking around for a few years that really has never done a thing for me. They're nice guys but it comes down to taste and there's just too little of something or too much of something else but it just doesn't work for me.
The thing that comes to mind with Opium Taylor is soundtrack to a very painful nervious breakdown. A raw nakedness that at times is too painful to watch. It makes you uncomfortable and challenges you. It's not simple entertainment and that really doesn't sell a crowd but then look at Jesus Lizzard.
I remember the first night I saw Mercy Rule, it was back in 93 and my friend Gil's band Wayback Machine was openning for them at Hairy Mary's. They hit the stage with these lights shinning straight up into their face like a flash light under the chin. They put me in the mind of some of the direction that Naked Raygun played with. Guitar rhythms driving the soft female vocals through a ride of destruction. They have this way of being out of control and then bringing it back down to the softness of good sex. They match the lyrics to the music or maybe the other way around while the guitarist destroys his tools.
