Tear It Up ...and start all over...

...Found myself upstairs at the Park Bar, squinting into bright lights and sheepishly avoiding a video camera, as filmmaker Brandon Walley set me in the middle of sixteen Detroit musicians (comprising about five band's-worth) and then preceded to ask them...

...just what they thought of the current character, the nuances, the telling behaviors, the merits, the assets, the uniqueness... ...of the current crop, the current energy, the current swath of bands and sounds ...currently percolating on a weekendly-basis throughout Detroit.

But more so, I wanted to know how pressured they possibly felt, knowingly throwing their own Urgh!-themed show to thus pay veritable tribute to the inspiring concert film from 1982. Putting the Urgh-name on it, conjuring the likes of Gang of Four, Pere Ubu, the Cramps and DEVO would suggest embracing a very stylistic and primal energy.

But more so, the idea is to only mimic precisely what filmmaker Derek Burbridge did in 1981...

Capture a moment... ...a musical pulse... ...something akin to this...

In that metaphor, the idea should be that the band is the shark and that you, or the audience, are the seal.

One viewing of Urgh! however can demonstrate to any 2011 music-head just how tame some of the numerous bands dotting planet-internet can seem by comparison - so it's a sobering scream to the 18 Detroit bands slotted to perform June 11th that, if they are to pay any kind of tribute, either to the bands of the post/punk-new/wave era (all of whom seemed infected with some kind of vein-popping, eye-bulged, sommersaulting madness on stages), then they're going to have to bring their A-games.

Their insane-games.

To match stuff like this?

And perhaps they will...

June 11th - Urgh! A Detroit Music War - to be documented at the Lager House (with audience members encouraged to contribute to the documentation with their phone or other devices) - featuring ....The Satin Peaches, Fur, Pewter Cub, Lettercamp, Carjack, The High Strung, Pupils, Pink Lightning, Illy Mack, Duende, Legendary Creatures, Phantasmagoria, The Kickstand Band, Phantom Cats, The Savage Seven, Fawn and Lightning Love -

But-- It won't happen without you... It's dependent on your financial contribution, as well... visit the Kickstarter site and help this become a reality.

My advice, to the bands, - kill your idols - lose yourself in the moment - throw out hang-ups over matching the freakin Cramps and remember what inspired this project in the first place--- you, Detroit bands, have been inspired by each other.

So let the music war commence...

My advice to show-goers and the like... visit the kickstarter... bring your camera phones... ...tear it up!