World/Inferno Friendship Society

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I haven't found a thread devoted to them. Their new album, "Red Eyed Soul" just came out, and I've kind of fallen in love with it. Fantastic lead singer, relatively intelligent political lyrics, fun with violins and horns, and enough swagger and sexiness to makes them infinitely more interesting than most other punk bands out there. They were ahead of the "punk cabaret" thing long before Gogol Bordello, the Dresden Dolls, etc were around. I can't stop listening to it, which often means that I'll grow very tired of it in a few weeks, and then come back to it after a while and decide that I still love it.

Anyway, thoughts? I'm late to the game, since they've been around quite a while, but I'm totally buying it.

Emily B (Emily B), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 23:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Wait, aren't these the clown rockers who almost burned down Koo's a few years back opening for Timonium and Charalambides? If it is, to heck with 'em.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 23:57 (seventeen years ago) link

World Inferno is fun, punk/ska-y stuff. I only have the Live at Northsix CD, but they'll always have a place in music history for launching the career of Franz Nicolay, the Hold Steady's mustachioed keyboarder.

WillS (WillS), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 02:35 (seventeen years ago) link

"Intelligent" + "political" == automatic +2 bogey.

Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 03:26 (seventeen years ago) link

awful band.

the eunuchs, Cassim and Mustafa, who guarded Abdur Ali's harem (orion), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 03:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Ned, it was Azalia Snail as well.

And yes it was them.

They can fuck off.

San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 05:56 (seventeen years ago) link

i was hoping this had something to do with disco inferno.

fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 06:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Ugh... Waste of a perfectly good thread msgid number. Fuck these jackasses.

(another one who had to sit through their miserable set at the Timonium / Azalia Snail / Charalambides show)

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 07:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Gah. The kind of record that makes me want to build a time machine, travel back through the ages, and put a bullet in Shane MacGowan's head.

P.S. Don't kill me. I like the Pogues. But sometimes, the needs of the many...

fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 12:46 (seventeen years ago) link

shmoes. there are several other spaces they've almost burned down. i saw one show at a small low-ceilinged community arts space, and not only did they not give two shits about how close the flames were getting to the ceiling and the audience (2/3rds of whom left midway through the first song), they were really arrogant and pissy about it. their attitude was that anyone who was worried about a fire starting (or being set on fire) was just a tool of the man. i will grant that they were ahead of the "punk cabaret" game. for whatever that's worth.

Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link

their attitude was that anyone who was worried about a fire starting (or being set on fire) was just a tool of the man.

It's like Crash Worship BUT DUMB (if that's at all humanly possible).

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 13:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Between seeing these guys namechecked again and the Flogging Molly posters I saw all around Hollywood on Saturday, it's like my worst late nineties concert experiences are coming back to haunt me all at once.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 13:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Yuck. A friend made me listen to them on Myspace. I lost major respect for her ears afterwards.

Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 15:30 (seventeen years ago) link

(I actually feel bad for Emily! Not in the sense of 'ew what awful taste she has,' but in how she started this thread with high hopes and it's instantly turned into an execution.)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

(I actually feel bad for Emily! Not in the sense of 'ew what awful taste she has,' but in how she started this thread with high hopes and it's instantly turned into an execution.)
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), July 26th, 2006.

i've come to expect nastiness! par for the course! i wouldn't want it any other way!

that said, the only reason people seem to dislike them is because of a handful of shows where they allegedly acted like jerks. which is understandable, i suppose, though i'm fairly certain plenty of other bands that you guys actually like have done similar things, and weren't immediately crucified and sent the blackest depths of ILM hell.

but, whatever. guess i'm just a sucker for punk bands with violins and trumpets and a cute lead singer.

Emily B (Emily B), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 15:44 (seventeen years ago) link

punk bands don't have violins, they have violence.

the eunuchs, Cassim and Mustafa, who guarded Abdur Ali's harem (orion), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 16:20 (seventeen years ago) link

i suppose, though i'm fairly certain plenty of other bands that you guys actually like have done similar things, and weren't immediately crucified and sent the blackest depths of ILM hell.

Well, actually, no, not at all, and I'm a bit irritated that you're taking this so lightly. We're kinda serious about them almost setting the venue on fire -- Koo's was at the time located in a somewhat ramshackle old Victorian-era house in Santa Ana, and them using what pyro they did was pretty fucking dumb. Maybe not as extensive/dumb as, say, Great White in Providence, but had things really fucked up then frankly that distinction might not be so great. And I HAVEN'T seen many bands act that way on such a callous/continuous basis, if some of the other stories being posted here are any indication.

But beyond that, the music pretty much blew.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Agree with Nagget. While I really don't like these WIFS, I was starting to feel bad about the parade-raining aspects of this thread.

Anyway, I'm glad that someone stepped forward to assume the burden of guilt, so that I might hate anew, my conscience refreshed.

fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Agree with Nagget, upthread. While I really don't like these WIFS, I was starting to feel bad about the parade-raining aspects of this thread. Like poor little Emily B had hoped to share with us her wonderful thing, and we had responded only by raining poo upon it. *sniffle*

Anyway, I'm glad that someone stepped forward to assume the burden of guilt, so that I might hate anew, my conscience refreshed.

fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

two years pass...

So it's come to this.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 8 January 2009 13:41 (fifteen years ago) link

Peter Lorre? I'm buying the CD, and there isn't a damn thing any of you can parade-rainers can do about it.

Soukesian, Thursday, 8 January 2009 16:36 (fifteen years ago) link

oh this band, the "punk rock" Teatro ZinZanni

909090909 Rivethed Brikkchin Reverk now DANZ (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 8 January 2009 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link

except less talented actors/actresses/musicians

909090909 Rivethed Brikkchin Reverk now DANZ (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 8 January 2009 17:25 (fifteen years ago) link

The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The band’s next project, he said, is a punk version of “A Prairie Home Companion.”

R. L. Stinebeck (John Justen), Thursday, 8 January 2009 17:47 (fifteen years ago) link

Wake up Jon Gilch! My name's Nosliw Pilf!
I'm going to teach you a jig and it goes like this:
Left, Right, up down, heel toe, to and fro!
Up down, left right, heel toe, here we go!

The evil dance of Nosliw Pilf!

We're not done yet, oh no Jon Gilch!
I like you a lot and I'd like to give you a kiss!
left right, up down, heel toe, to and fro!
Hands up, eyes down, legs bent, here we go!

Go to bed Jon Gilch, you're in an awful state.
Show the kids in school your bruises when you come in late.
You went left right, up down, heel toe, to and fro!
Hands up, eyes down, legs bent, got your soul!

Sissy...

The evil dance,
the terrible plans,
the gruesome facts,
about Nosliw Pilf!

kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, 8 January 2009 19:43 (fifteen years ago) link

I saw this show at Montclair State University a few months ago and enjoyed it. The band's already half German cabaret anyway, so I don't see the point of decrying their punk cred. That said, the two things I enjoyed most were:

1. Watching the reaction of my fellow old folks in the audience to the sudden appearance of a mosh pit.
2. When members of the pit paired off and "waltz moshed."

Hideous Lump, Friday, 9 January 2009 04:24 (fifteen years ago) link

"waltz moshed."

sorry but wtf is this? sounds pretty retarded

sonderangerbot, Friday, 9 January 2009 04:54 (fifteen years ago) link

two months pass...

so these guys suck huh?

congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 1 April 2009 19:41 (fifteen years ago) link

four years pass...

Wonder what it's like to be the parent of someone who's been in a cabaret punk band for 15+ years.

The day that I meet up with Terricloth is March 30, a momentous anniversary to say the least. Though to be fair, Terricloth points out the day's significance without my prompting, implying that he keeps the day sacred. You see, March 30 is the anniversary of John Hinkley's assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

"I was going to school in Bridgewater, New Jersey with nothing to do," Terricloth says. "The cafeteria was a very dangerous place because there were always gang fights there and nobody liked the punks. The white gangs fought the black gangs, the black gangs fought the white gangs, and they all fought the punks."

So, instead of getting beat up in the lunch room, Terricloth would spend lunch in the school library and kill time by dialing the operator. He says, "I would call up and say I was kind of depressed. The operator would say, 'Oh, don't be depressed!' I would say, 'I kind of want to kill myself,' and the operator would say, 'Oh, don't kill yourself!' Then, I would spend an hour talking to someone who was in Indiana or somewhere."

But one day, the particular operator who answered was having none of Terricloth's meanderings and hung up on him. Either angered or amused, Terricloth again dialed the 0 and when the operator answered, he yelled, "I shot President Reagan and I'll do it again and again and again and again!"

Of course, the operator didn't know that Terricloth was referencing a song by the Suicidal Tendencies. And of course, Terricloth didn't know that on that very day, President Reagan was giving a speech in Princeton, a mere two towns away.

The secret service swarmed the school less than 45 minutes after the call and all the students were sent home. The next morning, Bridgewater's Courier News ran an article titled, Police look for student after threat to Reagan.

Thinking that the whole fiasco was hilarious, Terricloth and his punk friends photocopied the article using the library copy machine and shared it amongst themselves. But, one of the librarians saw what the young punks were up to and became suspicious.

"The principal called us in and said he knew who did it," Terricloth says, before mimicking an authoritarian voice. "'You're all going to get in a lot trouble!' 'This will go on your permanent record and you won't get into college!' All of us stayed firm until this one skater kid who totally snitched."

Suddenly, Terricloth shapes his voice into a cracking squeal, playing the part of the rat, "'I don't want this to go on my record! I had no idea! It was Terricloth- That guy!'"

The next morning, the secret service, who were carrying guns, knocked on the door to Terricloth's parents' house before anyone was awake. While a more sensible person might have realized that the jig was up, Terricloth made for an escape. He rushed to the windows. But, to his misfortune, the windows were old fashioned crank windows that take some time to twist open, as opposed to the more modern sliding windows. While Terricloth furiously cranked away at the window mechanism, the secret service stormed through the house and snatched him in the middle of his break.

Terricloth's father, in a mix of proud Italian blood and higher-education learning, screamed at the Secret Service, "You can't arrest a minor without a warrant! You can't arrest a minor without a warrant!"

But, they could and did. Terricloth was cuffed and shuttled to the police station. "I was actually not worried about being taken to the police station," Terricloth says. "I was worried about when I got back. They took me to the police station and quickly realized that I was a stupid 15 year old and not a threat to President Reagan. They let me go, but I was on probation for years afterwards."

As for the looming threat of old man Ventantonio, Terricloth laughs. "My father actually had a pretty good sense of humor about it. We get along now, but we didn't back then."

how's life, Thursday, 12 September 2013 12:16 (ten years ago) link

seven years pass...

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