A.R.E Weapons / entirely over rated?

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Anyone else at the ARE Weapons gig last night at The Spanish Club in Sydney?

they jumped around a lot screaming and shouting and shit but they sounded terrible. - and like what is with the neo-ramones / punk metal look? black jeans, bandannas and Nike sneakers?.

― Savin All My Love 4 u (Savin 4ll my (heart) 4u), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish Triple J would stop flogging that embarrassing nightmare that is "Hey World".

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

First track on the album's really good. Managed to miss the gig last night due to, er, somehow totally forgetting it was on. Oops.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:06 (twenty-two years ago)

PRO: Cover art featuring the subliminal image of the Devil's face from "The Exorcst"

CON: Rather limited stylistic pallate.

PRO: The good taste and sound judgement to homage Suicide.

CON: We already have Suicide. Who needs another?

PRO: Band members dress like Twisted Sister roadis in a post-apocalyptic "Escape From New York" milieu.

CON: One band member is Chloe Sevigny's (sp?) brother.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 5 May 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Are they even rated? Boring, hipster schlock. And worse, tongue-in-cheek -- if you're going to play music this goofy, at least have the balls to do it with conviction, and I don't mean masquerading as "art". They might be good if they didn't co-opt the worst music ever laid to tape and then find it funny and cool. Maybe I just don't get it.

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 5 May 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I dig them. Their CD-R is better than their new CD.
I see the suicide connection. But everyband has a starting point.
I think they have a wider sound than suicide.
Give it 1-2 years everyone will be jocking their style.
Less derviative than all these garage/stooges rip off acts that you dig.

maybe your not hip.

warriors!

― juice, Monday, 5 May 2003 13:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Everyone is so wrong. It's not tongue-in-cheek, Scott. It's the most sincere record I have EVER heard (and that ain't tongue in cheek either). How is it masquerading as art? It's PUNK!!! "Don't Be Scared" and "Hey World" are fucking genius, and the only song that *really* sounds like Suicide is "Street Gang." There's a million reasons to hate them based on their live show & pedigree (which I had done for ages up until I heard the new album a few months ago), but none based on their record. It's fraught with flaws but they don't fucking care. They wanted to make an album that every 12-year-old kid would think is the coolest thing evah, and they did it!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

NEW YORK MUSCLE -- NEW YORK MUSCLE -- NEW YORK MUSCLE !!!!!

To be fair, I've not heard the album. I bought an earlier e.p. of theirs at Other Music that may be the CDR Juice is talking about (clear case, gold disc, A.R.E WEAPONS printed over a translucent slip in lieu of booklet?)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, there are a pair of EPs. The "Street Gang" single is great, but that's the only early material worth getting. You should get the album, Alex, I think you might dig just how fucking brazen and enthusiastic they are.

(i bought the first killing joke album this weekend. *kiss*)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, and NY Muscle is fucking horrible.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Cool. Shall do. Await further report.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

(i h8 that i've become their pimp!)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

They wanted to make an album that every 12-year-old kid would think is the coolest thing evah, and they did it!

Fuck the kids. They exist only to annoy me. < / curmudgeon >

Actually, when I was twelve, cool sounds came from Duran Duran and Def Leppard, and ARE Weapons are nowhere near so polished and epic.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The picture of sincerity:

http://www.roughtraderecords.com/are-basepic.jpg

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh no! They're good looking and dress well! And they have facial hair! Oh no!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

The House of Pain reunion turned out stupider than expected...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Judging bands based on their address, their wardrobe and cuz one of their siblings is a b-level actress: Classic or Dud?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I totally understand not liking them (can I repeat again that I fucking HATED them until this record came out)(Chuck quoted me with my snide, "Suicide + the Spa guest list" line ferchrissakes), but what pisses me off about the A.R.E. h8rs (and that's what yall is!) is the refusal to interact with the music that they make. The refusal to move past who they *are*, which is surely the least interesting thing about them! Instead it's -- oh, well they live in a cool neighborhood and they dress really hip and that dude's beard is totally out of control so fuck THEM! I felt the same way, so alls I'm saying is, "Dudes, it's cool. I've been there. But life MUST be awesome!"

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

they dress really hip

If that really IS them in that photo, I didn't realize looking like a bunch of guys driving around Glendale looking for Zubaz before hitting Gold's Gym was hip.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm with yanc3y. i used to loathe a.r.e. - their whole too-hip art-punk street gang thing made me want to vomit, and i saw a few godawful shows. i had such a prejudice against the record, but the damn thing crept up on me and now i love it. it's smart and spazzy and overblown and one of the most fun albums i've heard lately, and despite my initial suspicions i don't think it's an irony-fest.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

So I haven't heard ARE Weapons, but from reading this thread, I get the impression that they sound and look like Andrew WK.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I say this with love, but Nick, I think you'd hate it.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

you shoulda seen these guys when they were Ayler's Angels.

― hstencil, Monday, 5 May 2003 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The CD-R is floating around on the internet. 10 songs-some from the early EPs. Killer!

― juice, Monday, 5 May 2003 15:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, based on this thread, I would hate them. In fact, I do hate them. No need to hear them. Fuckin' NY scenesters.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Honest question: Are you a scenester if you ARE the scene?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

(dig the puns, yall)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

(no fun intended)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

seriously, they were good when they were free jazz.

― hstencil, Monday, 5 May 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I've only heard the few tracks I've downlaoded but I presume their popularity must be largely due to live performance energy. I coulnd't help wondering, aren't A.R.E Weapons just like the Faint but with shittier songs?

― theodore fogelsanger, Monday, 5 May 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The guy on the far left looks like a young Andrew Dice Clay.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Yancey, can I call my solo album "No Fun Intended" please? It is genius.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Judging bands based on their address, their wardrobe and cuz one of their siblings is a b-level actress: Classic or Dud? and The refusal to move past who they *are*, which is surely the least interesting thing about them!

Yanc3y, you're so right! Dud dud dud. But hey, I couldn't resist posting that pic! OK OK OK, my tendency is to hate this band (obv) but I'll give them a chance beyond the cursory listen. I want to write them off as a trend w/o really listening. I'm guilty guilty guilty and I'll try.

But this brings up another question. Isn't who they *are* an inherent quality in their music? I'm operating under the prejudice that it is, which sways every opinion of A.R.E. Weapons since. (Wow, even the name bothers me.)

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Weren't those guys in a ska band a few years ago, and in a swing band a year before that, and in their high school's marching band a couple years before that?

― Andy K (Andy K), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

(Not that that should matter.)

― Andy K (Andy K), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Shh, you're giving it away!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I see yr point, Scott, but I don't think that they *are* in their music (work w/ me here). Most of the record's about how tuff it is to be a kid, how boring life is -- and it's juxtaposed against these scenes of knife fights and cool clubs and parties etc. So the first part's the real world and the second part's this fantasy world. But with the first ("Don't Be Scared") and last ("Hey World") songs, ARE Weapons are inviting everyone to come to this fantasy world with them. They're saying, "This ain't exclusive! This is a fallout bunker where those of us who just want life to be AWESOME can hang out and play!" So the album's about this mythical place (a place that ARE inhabit) but at the same time they're handing over the keys to anyone who wants in. And so the record's all about letting all the kids know that they understand how fucking tuff life is, and that they're here to help... It's an afterschool special, essentially!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

With knife fights.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

and crack.

― hstencil, Monday, 5 May 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't this the tenth thread so far about these idiots? If you go back two months ago, Yancey's the guy worried about their biographies; he totally thought I was full of shit to like them. Not gonna repeat whatever I said before (check the Electric Six thread, too), but briefly: (1) Best album of the year so far; (2) Most disappointing live show of the year so far; (3) who they "are" (or who their sisters or friends are, or how they dress, or where they perform, or how shitty their live show is) means absolutely NOTHING as far as their album is concerned. (And oh yeah, the second-best album of the year so far is probably by Electric Six, for whatever that's worth.)

― chuck, Monday, 5 May 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

andy k, your thinking of the walkmen probably.

― M.Slaughter, Monday, 5 May 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

It kinda sounds like West Side Story, which is making me like them more. Keep going.

Aside from that, I've actually been convinced to go out to the store and purchase the record and listen to it repeatedly. One fair shake.

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

how they dress

I can't help but get the feeling that if you put them and Fischerspooner in a room together that there'd be a weird little vortex in which space and time collapse and there wouldn't be anything left but a pair of sunglasses or something, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned Raggett: Fashion Critic

http://i.timeinc.net/people/images/specials/oscars2002/intro/1stevenpic.gif

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I look so happy! :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Rather than write even more on them, Scott, I'll just link to my piece on the record. Here.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, the guy from What Not to Wear could pass as a member of ARE Weapons if he dropped the lumberjack look and went more Randy Savage.

― Andy K (Andy K), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Or is it Leaping Lanny Poffo? I get those two confused?

― Andy K (Andy K), Monday, 5 May 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I enjoyed that Yanc3y. Thx.

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 5 May 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I think they would be a lot better if their music actually sounded pissed. It is kind of like they are conjuring this image of being raw and NYC, but they are NYC in the trust fund post-Guliani Disney version of NYC. If their records actually sounded nasty and evil they would be cool.

Bottom line, The New York Dolls in 73 vs. ARE in 03 is a slam-dunk slaughter. David Johansen could have kicked their ass single-handedly; and in high heels at that!

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Monday, 5 May 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i really like (no, love) the track yancey put on my mix. (i love it so much, in fact, i forget its name.)

the new rapture is better.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 5 May 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

"don't be scared" is the track.

the new rapture is better ("sister savior" i lurv u), but it doesn't excite me in the same way that a.r.e. weapons still does (thus, a.r.e. weapons album of the year so far, rapture second).

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 5 May 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

As I view this thread, Comedy Central is playing Andrew WK's Kit Kat commercial. Dude, that's fucking awesome.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

are weapons are totally the andrew wk's of '03.

be cool, motherfuckers.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

goddamn i can't believe how many people here like "hey world". i just wanna burst into tears with horrified embarrassment every time it comes on the radio.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey World is kinda shitty. but Don't Be Scared is pretty great. And I second hstencil's claim about Ayler's Angels - the two Lps they did are TREMENDOUS - gutter skronk of the highest quality. Sick.

I dig the CDR EP everyone keeps referring to as well, but it's basically just the two EPs and some live tracks and a disposable song called "Sex Bug" or something. Is it still around?

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 5 May 2003 23:34 (twenty-two years ago)

are weapons are totally the andrew wk's of '03

This is a double-edged recommendation.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

fine. i agree that the ny dolls could have kicked a.r.e.'s ass back in the day, but as of today johnny thunders and jerry nolan are no more and i'm not putting my money on the current incarnation of david johansen and sylvain sylvain.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

if you think ARE are bad now, just wait till they start doing Saturday Night Live as a lounge jazz act in 2018.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Although somebody doing a lounge jazz act from 2018 on this week's Saturday Night Live would be pretty cool.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh shit, I just had a revelation (bordering on blasphemy to be sure): replace burnoutism with nerdery and street thug violence with retrofuture science and NYC with Akron and now with the late '70s and ARE WEAPONS ARE TOTALLY DEVO FOR FUCKIN' REAL

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

(rest assured, however, that ARE are by no means even remotely through being cool)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I am still waiting for them to start being cool.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:35 (twenty-two years ago)

also replace weirdo art students who did their best work and coined most of their ideas in a town that even people from Cleveland think is lame, add on top of that that they were working in near media isolation for the beginning of their career.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/frinkcbg.jpg
"ARE Weapons are so not cool."

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

All i'v heard of them was "Saigon Disco" wich is an extreme Devo ripoff.

― rexJr., Friday, 9 May 2003 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

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