Live Music Review // Bookers / Jo Bled @ Willimantic Records, Willimantic CT April 27th, 2024
Additional photos can be found in a Facebook album here :::
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1469991480397735&type=3
It was just such a lovely Saturday afternoon out, we took the drive to Willimantic for the second installment of the FIM series Michael Larocca brings to Willimantic Records. This show began inside with a set by Bookers. Though I have seen the members of Bookers- Michael Larocca, Luke Rovinsky and Caleb Duval- in other forms before I had yet to see them as this trio. It was interesting because Luke Rovinksy plays the guitar, Caleb Duval is on bass and Michael Larocca is on drums so in some alternate universe they could be a trio in a rock based genre.
A lot of what these three musicians, as Bookers, do though is playing their instruments in ways which you may not typically play them. Rovinsky will stretch the guitar strings to the point where you, as the observer, feel like they are about to snap. Duval puts objects inside his strings and hits them with drum sticks, as if he is the percussion. Larocca has an arsenal of percussion based objects to put on the other drums and use in ways which they both were intended to be used and possibly not.
I believe this show was originally supposed to be outside and got moved inside because there were cars in the parking lot. During the Bookers set, they apparently found whoever had one of the cars and so the car was able to be moved. After a set by Bookers indoors, we moved everything outside for the rest of the show. This made an interesting experience as well because we got two sets by Bookers, but one was inside and the other was outside.
Once everyone was situated outside we began the second set of the day which was Vermont based artist Jo Bled. I have previously seen Jo Bled live in New London, CT and so I knew we were in for a treat. The last time I saw Jo Bled was with a giant bass drum and this time the main instrument was a washboard worn like a bulletproof vest. Bells were attached to the washboard and various objects were used to generate sound from it.
There isn't an easy way to describe how this sounds, but there is a specific way. If you imagine the way that waves can crash onto shore at the beach, picturing that rhythm of the tide going in and coming out, these sounds by Jo Bled felt like that because it was that sort of looping rhythm which also created a sense of calm and tranquility. But with the metal of the washboard and objects used to create these sounds, I think less of actual water in the waves and more like waves crashing made out of coins, such as in Scrooge McDuck's money bin.
Even if you are not familiar with "Ducktales", you should still be able to appreciate that one of the main components in this Jo Bled was a brick found in the parking lot. As I understand from keeping track on social media, a lot of these Jo Bled sets have these organic ways And if you were not able to be there for this experience in person or just want to live it again, Jo Bled has released it (along two other tracks) on Bandcamp.
When Bookers came back for their second set, outside, it somehow felt louder than the one before it. I know that there is that distinction between being inside and out, but I don't feel like Bookers really held back when they were inside because they didn't want to be too loud. It might have just been because we were outside and the way that the sound could travel, rather than feel like it was contained, that made it seem so much louder. It really started to feel closer to a set like I saw when Pink Sap played with Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders than the first set which was more experimental.
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