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BIGELF: Live Reviews
• Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
• Portland, OR @ Mercury Room
• Los Angeles, CA @ Club Lingerie
• Los Angeles, CA @ Whiskey Bar
LOS ANGELES, CA @ SPACELAND
KNAC.com
by Frank Meyer
 os Angeles-based Bigelf play prog-rock for people that hate prog-rock,
stoner rock for people that hate stoners, and heavy metal for people bored
of metal. At Spaceland in Silver Lake (an eastside section of L.A.), Bigelf
were a lot of things to a lot of people, but one thing stayed consistent:
their ability to rock tastefully, artfully and hard as fuck. This four piece
band is made up of three Swedes and one insane lead vocalist named Damon Fox
who looks like Ian Anderson, sings like Ian Hunter and plays keyboards like
Ian McDonald. In this day and age it is rare to even see a guy on stage
playing keyboards in hard rock band, least of all to have it be the frontman
and to be surrounded by massive walls of '70s style organs, Moogs,
Mellotrons, and ancient looking synths. ELP style, he played both rows of
keys simultaneously while standing center stage and singing into the mic
stand (and even strapped on the guitar for a few tunes). It was quite a
site, one not seen in a "hip" Hollywood rock club since about 1978. They
played material culled from their recent effort, the brilliant "Hex", as
well as their previous albums and EPs, much to the delight of the packed
house that seemed to know every word and played air guitar along with every
riff. Tunes like "Rock & Roll Contract", " Black Moth" and "Pain Killers"
rocked hard enough to please the heshers, yet epic slow burners like
"Frustration" and "Money Machine" prove these guys can tackle a wider range
of sonic subjects than the average metal band. Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things
and The Beatles play as important of a role in their identity as Black
Sabbath, Uriah Heap, MC5 and Montrose. Amazingly, for such a loud band,
their massive sound was carefully orchestrated so you could hear every note
of every instrument. It was a wall of sound to be sure, but hardly a wall of
noise. Dressed sharply in black suits, leather pants and velvet jackets
(except for Fox, who also had on a top hat and cape!) the guys looked
hella-cool. If I had one complaint though, it'd be that they didn't move
around much. Yet with music as precise and multi-textured as theirs, I guess
ya wouldn't expect much jumping around. It wouldn't really fit the vibe.
These guys are pros and the focus is on the music…and the music kicks major
ass.
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PORTLAND, OR @ MERCURY ROOM
by John Hagelbarger
 emember Progressive Rock? That music which filled stadiums, though all the
hip critics hated it? That absurd, pretentious, bloated dreck which
degenerated into late-Seventies corporate pabulum? That arena-load of
baloney which made punk-rock necessary? Bigelf, a band from L.A., remember
it all right - but they decided to revive it, salvage its reputation, and
show not only that it possesses a place as a legitimate, respectable part of
rock history, but that it still has some vitality and still has an audience.
These guys sound amazingly authentic. They resemble some lost, quite good
English band from 1968, one who dedicated themselves to extending rock in
the direction blazed by " I am the Walrus '' and " A Day in the Life ''.
Echoes of early Pink Floyd, King Crimson, The Nice, Yes, Black Sabbath, and
particularly Deep Purple also surface in their music. While some songs have
more obvious Lennon-McCartney influence than many period bands would have
considered acceptably innovative, they nail the original late-Sixties
pop-music with blues-licks and classical-elaborations idiom quite
accurately, crossing strong post-Hendrix ferocity with strong post-Beatles
tunefulness. In its first days, prog-rock actually consisted of the English
version of psychedelia, fans still called it "underground music", and its
inherent pretensions hadn't yet hit the grotesque heights they did in the
mid-Seventies. Bigelf draw from that heady time when the music's horizons
seemed limitless, and they play a fairly muscular version of it: Heavy on
the classical organ flourishes, rough or biting on the guitar parts, tight
song structures instead of symphonies. It sometimes comes close to early
metal. They can play very well, but don't let their technique pull them
overboard. Furthermore, not only do Bigelf accurately recreate historical
playing styles, they do so on original, bulky, cantankerous Seventies
equipment: Hammond C3 with Leslie, Modular Moog dripping with patch cords,
Chamberlin (a Mellotron-like tape machine), Orange tube amps, battered
Gibson SG's, vintage stompboxes, and Ludwig drums in dark green Plexiglas.
The band approach their music as journeyman rock musicians, not as jazz
improvisers, symphonic composers, romantic poets, or schmaltz- mongering
stadium entertainers. In consequence, they manage to steer a straight and
stronger course between paying no attention to audience desires or
marketplace demands, and paying too much: On one side lie the self-indulgent
overplaying, sophomoric overwriting, and clanking stumbles at profundity
that make much progressive-rock into an unlistenable joke. On the other side
wait the overwrought showbiz Vegas-isms which eventually commercialized it
into glutinous "product". Bigelf generally navigate that narrow passage
between Spinal Tap and Boston: Not a small achievement, since most of their
stylistic forebears puffed up into one, collapsed into the other, or did
both. Bigelf show an odd parallel with early punk bands: Even though they
play the opposite kind of music, they also returned to the roots of their
own style to recapture the creativity, energy, and sense of possibilities it
started out with. While "classic rock" certainly needed a drubbing at the
end of the seventies, even the most oversized forms of it once had a certain
lumbering power, a certain massive grace, a certain top-heavy artistic
viability. Today, it has become an exercise in nostalgia, a few old bones
dragged out and set up in order to market stuff to boomers. Bigelf remember
that it once stood for more, and they actually make "dinosaur music" sound
fresh.
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LOS ANGELES, CA @ CLUB LINGERIE
LA Village View
by Sandi Salina Messana
 hat sets Bigelf apart from other retro-styled bands isn't that they have
fancier chops (which they do) or better tricks (who else has pulled off the
improbable feat of returning the Hammond organ to an intriguing,
lead-instrument status?), it's that they seem more interested in making
lavish music than strutting their stuff. Bigelf's illustrious compositions
aren't just riff monsters, they are full grown songs with a strong sense of
structure and melody. Granted, in some ways this throwback approach makes
them just another long train runnin' along the course Deep Purple and ELP
trekked out for years. Yet for those who are drawn to a consistently spicy,
yet thoroughly digestible, organ-encrusted 70's sound, these guys dish up
full tilt rockers as refined as any progressive brew their forefathers
cooked up. Once a listener recovers from the initial shock of seeing how
much equipment the band hauls onstage for a live performance, it's easy to
understand how this Brit-pop-crazed quartet achieves its mega spun-sugar
sound. Last Tuesday's Lingerie performance was no different, with Orange
amps stacked high and huge vintage keyboards strewn out in
Baptist-chorus-sized proportions. But beyond all the instrumental fuss, the
strongest memory one takes home from a Bigelf gig is the eclectic whirlwind
created by their thick wash of colorful music. This evening it was guitarist
Andy Jones' night to shine. Paler than an adolescent Pete Townsend, Bigelf's
axeman played with a seductive allure and gentlemanly avant-garde competence
that was truly sparkling. Singer/organist Damon Fox is also a dramatic
player. His ambitious output formed an urgent connection with Jones' gushing
riffs, and was highlighted with dramatic minor-key runs that at times
bordered on the hair-raising. Bigelf's cosmic mood music is made all the
stronger by the players' keen belief in its utopian powers. But whether one
buys into their chilling grandeur or simply enjoys the music, there's no
denying what a club-savvy rock act Bigelf has become.
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LOS ANGELES, CA @ WHISKEY BAR
LA Weekly
by Willy Banta
 uess what? Punk rock never happened. No, in fact prog rock kept progging
through the 80's and into the 90's, and the latest rage is Bigelf. Coming
off their headlining slot at Cal Jam XX, the Elves are bringing their
heavy-duty riffs, polyester shirts, long hair and beards to the Whiskey
tonight. Known for the three tons of keyboards that grace the cover of their
six-song EP, Closer to Doom , Bigelf look and sound like they stepped out of
your 1976 prom night, with Rick Wakeman protege Damon Fox dramatically
whirling back and forth between a Moog on one side and a Hammond Organ on
the other. Borrowing liberally from Gentle Giant, ELP, Yes, Deep Purple and
Jethro Tull, Bigelf injects some fresh blood into the old horse with a
passion not seen in years. They do a blistering cover of Uriah Heep's "Easy
Livin" and maybe - if you're lucky - they'll throw in a bass solo, too!
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