This week’s #ThisDealInHistory is one of a handful of clips excerpted from our Feb. 19, 2003 show in Philadelphia, PA.
The cut starts in the middle of what I’d describe as a “dirty-sounding” jam; a result of the combination of fuzzed-out Juno, super-square bass tone and a fairly intense hi-hat pattern. At 0:55 we transition into our next section by ramping up the tempo and switching up tones and motifs. I keep the fuzz-Juno going but now introduce the Moog while Dan softens (and deepens) his tone. From 1:50 - 2:15 I’m teasing the 1980 dance-punk track “Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag” (a favourite throw-in of mine). I proceed to hack up that melody into various bits as we begin our build section, finally landing on “Receiver” at 3:20.
“Receiver” was a long-time favourite of ours (haven’t brought it back yet w Joel but we will). We sort of stopped playing it as other songs came along but it definitely holds a special place in our hearts as one of the first “big and popular” tND themes.
I like the one-beat break at the drop of the main bit (3:20) - It helps build up that tension beyond the first beat of the release which is not an easy thing to do with most songs!
The jam at 4:28 starts immediately with Darren’s deep half-time groove, incorporating some ambient wah-wah’d organ chords on top of Dan’s dub-style bass. It was around this time that we started to approach our sets as a series of colours and angles, if you will. For example, if we started to feel that much of the set had been high on the intensity level (“jagged”, “bright”, “intense light”, etc. etc.) then we would endeavour to soften it up by rounding out the edges and incorporating some deeper hues and shades into our tones and melodies. It sort of sounds like a bunch of New-Age malarky when I describe it like that but it worked for us on stage. It was a lot easier than trying to explain (onstage, no less) something that can’t really be explained except, in our opinion, through colour!
With that concept in mind one can feel a “warmer” and “rounder” musical environment appearing around 4:50 as we jam our way through some ambient-based mellow grooves. I play some long one-note synth tones while Darren channels his inner Stewart Copeland at 5:45 with a “Steppers” reggae beat.
The melody and chord progression is being kept ridiculous simple on purpose, giving everyone’s brains (and ears) a chance to just sit on this scene for a while and soak it in without having to think about it. At 7:22 we switch keys into a cool chord pattern that leads to the intro chords of “Then And Now”. This is a much harder version of “Then and Now”, most likely serving as a musical exclamation point for the ambient jam that preceded it. The jam/solo section at 10:48 is played in regular-time (as opposed to the usual half-time) and takes on a disco flavour with some jazzy supporting chords. It sounds like I’m teasing something from 11:38 - 11:59 but I don’t know what it is. I would often play a snippet of a track we heard at dinner or something that one of us was talking about that day, but in this case I can’t place it.
A key change at 12:14 introduces a new section which we develop over a descending progression that includes some cool “slash chords” played by yours truly (and supported down low by Dan The Man). We turn this chord sequence into a build at 14:01 by keeping the bass note the same still continuing to play the chords over top. Sharp listeners will hear the trigger cue for the second half of “Receiver” being played at 14:12. Sounds like the other two guys on stage also heard it because we slip into the second half at 14:28 (known to us as “the shot section”) and finish the clip off with the return of the “Receiver” main theme. -Jamie
