Merzbow / Stephen O'Malley at WWW, June 1st 2023

 

Back in 2008 I saw Ween in Paris. I haven’t seen them since and I think they haven’t toured Europe since then either. The show was a three hour tour de force at the tiny La Maroquinerie in the 20th. I was lucky to see the not so often played Fluffy as the concert closer, one of those epic 15 minutes plus renditions. I still remember it as one of the most jaw-dropping, goosebumps inducing moments I’ve seen in a concert. The reason I’m bringing this up at the beginning of this review is because before the show I bumped into Gene Ween at a cafe and something similar happened to me at this show you’re about to read about.

Gene was chilling by himself having coffee at the most inconspicuous Parisian cafe you can think about. It was not far from the venue, my sister and I were killing time when we spotted him. We approached him and told him we were on the way to the show. He was very nice and laid-back. Told us thank you and to enjoy the show. 15 years later I’m on my way to WWW. Got there a couple of minutes before they opened the door. It turned out they opened earlier, half an hour before the time printed on the ticket. My hopes of scoring some Merzbow vinyl vanished, which made me not so happy. At the door there were just a guy speaking to another who was none other than Stephen O’Malley, co-headliner of the evening.

I was being cheesy on that day and did something I rarely do. I wore a t-shirt of Mr. O’Malley’s renowned outfit: Sunn O))). I had to interrupt them and with the geekiest of faces pointed at my shirt for him to see. “Cool t-shirt”, he said. I just told him “got in 2012 at a show in Paris, I’m a big fan”. He thanked me and I went on my way, I don’t like interrupting other people’s conversations, but couldn’t help it. It’s funny how artists that each on their own way, create uncompromising intense music are actually that laidback and chilled.

Merzbow is another example of this contrast. I haven’t met him, but he’s famously an advocate for animal rights in spite of the violent imagery of some of his album covers and song titles. I’m a huge fan of his abrasive sound as a conduit to new realms of perception and mind expansion. I was not going to miss the opportunity of experiencing this through the phenomenal WWW sound system. And an experience it was. I’ve seen him a few times, the first one in 2002 and the previous last one in 2016. It’s always been a sensorial event hard to describe. I’d say that there’s definitely a structure behind the concept that leads you to the cathartic climax at the end of his set. It’s not to be missed.

According to the posters Merzbow was headlining, but he came out first. Maybe because Stephen O’Malley used a screen in the back projecting images. It reminded me of the fact that part of this venue used to be a movie theater. I watched Her and Foxcather there. O’Malley started the set hitting slow banging chords on his guitar, not dissimilar to what his band Sunn O))) does, but ten minutes into the set retorted to practically creating sounds with the wall of amps behind him and his pedal board. I’m not going to lie, accessibility was at a minimum, especially at an hour length. The combination with the minimalist, hard to decipher, black and white images (a cave? a mountain?) was fascinating to a certain extent but it also felt exhausting. Nonetheless both sets stayed with me long after the concert finished, just like good art does.

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