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The Swiss Army take the stage at Great Scott; I thought there'd be more of them, but Tom points out that neutrality has its advantages. Lame jokes aside, they are a three-piece, and have apparently gone through an array of names and lineups lately. We think we saw these same three as The Census a while ago. They play instrumental rock, with somewhat minimal, repetitive guitar over bass lines that drive the songs. The drums are weird: fun, complicated parts that seem to stay more or less on the beat, but with a weird sort of drunken stagger to them. Like they sound like they're speeding up or slowing down, but then they don't seem to have. I honestly can't tell if it's brilliant style, or if he's just barely holding it together at the bleeding edge of his abilities. It sounds good, but it's pretty minimalist, and I find myself wanting more.
Tristan Da Cunha, whom I have seen eight times before (but who's counting?), open their set with "Jesus Marches With A Little Spider," a song from their record that I love and that I've never seen them do live. It kicks ass. There are some other obscure oldies, and just a whole lot of their precision insanity. The mix is PERFECT tonight, making the vocals more catchy and engaging than they usually are, and Brian has his weird stage presence turned all the way up. For the last couple of songs, the drummer and guitarist switch, which always blows my mind, and apparently Ernie messes up the drum part on the last song (although I can't even hear the error), because Steve (the usual drummer) stops them, reprimands Ernie, and demands that they start the song over. They were about halfway through, and protest that they can't possibly start over, but he is absolutely implacable. I'm really glad I got to see this, because it gives me some idea of how they can POSSIBLY be as awesome as they are: they simply don't tolerate anything less than perfection. Since there's time and we insist, they play an encore, "World of Rubber" by audience request.
