So I had to get a root canal the other night and afterwards, I wanted 20 minutes to chill out and shake off the stress before going back home. Some folks might hit a bar, but for me, a record store is my Cheers. So I rooted around a shop near the dentist and they were playing this dissonant avant-garde Metal Jazz with vocalsâit was sort of prog rock for people with short attention spans. And it was goodâreminded me of some other bands.
In the meantime, I found this German EP of early Duran Duran remixes that in fact werenât remixes at all; they were extended versions played live in the studioâSimon comes in on the verse in âPlanet Earthâ off by an entire line at one point, but I digress.
So I brought it to the counter and as I paid, I asked the counter guy through my half-numb mouth, âWhat are we listening to?â Though young, the guy had already mastered the traditional record store clerk arrogant sneer, so he stroked his lengthy beard, and sized me up. Because I was a middle-aged guy buying a Duran Duran record. I guess he took âWhat are we listening toâ to mean âWhat is this shit.â He loftily said, âYeah, you wouldnât have heard of them,â adding slowly like I was three years old, âItâs called The Mars Volta.â To which I responded, âOh, Omar RodrĂguez-LĂłpezâs band after At The Drive-Inâ And he was dumbfoundedâthe old guy could throw down!âso I went on. âItâs pretty good; better than Sparta [the other band that came from ATDI]. It reminded me of Trioscapes, but of course theyâre just instrumental, no vocals, so I knew it couldnât be them.â âTrioscapes?â he said. âYeah, the spin-off of Between The Buried and Me.â After that, his mouth was agog, just hanging open in the wind, so I picked up my bag and said, âHey, thanks for the Duran Duran recordâ and split.