[ Wax Mannequin ]
w/ the Low Tones, the Redstripes
The Lift
Windsor, Ontario
March 16, 2002
It was a very odd night indeed. Wax Mannequin kicked things off, and left many scratching their heads in wonder. Rather than try to capture the Wax Mannequin experience by myself, I enlisted the help of others. Below are the summaries sent to me by a few wonderful people that were also in attendance that night:
wax mannequin......
an intense, and insane, genius!
From the time he circled the Lift Lounge floor-recruiting members for his Jimmy Club, until he dejectedly finished his set, it was clear to all in attendance Windsorites had not seen anyone quite like Wax Mannequin before. What qualifies as performance art, or poetry or musician has never been pegged down to one definition. Self described "solo guitarist and cult leader" Chris Adeney, better known as Wax Mannequin, is certainly one who cannot be pegged down in a simple definition. Perhaps I could stab at one; Bruce Cockburn with A.D.D.
Dressed impeccably in a black suit with a black dress shirt adorned with red roses, Chris stood out in a crowd of button down blue-collar types and Goth rockers. Then going on stage with an electric guitar one man show with the melancholy of Nick Drake, armed with songs that deal with power blasters and roadkill, is begging either to be taken as the musings of a social misfit or a poet savant. I'm taking a stand with the latter, however the majority of people gathered at the Lift will probably agree with the former.
Using body, voice and guitar, Wax Mannequin creates his performance/music/art through fevered, jittery, and stab at the dark motions that would have worked well with the crowd had not their been so many interested in their own conversation. Wax Mannequin continued on despite the din of the crowd and played for the people who decided to listen. "You're winning Windsor, you're winning. Don't beat Toronto" he said, probably referring to the worst crowd he had played to. Nevertheless he did inspire a few quiet moments especially during his cover of Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is". I thought the whole set worked, right down to the meow solos.
Was it music or was it performance art? Magnificent or malarkey? Arriving
late to a performance of Wax Mannequin at the Lift Lounge, I was greeted by
the sound of technical guitar prowess. I thought, "This guy can play, but
what's with the shirt?" He wore a black suit with a loud red shirt. Then
he started to sing. It was a different kind of vocalism, he was telling a
story with each song but with a sense of urgency. The story however
bordered on absurdity. Begging the audience to fire laser blasters, "like
the hero's on TV", I was reminded of that brain dead band from LA,
"Tenacious D". A friend of mine said, "he's very entertaining", which is a
good description because while he was not fantastic his stage antics and
presentation were very interesting. He was plagued with the guitar cord
unplugging itself several times throughout the set and always managed to
cover with an amusing ad lib rhyme. A singer who would fit in with Andy
Worhol and the whole "was that good or did we just get fleeced? Who knows,
it was fun!" era.
"Good stuff", I'd say an entertaining 7 out of 10.
I admittedly enjoyed Wax Mannequin for (Chris') profuse use of attitude
and utter surprise onstage --you gotta hand it to someone who can
perform in front of a lot of people the way that he did (with no holds
barred, as more of a 'performance artiste' than a 'musician/band').
He was a star in the making, a piece of coal spinning out of control and
turning into that diamond in the rough. How can one gentle, quiet man be
such a different persona onstage than he is when you are talking to him
persona non-grata without the guitar or a microphone in his hand... or
maybe he is just louder onstage? I do not know.
Wax Mannequin is interestingly brutal and he has the moves, the moves
that make you think he is a tad weird, or that he is just pretending to
be a cat. I'm not sure that I would not suggest him to friends... He has
that weirdness that makes you want to say 'You must experience Wax
Mannequin at least once in your life to see what I am talking about!
That guy is crazy!' Almost like an oddity.
I really like his vocals, but his content is strange, so it puts you off
and makes you confused about what you are supposed to think if you don't
know what to expect. Can you keep an open mind says Wax Mannequin? The
surprise of his performance alone makes him desirable enough to want to
see him perform live. I do need to hear '...and gun' because I want to
see if I like just the live Wax Mannequin or simply the home version of
Wax Mannequin --or both. Wax Mannequin, I love you! I think...
Through the haze I could make out only a jumble of gear on the stage. The show was in full swing although the only music (Bob Marley?) was being clinked out through hidden speakers that sounded like they were constructed of pop cans and twigs. That, and the din of the assembled mass. So began the uncomfortable acid trip that was last Saturday at the Lift. No sooner had my lungs gotten used to the already-blown smoke than a man approached me and tried to sell me AMWAY. I must have looked slightly taken aback, because a blonde guy with a cleft lip whispered in my ear that this gentleman was none other than Wax Mannequin (THE Wax Mannequin) and that he was in fact about to help me on my way to becoming super-human. I always thought I was deserving of more super powers than I was
born with, and this "Jimmy Point" system sounded like a pretty fair deal to me. This is just for starters.
Wax Mannequin, the musician is another story altogether. Not only did he manage to freak out and annoy most people in the bar through the course of his show, he established himself as the most unique non cliched and memorable entertainers I have seen in a VERY long time. A man, whose tuning banter was better than many of the shows I've seen lately. I couldn't tell whether his songs were improvised or not. Didn't care. Unlike many lone-guitar-guy-whiny-biatch-shoegaze-swayers, this man MOVED. His eyes positively bugged from his skull, Muppet-like, while he seemed to stomp on invisible chickens. You either were sucked into this performance, like me, or were repulsed by it - like about fifty percent in attendance. When it's all said and done, though, I won't soon forget Wax
Mannequin. I guess neither will anyone else, but for different reasons entirely. Lyrics that made me think and wince.
If you want to see a PERFORMANCE in the most pure sense, do not miss Wax Mannequin. A man who sheds cliches like water from a duck's back. Or...something. Sloanalikes beware. Indie rock has come full circle.
If I had to sum up in one word Wax Mannequin's recent show in Windsor at
the Lift it would be WOW! It's been close the five days since the show and
I'm still being haunted by the words "meow, meow, meow," words which
curiously continued to pop up in Mr. Wax's music. Beyond the kitty calls, Wax
would sport some of the finest rock poses I have seen in the last decade. My
groin aches to even think about them. If that's not enough, Wax's intensity
was legendary. It was as if he was feeding off the audience, guiding us into
a trance (meow, meow, meow) and leaving us all well drained and a little bit
spooked. Without doubt I was highly entertained and would recommend to
anyone with a very, very open mind to check "the experience" out. I sure
hope Wax Mannequin and his "masterblaster" (not sure I want to know what
that is) comes back to the Rose City real soon.
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After we all become members of the Jimmy Club by tricking each other into joining, we all repeated the process with the Jimmy List. This effort was made in order to gain more points, which would lead to the promise of a super power. It's a strange club you'd have to join in order to understand... sort of. Actually, I don't really understand it at all, I was just caught up in the competition of getting more Jimmy points.
As for Wax Mannequin... I enjoyed the experience in a live setting, but I'm not too sure how much I would enjoy the cd alone in comparison. He seemed to throw in the odd word just to see if you were paying attention, such as "meow".
The Low Tones were getting a lot of feedback from the crowd; no doubt due to the extra tight t-shirt Tom wore. Many were singing along to the Low Tones karaoke, with the exception of the new songs played.
The Redstripes didn't even manage to finish their first song before a big fiasco broke out in front of the Lift. An ambulance was called, and everyone ran outside to help the poor unconscious guy. I will never understand senseless violence, never. The mood was killed, and after the excitement died down outside, a request for anyone to come up and jam was given. Some covers were played, and the night ended on an informal note. A strange evening, nonetheless.
[ JEN ]
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