[Text by Luke Z. Fenchel; from January’s Live Wire column, in the Ithaca Times]
For all of our posturing about the supportive musical community here in Ithaca, the sad reality is that its supportiveness depends on which community you’re talking about. Apart from the existence of two predominant blocs: dub/reggae and broadly defined “Americana,” support for local bands quickly wanes. To a large extent, musicians foster like-minded musicians — and music fans can be even more balkanized. Stepping outside Ithaca’s pre-approved local bands, let’s take a quick look at the exceptionally talented Chapel Perilous.
Comprised of five exceedingly talented musicians — three local boys, Brian “Sid” Burke, Brian Dayhart and Jake Nash; an Ithaca College alum, Adam Morris; and Brandon Kane, a New Jersey boy transplanted from Philadelphia — Chapel Perilous played their first show in February of 2006. Since then, they have played consistently at the Haunt, Castaways and the Nines. Yet, in a town where everyone knows everyone else, they remain something that one would think impossible in a city this size: an underexposed band.
“It’s so strange,” Burke commented to me as we drove up to meet the rest of the band on a Sunday morning, “Ithaca has all of the elements for a diverse music scene: two major colleges, a large local population that likes music. It should be an Athens [Georgia] — it even has a Greek name!” But as Burke and the rest of Chapel Perilous pointed out, in Ithaca, musical success may have more to do with who your friends are and what you play than the quality of what you have to offer. “In some ways, Ithaca is a microcosm of the rest of the musical universe,” Burke noted. “In another town — New York City, say — only a certain percentage of the population would come out for us. And in Ithaca, that percentage just happens to be 15 people.”
Morris continued: “I would encourage people who consider themselves fans of the local music scene just to branch out and see us. Lots of folks just go to see those country bands or reggae — but the thing that really gets to me is that they don’t say that they’re into that type of music, but they say they’re into local music — and they’re not.” Kane added: “Generally when people come to see us, even if they’re not into metal, they wind up finding something they like about us and come to check us out again.”
I witnessed a crowd of a hundred at the Lost Dog Lounge a few weeks back get swept away by the band’s extreme intensity. And the opening band that night — Hee Haw Nightmare (a great new local band in its own right) — drew a crowd that stayed through the bitter end of Chapel Perilous’ set.
What Chapel Perilous is offering is more likely to challenge your expectations than get your buzz on. Their musical genre is metal, which has had a long history of not getting much respect. But “fans of local music” take note! Chapel Perilous is not only easily one of the better bands I have seen play in town, their music is of a caliber that matches the best national bands in the genre. Though they’ve clearly prayed at the altars of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Metallica — three bands whose songs they have covered-their work doesn’t imitate other heavies as much as it digests and expands on that material. Their performances are overflowing with a dynamic force that is unmatched by most groups inside or outside of our city’s limits.
At the Lost Dog Lounge earlier this month, I couldn’t believe my ears. Morris drums with enough ferocity to wake the dead; bassist Kane is on par with any other metal bassist for foundation and texture. Burke and Hash harmonize guitars in ways few other bands would dare to attempt. But without short-shrifting the rest of the group, front man Brian Dayhart alone is worth the price of admission. Dayhart began the show with his back to the audience, a dark green hoodie obscuring much of his visage. Barefoot, he paced back and forth in front of his band as they started with the almost entirely instrumental “Dark Monkeybird.” As the song steadily crescendoed, he began intoning a low guttural noise familiar to metalheads and younger brothers everywhere. It was as electrifying as anything as I have seen here in town.
Many of the members have played together before — and their familiarity with each other shows. Influenced among other bands by an IC band called Impasse, Nash, Burke and Morris were in Drunken War before forming a band with Dayhart and others called Timur Lenk. Named after a Turkish conquer with a penchant for piling up human skulls, that band sang about in Nash and Dayhart’s words, the “warriors of the Steppes” and the “sweeping migration of peoples.” But to appreciate Chapel Perilous, you need neither be a fan of the sadistic nor hooked on dungeons and dragons. Ultimately, to enjoy the intensely thrilling Ithacans, you need only an open mind.
Chapel Perilous performs Saturday, Feb. 9 at the Haunt. Check them out at their myspace.
Note: Originally, I had planned to focus this column, my first of 2008, on “underexposed” bands. Unfortunately, my attempts so far to discover them have proven difficult.
If you are in a band or play music, and haven’t gotten much coverage in the press, please email luke.fenchel@gmail.com or drop off a CD, collection of mp3s, or anything at the Times offices.