By Vanessa Carr
With a storm of eerie electronics and crashing beats, otherworldly sounds that clang like metal pipes, and a palette of weird effects, it’s no wonder Brooklyn/Chicago-based trio These Are Powers are calling their trance-inducing incantations “ghost punk.”
According to band members Anna Barie (ex-Knife Skills and Fxxxing Lion), Pat Noecker (ex-Liars), and Bill Salas (Brenmar), the “spiritual” part of writing and performing music is the ability to unconsciously communicate something about their state of being. They use an unconventional instrument set up – which includes prepared bass, strange guitar tunings, and an electro-acoustic drum kit played standing up – that encourages a less structured, more intuitive way of playing. The result is a hypnotic punk mantra that – even while invoking early Sonic Youth – is refreshingly original, immediate, and surprisingly danceable.
Currently in the midst of a fast-paced cross-country tour, These Are Powers are playing two Bay Area shows this weekend, one Saturday night (3/1) at the Hemlock Tavern with Lemonade and Mi Ami, and another on Sunday (3/2) at the ABCO Warehouse in Oakland with Lumerians, Wildildlife, and Chen Santa Maria (a Club Sandwich production). These Are Powers are scheduled to release a new EP, Taro Tarot, on Hoss Records in April 2008.
I talked with the band while they were driving down I-80 West on their way to Salt Lake City.
SFBG: What is ghost punk?
Pat Noecker: It’s a name that we came with to describe our music that meant something to us personally and was also a way to give the music we were making an identity of its own. It seems like anytime you do something that doesn’t have bar chords in it or is not your standard USA rock and roll, it gets referred to as No Wave. We are not a No Wave band.