SLCR #359: TEKE::TEKE (March 31, 2022)

The description of TEKE::TEKE from the email announcing the folk festival‘s annual Winterruption concert series was intriguing enough to make me want to go see them, even though I’d never heard of them before.

Except I had. CRZ played them on his radio show, and Mika was disappointed at being scooped by him since she’d had them on her list of bands to request but he beat her to them. I vaguely remember this happening, but had no idea that TEKE::TEKE was the band at the heart of the issue. I think I might be admitting that I haven’t paid enough attention to several people here.

This show was scheduled for January but got bumped out due to covid, which is how we wound up celebrating Winterruption mid-spring. The Artesian has thus far kept all its covid policies in place; namely, mandatory vaccines (it had been so long since I’d gone anywhere that I’d almost forgotten how to use the app) and masks. Plus, let’s say that the attendance allowed for a respectable amount of social distancing. Wasn’t a bad turnout, but there was room for more.

One person who didn’t stay for the show was this dude near us who was talking on his phone, mask down, waiting for the show to start. A volunteer working the show asked him to pull his mask up. The guy said he would when he wasn’t on the phone; the volunteer pointed out that this was not actually a request per se, to which the guy said “why are you having a FUCKING concert if you’re going to be so uptight?” The volunteer, who had the patience of a saint while doing the Lord’s work, asked the guy to leave, which he did, swearing all the way. Bon voyage, dicknose.

Someone else near us sympathized with Swearing Man, grumbling through the whole show, sarcastically berating the emcee for not wearing a mask while talking to the crowd, and pulling his own mask down whenever there were no volunteers around. Too cowardly to have an actual confrontation, too delicate to just wear the god damned mask already. At least Swearing Man stood by his convictions. His stupid, stupid convictions.

Our openers were local band Snake River, playing their first show together since before the pandemic. I’d heard the name but hadn’t seen them before. Country-tinged rock, or maybe vice versa. I quite enjoyed their set, probably more so because it had been so long since I’d been out listening to something like this. The highlight was a cover of the Sadies’ A Good Flying Day in memory of singer and guitarist Dallas Good. Not only did Snake River cite the Sadies as an influence (“every Sadies show was the best show ever”), but the Sadies were actually scheduled to play as part of Winterruption, but their show also got postponed from January and Good passed away in February. This was a really nice – if bittersweet – tribute.

Back to that description of TEKE::TEKE: “Featuring traditional Japanese instruments, flute and trombone alongside raging guitars and a pulsing rhythm section, TEKE::TEKE creates a sound reminiscent of 1960’s and 70’s era psychedelic Japanese soundtracks, with a frenetic, modern twist.” And sure, let’s go with that, it’s better than anything I’d come up with. They also mentioned during the show that they’d begun as a Takeshi Terauchi cover band before moving on to their own originals. As a Philistine, this meant nothing to me but maybe you are more worldly than I.

Anyway, the short version is that this completely ruled. I don’t really know how to describe it – if I did, I wouldn’t be stealing bands’ own descriptions of themselves from their websites in place of using my own words – so I’ll just say that quote above is accurate but undersells just how good they are at it. The energy was great and they were enthralling to watch. Would go again, would recommend to others, have already done so, am recommending to you now.

Based on crowd response, I don’t think I’m alone in my assessment. They got a terrific reaction. As we were leaving, there wasn’t a line for merchandise so much as a swarm. It looked like everyone who was there was buying something on the way out. I’m not sure when I last spent actual paper money, but this showed it still has use; sometimes you need to buy a record and holding up the exact amount in cash (it was $20, they made it easy) is the international sign of “I will get out of your way quickly.” Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy your way home to bed five minutes sooner.

Tags: artesian on 13th, concerts, music, regina, slcr, snake river, teke::teke