Plus/Minus Tonight 9 p.m. Spaceland, $8
Plus/Minus doesn’t like fast food. They won’t touch
the stuff as though it represented some homogenized evil.
As the mathematically polemic band journeys west to Los Angeles,
it seems the only thing it s members are desperately jonesing for
is another dose of mom-and-pop cuisine to satisfy their travel
sickness. This curious sense of withdrawal is not one caused by the
obvious ““ the claustrophobia of four part-time job-holding
bandmates being crammed in a Club Wagon ““ but rather by the
sameness of American roadside culture.
“It’s sort of disturbing that every exit has the
same stuff. I mean, you really could be anywhere,” said lead
singer and guitarist Patrick Ramos.
Thankfully, they have at least one venue nailed down: tonight at
Spaceland in Silverlake, as the band continues to tour in support
of its latest release, “Let’s Build A Fire.”
“Touring (itself) brings you to that reality,” Ramos
said. “Touring is surreal. There’s an element of
suspended life.”
The band’s current westward trek is just the latest
catalyst for more album-spanning themes of alienation and
soul-weariness, be it in the face of modern corporate America or
other choking routines.
Take the single “Ventriloquist” off of last
year’s album “You Are Here,” for instance.
Tentative electronic beats and fearfully affected vocals establish
a recurring tone of a someone whose view of his own isolated and
computerized surroundings has him “trapped under ice,”
a mentality which Ramos himself claims to personally identify
with.
The answer to melancholic consumer sickness?
Interject here the first annual Plus/ Minus Authentic North
American Food Tour. Instead of a billions-served mentality, there
is the individual love of a pork chop barbecue. Instead of the
immaculate staff attire, overalls and hand-me-downs.
“Plus we just love to eat. It’s not all
altruistic,” Ramos said. “It’s increasingly
difficult to find great restaurants. There’s just so much
homogenization across this great nation of ours.”
Replete with Polaroid pictures of the band members stuffing
their faces with greasy-spoon gems from all over the country,
Plus/Minus is keeping its Web site (plusmin.us) continually updated
with a log of American regions staying true to the band’s
culinary roots.
Continuing the theme of uniqueness past simple culinary
offerings, Plus/Minus also fervently believes in keeping its live
show as adaptive to each new setting as possible.
“People want to see a performance, not re-listen to an
album,” said drummer Chris Deaner.
Offering a slew of new songs from “Let’s Build A
Fire,” the current tour dedicates itself to
“reinterpreting songs to make them more engaging,”
according to Deaner. As pure improvisation isn’t exactly
feasible for a band using prerecorded samples and synthesized
instruments, Deaner earnestly wishes to offer the audience
something new by avoiding complete reliance on these aspects.
Instead, the band members hope to have guitar and drum solos last
as long as they want, keeping the show as a whole adaptive and
evolving. While there will be no Spinal Tapesque moment with a
drummer airborne and rotating inside of a plastic cube, rest
assured, the audience’s entertainment is the primary
concern.
And there will be no hurling. The band saves its eating for
after the show.
“(We don’t) eat before (we) go on, to be
comfortable,” Ramos said.