Peacebomb is a name that used to pack out the craziest loft parties and club shows around these parts, with scarcely a rumor they would be showing up. They even played Woodstock ’94 on the first day along with familiar names like Candlebox, Collective Soul, Sheryl Crow and a slew of classic popular area ’90s bands like Lunchmeat, Futu Futu, Abba Rage and Three (all of whom are worth looking up if you don’t know them and some are even still semi-active).
Blending a frenetic mix of chunky funk, alternative rock, glimpses of mathy prog and explosive punk moments, the band have always been a best-kept secret, like the musical equivalent of a swimming hole so sweet that nobody talks about it. As it turns out, you have a chance to see an incarnation of the group live this month reconstituted from the primordial murk as a duo featuring Chris “Gartdrumm” Gartmann on drums and Joe Stote on guitar and vocals. I can only imagine the two-piece configuration sounding somewhere like a cross between Prince, The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Fishbone as channeled by two white dudes who still have insane Red Hot Chili-chops even after growing up into that dreaded adulthood.
In their own words, the two musicians have performed together in “too many bands for too many years” playing countless shows in all of the fifty Continental United States plus Canada, Europe and Australia. The two recently have also been known for their time spent on drums and percussion in the aforementioned soulful prog-alt rock band Three, another Kingston/Woodstock institution.
“Gartdrumm and I have been performing together for three decades,” the great and wise Joe Stote tells me. (I already knew that so really he is telling you, dear readers.) “The Guitar and Drums Duo thing goes back to the very beginning in West Virginia. It has a mind of its own and is often uncontrollably improvised. It is a kind of musical conversation between two people that is intense but fun and joyful. We explore new ideas live on stage, so it gives us a sense of danger that it could all go wrong, which makes it exciting and feeds itself. It’s hard to explain but we are not really in control once we start playing.”
Peacebomb The Duo are opening for Altin Gün at The Anchor (744-746 Broadway) this Friday, July 26. 9:30 sharp is kickoff time. The show is presented by BSP. They are a reminder of the great scene we have always had here which has reflected the colorful musical variety of local interests. These are renaissance men who have schooled themselves in a wide array of musical culture, as we all should. When I grew up it was cool to learn about funk and try to play it, to care about jazz, to not be dismissive of learning things from other cultures. It actually makes you cooler.
End fake-triotism
Shout out to Rep. Ayanna Pressley for rightfully calling the bigoted Russian mafia pawn in chief merely “The Occupant” of The White House because he does not embody the grace, empathy or the integrity that the office of the Presidency is supposed to require. I added the “supposed” because a lot of other presidents have also been assholes and the country was founded on White Supremacy and hypocrisy, so we have a lot of work to still do. Asylum seekers should not be viewed as animals and subhuman criminals. No person is illegal. These faux-Patriot MAGA morons, who I call fake-triots, believe dissent is wrong. They think you have to 100 percent cape for American Imperialism, blood for oil and real estate grabs in foreign nations we de-stabilize and that Trump and cronies give a flying goose fart about them and it is a huge con. People are drinking out of toilets and the President has been credibly accused of many crimes but Trump could make MAGA supporters drink out of his toilet and he could tell them it was white wine. We’ve come a long way from people believing the streets were paved with gold. They are most definitely paved with blood and hatred.
For the local GOP folks who have been louder online about how they hate my writing because I refuse to feign neutered objectivity in the face of rising fascism, I am not going to enable conservative white people who have always been centered in the discussions of this country into the false narrative of economic anxiety when really a lot of you simply just hate Mexicans or fear otherness if you feel slightly threatened with not having cultural supremacy. I am not going to pretend that I haven’t been published internationally and cater to your yokel asses who can’t be bothered to not pollute. Trickle down economics has never been anything more than a grift of corporate 1% welfare, the real welfare. Trump was a business flop who has fallen upwards his whole ugly life through privilege, deceit and a gilded façade of gaslighting. I am not going to pretend I haven’t seen Republicans steal multiple elections in my lifetime or that civility has ever worked since Jimmy Carter. Bush and Cheney should be in jail for war crimes, not getting candy from the Obamas while George acts like the new Bob Ross and pretends to not remember Iraq. Health care is a human right. You all probably think “Old Town Road” would be alright if it didn’t have “those urban parts.” OMFNG.
For those of you who find me witty, charming, charismatic and randomly startlingly well-spoken after bouts of being a hot mess, hugs to you all. See you next time.
Join the family! 
