Treeforting comes with a lot of walking, and with walking comes thinking. As I wandered, I thought of how new genres come to define cities: proto-punk in the early 70’s defined Detroit, alternative categorized Atlanta in the 80’s, grunge described Seattle in the 90’s, emo more broadly characterized the midwest in the 00’s, etcetera. Local music scenes evolve like organisms; and as the bands that make up the scene’s cells change, swap members, influence each other, grow, and die, whole new genres are born. Treefort 11 felt a lot like a primordial ooze, with elements of music history merging into Boise’s unique personality. A whole new animal is rising from the muck. It’s hard to make out it’s shape and form because the scene is so diverse, but the elements of something truly original and groundbreaking are there.
I wanted to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the Egyptian Theater, but my day job prevented me from getting in line 3 hours in advance. With nothing on the docket for a couple of hours, I wandered about and let my bummer wax philosophical, and bumped into Omnipresent Teen Dream Angus McBangus. “Why aren’t you going to see Floating Witch’s Head?” he asked, as if I’d been caught skipping class.
“That’s a good question,” I said. “Lead the way.”
Boise’s Little Brother led me to the bus station and gave me the briefing on Floating Witch’s Head: the keyboard player is none other than Eric Gilbert- Godfather of Treefort, MC of Duck Club, Grand Poobah of Music in the City of Trees. So that’s exciting. We packed into the old Greyhound garage turned party house. The lights went down, the paint-splotched projectors started up. Without a stage, the band vanished from my vision and started to play.
Floating Witch’s Head is the psychedelic rock band I’ve always wanted to travel back to the 60’s to see. Gilbert laid down some mean basslines and sensual organ solos. Michael Mitchell on the drums switched seamlessly between smooth drum beats and a sack of hammers in the dryer. Travis Ward’s guitar sang out some catchy riffs with a tone so warm you could wear it like a parka. His vocals and lyrics carried a thought-provoking message right into your eager ears.
Accompanying the music was an otherworldly booger orgy being projected onto the walls. Whoever was driving the projector did an amazing job of matching the speed of the painted screens with the tempo of the music, freezing one image and rotating another to make some wild shapes. My pareidolia saw everything from angels to deer skulls to uteri, leaving me couchlocked in the crowd despite being completely sober.
The band closed out with Medicine Man and I came down from my transcendental trance. My earlier ponderings about the Boise Sound resumed, and Floating Witches Head had been the psychedelic catalyst which provided the idea I had been missing. I had identified the Boise Sound.
The number of active bands in Boise is insane. Everyone knows someone who makes hardcore, or skate punk, or hip-hop, or rock n’ roll, or electronica, and good LORD there’s enough emo around here to dye the river black with mascara. The bands that don’t fit these descriptions are the ones I’m writing about here; bands like Grimage, Crush the Monster, Moon Owl’s Mages, Mandias, and Switch Full Lotus are the ones who come to right to mind. These bands are breaking new ground right before our eyes, with a unique Boise Sound made up of psychedelic, indie, a bit of grunge, and a generous helping of DIY ethics to give off that garagey vibe.
I wouldn’t classify Floating Witch’s Head with this group, they’re missing the raw punk power. It’s still interesting that the single most influential musician in town also plays psychedelic rock, because the psychedelic part is what separates the Boise Sound from every other DIY punk scene in the world. Even more notable is that Floating Witch’s Head is new- that means they didn’t spearhead anything within the scene, and that the Boise Sound has evolved on it’s own without Captain Gilbert at the helm. Even he is just one part of the chaos.
What do we call this new genre? Spud Rock has a great ring to it, but might not go over well with Spud critics who occupy the Spud Rock camp. Tree rock? Goose rock? What else defines Boise besides hardwoods, waterfowl, and tubers? ■
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