Next Tuesday the legendary band Wire is coming to town,
performing at Museum of Contemporary Art. This is big news for me as Wire, in
all their incarnations, is a band that I consider one the most innovative and
smart expressions of art in my lifetime. They formed back in the 70’s as an art
punk band that you easily separate from many other punk bands due to the
intellect in their lyrics and songs structures. They had song titles like "French Film Blurred" coupled with song structures
that varied spoken lyrics and dissonant noise along with crunching guitars. In
the 80’s they transformed their sound to an electronic dance band with songs
like “Ahead” that could stand next to New Order and Depeche Mode tracks. In the
2000’s Wire was back to their punk sound but applied with a modern context.
Their latest record aptly titled “Change Becomes Us” follows
their ever-changing ethic as they took tracks whose origins go back to
1979-1980 reworked and recorded in 2012. It’s released on their own Pink Flag
label and you can find it at their website. “Change Becomes US” has a heavy
sound with thudding guitars and rhythms that shift between quick, snappy tracks
to slower-paced, menacing songs meant to raise the hair on the back of the neck.
Their show is sure to be one of most unique of the year featuring 3 of the
original members along with touring guitarist Matthew Sims. Come to MOCAD and
give Wire their due as they been giving it to us for the past 35 plus years.
