Fred Armisen played Other Music
December 17th, 2011 by chocko
Last Sunday, Fred Armisen was scheduled to make an appearance at Other Music, a local NYC record store for what was billed as Fred Armisen’s Playlist LIVE. I was totally expecting the well known comedian of Saturday Night Live and Portlandia to just show up to the store, plug in an ipod and press play. Little did I know, Armisen would bring the noise while surrounding himself with amps, guitar pedals and playing a variety of instruments including an electronic drum set, guitar, bass, and a Drum Buddy which is a light activated, rotating drum machine invented by New Orleans musician, Quintron. Drum Buddy…youtube that shit. It’s crazy!
The crowd that showed up was treated to a special night of songs by bands such as The Clash, The Stranglers, Kraftwerk, Hüsker Dü and Devo. Armisen utilized every instrument on nearly every song with the help of a loop pedal. Some highlights from the set were “Police On My Back” by The Clash, “Pocket Calculator” by Kraftwerk and “Life Goes On” by The Damned which he described as his favorite song ever! Armisen joked around with the crowd in between songs and did a little “showing off” by playing the bass line to Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and taking an audience request of Prince by playing a snippet of “Raspberry Beret.”
Armisen announced that he wanted to make this a weekly event somewhere in the city (he mentioned Union Pool in Brooklyn as a possible spot) where he could just get on a stage and play some of his favorite songs. He also invited anybody that wanted to play or sing to be a part of it too. Clearly he is passionate about his music and hopefully we get a chance to see Armisen’s one-man punk band play again soon.
Fred Armisen performing “Police On My Back” by THE CLASH
Fred Armisen performing “Life Goes On” by THE DAMNED
(photos by chocko)
Tags: drum buddy, fred armisen, in store performance, nyc new york city, portlandia, punk, saturday night live, snl
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