I was at the Good Foot monthly Friday night at Que Sera when I spotted the flier for Savage Republic's May 30 gig. I nearly spit out my vodka tonic. To see these post-punk legends in a club as intimate as Long Beach's Que Sera should be amazing.
In the '80s and early '90s, Savage Republic were one of my favorite bands, but I never had the pleasure of seeing them perform live, unfortunately. Although the prospect of seeing these guys (now based in Claremont) 20 years after the period that I consider to be their peak shouldn't be all that thrilling, I suspect that Savage Republic have not lost much of their ability to generate riveting, tribal-inflected rock and psychedelic dub. (Waleed Rashidi's live review on Heard Mentality from Jan. 13 confirms this suspicion.)
Savage Republic's music can move from the deepest, earth-moving trudge to the most sun-bursting flights of psychedelic expansiveness. Their range is incredible and their songs possess this irrepressible, triumphant spirit that somehow doesn't come across as corny; on the contrary, it makes you feel as if you could actually fight city hall… and win. Now if they can convince Brad Laner to rejoin them, I can die happily.
Below is footage of Savage Republic performing “Jamahiriya” live in Italy in 2007.
