School of Seven Bells - Redundancy at the Sh*thole on the Canal

Mortstiff, that's your's truly, is in a particularly surly mood tonight, so pardon my French. Earlier this evening - because you'd know if you've lived here in Paris that rock concerts never take place late in the evening as in normal cities like New York or Boston - I attended the School for Seven Bells alternative music concert at the Point Ephemere, the cultural/arts/restaurant center in the 10th arrondisement, smack dab on the Quai de Valmy, which runs along the Canal Martin. Yes, this sounds pretty picturesque - a late Winter's evening in Paris along the romantic Canal Martin, and it would have been if the dump known as the Point Ephemere wasn't situated there.

What is the Point Ephemere, you ask? Well, here is the English description from their web site: "Point Ephémère is a center for artistic dynamics located in Paris 10th district, in the former construction material store, Point P. The concert hall was intentionally designed as a convivial equipment, militant for a medium capacity furthering the connection with the audience." Oh-Kay! Confused? I thought you'd be. But you get the idea. I'm not sure how they did it, but the photos of the restaurant/bar, dance studio, and even the concert hall make it look like, well, a truly nice center for artistic dynamics and convivial dynamics, uhm, you know what I mean. But let me tell you, in person, you probably wouldn't want to dine in the restaurant, and from personal experience, I can tell you that the concert hall truly sucks. 'Concert hall,' is really a misnomer. Imagine, your buddy in New Jersey has invited you and a bunch of your college pals to a keg party in the unfinished basement of his lumberjack father and occasional boozer mom's house past the 'burbs. That kind of concert hall.

I do have to give credit to the Point. In addition to offering studio space for artists and performers, at least they have some original programming when it comes to bringing in some groups a bit off the beaten Parisian concert tour path. I've seen satisfying concerts there by Matt Elliott, Idaho, and Album Leaf. Well, 'seen' might be a slight exaggeration. Unless you are in the first row, you can't see much with a packed house. The room is much smaller than the accompanying photo suggests, and when it fills up, and you have some people standing in front of you, well, good luck. The stage isn't that elevated - if you twist and turn occasionally you can catch a glimmer through the crowd of what's going on onstage.

What was going on onstage earlier tonight was a performance by the 3-piece aforementioned group, let's call them 7 Bells for short. Just a question - is it still 3-piece if the two girls are twins? When I was able to see all three onstage between the occasional cracks amidst the utterly rude, pushy, noisy, beer swilling stinkballs in the crowd, the combined ages of the performers looked to be around 26. They were 12-year-olds, weren't they? According to every student's favorite unverified source of information, Wikipedia, 7 Bells was 'formed by Benjamin Curtis (musician) of Secret Machines, together with identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, formerly of On! Air! Library!'. It's hard to believe that Big Ben has had the time in his apparently short sweet life (sweet to hang around with those twins, I would imagine), to have already been in two groups! The group's name apparently refers to a mythical school for training pickpockets. How outre!

Anyway, the music. The twins had their harmonies down to perfection, so perfect that every song sounded alike, as if sung by twin robots. The persistent percussion - thud, thud, thud - from a non-existent drummer and a non-existent bass player. An ex-musician myself, I would be embarrassed to be considered a recording artist if one of the members of my group played the drums and bass from a little black synthesizer! Maybe that's the true source of my surly mood. Might as well have a DJ. The music was listenable enough - imagine Dead Can Dance crossed with My Bloody Valentine, the whole fundamentally less than the parts. Dramatic special effects - smoke machine and a blinding light show - gave one the impression that something more interesting was going on onstage than actually was.

The design of the Point leaves much to be desired. During the summer, like every rock music venue in Paris, it lacks ventilation and is unbearably hot. Come to think of it, during the Winter it lacks ventilation and is unbearably hot, too. But worse, the bar is situated along the far left wall, so throughout the concert, you can expect unshaven, unwashed, musically-challenged yappers (portable phone, buddy, or just talking outloud to themselves) pushing and otherwise manhandling their way through the crowd to get another brewski. As Clint Eastwood bemoans in Gran Torino, what is it with young people these days? On my way out, I espied a couple French youth dangling from the roof painting graffiti on one of the few bare spots on the Point's outer wall. Probably a couple rejects from the Peace and Love Hostel up the street. Bah, humbug.

Point Éphémère

200 Quai de Valmy • 75010 Paris
metro: Jaures
tél : 01 40 34 02 48 • info@pointephemere.org

School of Seven Bells (New York)
Latest CD: Alpinisms (2008)
web site: http://www.schoolofsevenbells.com