If Corporal shows are few, Less the Band performances are even rarer. Less the band formed in 2004, naming themselves after the fictional band at the center of playwright/writer/director Adam Rapp’s play “Finer Noble Gases” in which band members obliterate themselves over the course of an evening in an East Village apartment (modeled eerily after Rapp’s own digs). Rizzo, Beitzel, Paul Sparks (Mickey Dohl on Boardwalk Empire) and Obie-winning actor Michael Chernus assumed roles for the play and practiced for the play’s climax, writing a dozen songs before the show opened, continuing to play gigs after it closed. In every way tonights show is a family affair: members of both bands are friends and have worked on different productions of Rapp’s play. Shannon, who played bass with Rizzo, Beitzel and Dallas Roberts for a 2002 production, claims that he was “kicked out of the band”.

Less the Band have self-released 2 recordings (Bear and Robot, both available in ITunes). They have collaborated with artist Danica Novgorodoff on the graphic novel “A Late Freeze” In 2006 at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival the band had the opportunity to simultaneously perform “Finer Noble Gases” and open UK dates for My Morning Jacket. In 2008 Less the band composed Astroland, a theatricized rock concert that premiered at The Kitchen.


UK’s Whisperin’ and Hollerin’ wrote of LTB’s Bear, “much has been made of the post-punk revival lately, but Less The Band more accurately reflects the no-compromise edges of the genre’s original philosophy than many of today’s wanna-be’s. If science-fiction author Philip K. Dick had formed a rock band, it probably would’ve sounded like Less the Band.”

www.lesstheband.com

Corporal is a band that uses democratic means for the purpose of unleashing greater states of chaos. That chaos is anchored by the songs of Michael Shannon, whose place in public consciousness has been earned with a steady career as an actor of stage and screen (Jesus’ Son, Revolutionary Road, Soho Rep’s Uncle Vanya, Grace on Broadway, Premium Rush, and Nelson Van Alden of “Boardwalk Empire”). Together with drummer/producer Ray Rizzo, guitarist Robert Beitzel and bassist Matt Scobee, Corporal “makes music that calls to mind the Silver Jews, if they’d had a hideout under the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s gloriously strange, a bit grimy, and makes me feel comfortably drunk” (IFC)

Corporal began in 2008 with small 2-man shows where Shannon and Rizzo would switch instruments and play every song they knew, later embarking on a recording that took place in fits and bursts over 18 months, bringing Beitzel and his guitar music into the band. Shannon’s superhuman shooting and performance schedules and Rizzo’s music work with Dawn Landes, Glen Hansard, Doveman, Julia Stone and his band Mesiko have made live shows a rare and special event. In early 2012, Corporal re-released it’s eponymous first recording and followed with a summer 7″ release of the band’s two recordings of “Obama”, B-sided with the band’s slacker r&b gem “Effortless”. The single art features an image of Obama riding a white unicorn over a field of yellow flowers with rainbows coming out of his hands, making it hard to miss that in the hearts and minds of Corporal run great waves of whimsy.


Shannon: “The song Obama was the result of me trying to imagine the incredible pressure that the candidate would have to endure to succeed, the angst of his position, and the knowledge that even if he won the election, he was inheriting one hell of a bleak mess that is hard to fathom how to ever begin fixing any of it. The absurdity of his pursuit…as beautiful and inspiring as it was, it was in equal measure absurd, at least to me. Keep in mind, I wrote it during the first election, now he’s gearing up for round two. I guess it’s prophetic we recorded the song twice in two different ways. I think this election will be a little more nerve-wracking, so maybe the up-tempo version is appropriate.”

www.corporalband.com