A-Frames

Ever wake with heartache of nostalgia? In 1991 Minneapolis, I was at a party after Nirvana played the Nevermind show. Celebrities, neophytes, soon no-mores. Kurt Cobain laid on a couch, a rocker girl spit on the floor. A bunch of dropouts. Years later, 1999, the band Bend Sinister played heavy, transformative riffs from Seattle in the Nirvana vein. In Sacramento’s Loft with Karate Party, it was 250 degrees: a viscous, turgid rock exposition. Bend Sinister’s drummer pounded on a fat gold lamé kit and puked out the second-story window (right above the entrance), reminiscent of what I saw Mr. Cobain do. A cheap van filled with nascent rock dropouts on the road. Bend Sinister are now A-Frames, a different kind of planet rock. Good luck finding their first single; its press run is 300 on Sacto’s very own SS Records. Lesson: Get it while you can.