Ringo Deathstarr

  I had the night loosely planned. Shit always happens that can kill them plans, especially if you are kinda inflexible about them. Sunday night.....See Panda Riot open the night for Ringo Deathstarr, and after go to Berlin and dance to one of Sarah and Philly DJ nights.  I missed the Panda's set entirely but I made it on time to see the middle act that was great but for the moment the name escapes. I was later invited to the Panda's place for an after thing. .....Yay!!!! Daniel and Elliot from Ringo Deathstarr went there. That was a nice time, .....and completely unexpected. And briefly I got to hear some new Panda Riot material. It feels awesome when you are suddenly included into these moments.
  So I at least made it for the entire set of Ringo Deathstarr. And as usual I get right in front. Part of the mission was to buy the CD God's Dream, the cover of which has Alex Gehring, the bass player, pointing a shotgun straight to the fucking nads. It's brilliant, powerful. Behind her nothing but dark forest green. Alright, fair enough there is light behind her. But still behind her hostile wilderness. Hmmm.....sorry. The picture just about sells you a whole narrative around it, like a cult movie. And putting the whole scene back together becomes more painting than picture. I binge on some live shows of theirs, and some official videos. Summer Time especially takes me like a fucking black hole. It's sweet, and just a little mysterious....hmmm  and nostalgic.  That is what put them on my radar, what made me pursue them. Alex sings what sounds like "she was mine once upon a time, she was mine, everything was fine"....and that's it, I was a fan.
   Aggressive and urgent is their pace. Hmmmmm......They just are. Shoegaze heroes...fuck it. I totally don't like over using the fucking shoegaze crayon....but, it was like holding my fucking breath. I could not do it. They're fuzzy but they are taking you somewhere.  The track with the sharpest left turn is Flower Power. That guitar solo that almost sounds like a piano, just has you slowly ascending stairs in this angelic pace until out of the blue it suddenly pics up that aggressive pace. GOD'S DREAM has the rolling bass of Alex allow for the lead guitar to shimmer away in a sprint.
 I mean at first the slow guitar just sounds like they superimposed it at random. A completely separate track but slowly the two segments made sense to me. Their slow riding continues with Shut Your Eyes. You can almost hear them chant "shut your mother-fucking eyes" and you kinda want to. Their whisper male and female voices become part of what I anticipate from Ringo D.  They are from Texas,..Austin. I don't usually think of Ringo Deathstarr and shotguns in the same sentence....the same fucking thought.  They've toured Chile, Japan. The picture of Alex and the shotgun is brilliant! She looks like Bonnie......
  Last year when they were touring for God's Dream I decided to buy their shirt. I wanted to hear something on the way home. And the impressions of the live show rapidly obscure and warp. Writing it down even with the CD to take home and listen whenever is a bit like writing down a dream.  So forgive these late impressions. Oh here's something! Brian from Panda Riot has this camera that takes 3-D Matrix style pictures with film. Out of the blue he had me take pictures of RD as they perform. It felt great that they asked me to to this. I don't know how they came out but if I'm going to waste film....its mostly gonna be on Alex Gehring the bassist. She's fucking beautiful, what do y'all expect from me?! In the show Elliot's fuzzy hair only made it easier to gaze at Ms Alex.

It was great of Panda Riot, hmm for letting me have a go on that camera. These here are from my own. As I write I research about them and like them more in the process. I now only have GOD'S DREAM and Colour Trip. That leaves out a lot and I would like to collect all their music.
Zig