Godspeed You! Black Emperor appeared out of nowhere to Europeans at the end of the last century with their multi-guitar, violin, cello and two drum-kit ensemble playing a beautiful droney wall of sound but ultimately epic and inspirational instrumental rock music beneath a background of grainy, black and white super-8 films. Post-rock was in it’s heyday and GYBE were lumped in with it although I’m sure it didn’t bother them much.
The end of the 90′s were a time when people remembered they had a voice and anti-capitalist protests were on the rise, mostly attended by the misguided of the rebel-without-a-clue school who thought that smashing a few windows would solve everyone’s problems. At least it felt like something was happening and there was a soundtrack to it too provided by the defiant widescreen sounds of Godspeed… and Mogwai to mention a few. Yeah, I remember thinking that playing Godspeed’s first album over and over really loudly was really sticking it to the man. Ah, naivety, you can’t beat it.
In reality Godspeed You! Black Emperor are a bunch of doers and movers. These guys weren’t sitting around complaining about things being crap, they made their own fun and created their identity. In the now famous Hotel2Tango in Montreal, they and many other musicians and artists created a community where creativity, music and artistic support were the order of the day. The bands played, films were projected on the background, artists created and flourished. Godspeed always to the forefront, they and their defiant sound typified the DIY nature of it all.
Records were made and eventually Constellation Records was formed in 1997 releasing groundbreaking albums by Godspeed, A Silver Mt Zion and my favourites Do Make Say Think. Other bands, too many to mention, joined ranks and have made Constellation into a regular success story; from it’s handmade record covers and do it yourself attitude, they now command utmost respect in the music world and have added some major, non-Canadian names to their roster. But the record covers still include handmade stuff by the way, they’ll never change.
Neither will Godspeed…, making this show a welcome return to Berlin for a band whose influence can be heard in countless copycat bands today who should leave it to the experts. I suppose after a long break away they felt like it was time to remind us how great they are. Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Video for Storm from GYBE’s Lift your skinny fists like antennae to heaven.
