#30 Alamo Race Track

In 30th Take Away Show the Dutch group Alamo Race Track risk their lives for us in the streets of Paris last fall. Nothing more.

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Rarely have I done a video in such a makeshift way that, on the verge of rupturing and giving up, I tell myself that I’m doing something completely random and purposeless. It’s not that the guys from Alamo Race Track are the difficult or impolite kind-they’re actually some of the best kind: charming and up for anything. The problem was more the total lack of preparation, poor execution, an uncontrolled camera, bustling Dutch journalists all about-the Alamo is relatively popular in the Nederlands, especially being on the parisian label Fargo, but their sound echoes something American.

But it’s an imagined America, seen at times from far off, remodeled and reinvented. The four guys, who actually come from Amsterdam, create a classy and tight rock sound brimming with references (Radiohead, XTC, Joy Division, Television, etc...). Such references are however, assimilated and regurgitated with enormous success and affect-especially the superb arrangements, which give each piece a certain depth. This is particularly evident on their second album, which was released last October, entitled Black Cat John Brown. Far more accomplished than their first album, Birds at Home, this recent record will reside, in my opinion, as one of the 3 or 4 best rock albums of 2006.

For this video I made, the magnificent pop loyal Pablo Nicomedes accompany me. Mr. Nicomedes is the founder of the project Big Purple Van Club, which we’ll talk more about later.

We began at the Kiss Me Bar, not far from Moulin Rouge, with a song accordingly entitled Kiss Me Bar. That whole neighborhood is full of hangouts all more rotten and fascinating than the next. The Alamo had to hang out for a while around, and with a bar name so peculiar, the moment is unforgettable.

Unfortunately the bar was closed, so the foreseen ode would have to be performed outside. But there was plenty of noise and people all about so we headed back toward Montmartre to Alamo Race Track’s hotel room-quite a foul establishment, with repulsive décor and rotting curtains throughout. But in the end, we managed as the band formed more or less a circle, leaving me enough room to film around them. I really love circles-we have a whole series of circle moments in the Take Away Shows and they’re the times that I always prefer to film.

The version in this video of ‘The Northern Territory’, one of the gems from the new album, is one of the most compelling things I heard in 2006-its length and its continual ascent into something more powerful, the voices that support and work off each other. More importantly to have had the chance to be in the middle of all that sound, to circle around it, to let myself rise up and abound with them, go crazy without worrying about filming for a couple minutes, shut my eyes and let go. Truly explosive, a fortunate moment that remains irreplaceable.

In a hurry we quickly left the hotel room and happened upon the Théâtre de l’Atelier (beautiful spot spoiled by a shitty theater program) mounting one of its marquees a la New York. All danger in mind, it’s pretty obvious that they started to play in such a way that I forgot all the potential risks. Three quarters into the sensational version of Black Cat John Brown (title track from the album) an employee from the theatre, as disagreeable as possible, came to break it up and lay into us, freaking out because his building would crumble and didn’t deserve Ralph and his friends’ boisterous behavior. Needless to say, the song didn’t reach its end. But facts are facts: Alamo Race Track had just risked their lives, despite having no booboos, and as they descended from their perch, its was obvious that, from then on out, nothing would slow their dazzling ascent.