Some bands appear pissed off but you can tell that it's a charade; a cheap smokescreen concocted by the members to make you feel a certain anger or fall into line doing an angry dance. It feels like a lie and you can tell it doesn't come from the heart. You might feel cheated. With Oakland's DISPLEASURE, it feels real. They cast bad vibes a mile wide. It's uncomfortable. When I listen to them on headphones, it makes me feel like I can glare holes through the pointy fucking heads of the tech employees who populate my neighborhood and make it harder for everyone else here to live. Their music is dirty, fucked up, angry, desperate and punk as fuck. It sounds like waking up in the morning next to a pile of dog shit and not having anything in your fridge besides half of a flat 40, some broken glass and a cracked egg. This is one of the many reasons that it pains me to say that they have broken up.
All photos from DISPLEASURE's last show by me.
I saw them play in basements, warehouses and the store at Gilman Street. I even sang extra vocals with them once on an
AREA 51 song. I never saw them play a bad show. There's a lot to hate in this world these days and DISPLEASURE made me comfortable when I allowed myself to feel all of those feelings. It was therapeutic and cleansing.
At their last show singer, Emmalee passed out and read a eulogy of sorts for the band as they launched into the first song in a basement in Oakland, fittingly filled with hundreds of dead flowers. Twenty dizzying minutes later, it was all over and everyone yelled for them to not quit...ever. But it was too late, their guitarist, Nathan moved far away and the band went their separate ways. You're only left with this little tape (
and their first tape too), so get into it.
The eulogy
Crowd mourning and chanting/Nathan pouting
(E.R. had just ripped apart the flag with her teeth)
Thanks to DISPLEASURE for sending me their digital files of this recording.
No thanks to DISPLEASURE for breaking up.
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