By M. De Santiago

photos by Melody Parra

photo gallery by Apples

Times New Viking are a lo-fi rock trio who are reliantly amazing live. The group performed last Wednesday night at the Black Market located on Robinson St.

TNV has played in El Paso before, but their performance on Wednesday showed signs of a group that is maturing and polishing up their style but have managed to retain their initial sound, that power garage distorted sludge that kids all over have come to love.

Your ears become engulfed by the fuzz, pop and crackle of their hi-decibel playing. TNV is able to rock out the nuances of very familiar sounding punk, rock and roll and surfer stylings and ably twists these styles into joyfully psyched out 2 minute capsules with a booming mono sound that old school bubble gum pop producers were chasing after.

Rather than try to make a single to appeal to the masses, they are keeping alive a certain organic aesthetic that’s quickly dying in the electronic age. Unlike other bands, TNV WANTS their recordings to sound thick as syrup, tape hiss and all. These guys are known to favor recording tracks on various types of tape (cassette, reel to reel, vhs) to catch that warm texture, which at times can be a bit too distorted for the casual listener. But to those who believe in the simplicity of the old values of rock and roll music, noise that stuffy parents will hate, it’s good stuff.

Their albums and the tracks contained on them are gems, and in a live setting the songs come alive with a roar that can only come from live playing. You hear the subtle flourishes and melodies that you can not discern on your speakers. For example, songs from their latest effort, “Born Again Revisited,” have a stronger bite and showcase their evolution as a band.

Their guitarist, Jared Phillips, is a shameless riffster (loud as fuck too), who is understated and soon to become one of those great underrated guitarists. His sheer volume brings to mind the young mod, Pete Townshend, with his attention-demanding power chords. Its not just the big muff pedal that makes his sound, this guy plays wickedly simple variations on a chord and he rarely lets his lead guitarist chops show, but when he does, those frantic couple of hi-notes change your perception of this minimal group.

On most TNV songs, you’re lucky if you find more than three chords and that’s pushing it. But in rock, in the paraphrased words of Keith Richards… without a riff there is no song. Phillips is a very important component of the band and one of the best examples of a rock guitarist out there today.

The rest of TNV are just as amazing, drummer Adam Elliott plays like a guy with hands on fire. He is boldly quick and to the point on his parts and his fills just happen in the blink of an eye, like the way they should sound in rock and roll music. Elliot shares vocal duties (crazy psyche harmonizing) w/ keyboardist Beth Murphy, who adds colorful flourishes to the songs and the tinges of 60’s psychedelia, only played at maximum volume w/ rapid little fingers.

These guys have become like a recipe, for a TNV to exist, you need all the necessary ingredients… a dash of Phillips, two cups of Elliot and a generous sprinkling of Murphy make for the coolest band on the scene.

Times New Viking is a great band to experience. You can catch them multiple times and never get bored with them. They ended their performance with the tune, “Hate Hate Hate,” which comes off their last ep, ‘Stay Awake.’ I will never get over how the tune is only seconds long, but it gets you going and is catchy as fuck, which to me, reflects their approach to music…–Their performances and tunes just happen so quick, but you’ll still be left satisfied in the end.