Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Ramones of post-rock

Jazzy Tortoise takes The Catastrophist to Belly Up on Tuesday

Chicago post-rock band Tortoise, touring behind this year’s Catastrophist record, plays Belly Up on Tuesday night.
Chicago post-rock band Tortoise, touring behind this year’s Catastrophist record, plays Belly Up on Tuesday night.

Jeff Parker officially joined Tortoise on January 1, 1997. He had been playing in an unofficial capacity with the band for some time before that. He sat in during hometown gigs in their native Chicago clubs and lent some of his guitar skills to the first two Tortoise albums before he became a card-carrying member.

Video:

"Rock On"

...off of <em>The Catastrophist</em> by Tortoise

...off of The Catastrophist by Tortoise

“I loved what they did, and I was very respectful of it,” Parker explained to the Reader. “I don’t think they really knew what they were doing. I was coming from more of a jazz background, but I was looking to do something different musically. Their band was pursuing the same thing as a side-project from all the guitar-based bands that everyone was playing in. I think we all were surfing for new things, and they knew that I would fit in.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Tortoise is (primarily) an instrumental band whose main asset seems to be experimentation. Even though they are most often cited as being “post-rock,” they have made a career out of being pretty impossible to pigeonhole into a specific musical genre or scene. As a result, a Tortoise gig can turn into a melding of diverse musical minds.

“People will like us who are closer to hip-hop and beats because of our production and rhythm. There are people who like us because of the jazz association and influences. There are people who like it because of the experimental/avant garde sensibilities that we have. There are people who dig us because they’re just into indie rock. There are people who like it because some stuff we do sounds like Frank Zappa. It’s pretty all over the place,” Parker said.

Past Event

Tortoise

  • Tuesday, May 3, 2016, 8 p.m.
  • Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach
  • 21+

Perhaps most surprising from the experimental standpoint is how regimented the output of Tortoise actually is. This isn’t an experimental noise act or a jam-band with 30-minute solo odysseys. Tortoise’s songs are rooted in concise execution.

“People are under the impression that Tortoise improvises, but we don’t. At all,” Parker explained. “I might take a solo here or there, but pretty rarely. It’s usually us just playing these songs, just like any other rock band. Everything is pretty strict with adherence to these structures. In that way, we’re not any different from the Ramones.”

Parker calls Los Angeles home now but stays in close contact with his Tortoise bandmates. These days, the group only springs into action when gigs are scheduled or a new album is on the horizon. “Time just flies now. We’ve got kids and families — you lose track of how fast time goes,” Parker said.

The album that will temporarily tear them away from their loved ones is called The Catastrophist, and even though Parker recalls the band playing most often locally at the Casbah, this year’s tour stop will be at the Belly Up (Tuesday, May 3).

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Conservatives cry, “Turnabout is fair gay!”

Will Three See Eight’s Fate?
Chicago post-rock band Tortoise, touring behind this year’s Catastrophist record, plays Belly Up on Tuesday night.
Chicago post-rock band Tortoise, touring behind this year’s Catastrophist record, plays Belly Up on Tuesday night.

Jeff Parker officially joined Tortoise on January 1, 1997. He had been playing in an unofficial capacity with the band for some time before that. He sat in during hometown gigs in their native Chicago clubs and lent some of his guitar skills to the first two Tortoise albums before he became a card-carrying member.

Video:

"Rock On"

...off of <em>The Catastrophist</em> by Tortoise

...off of The Catastrophist by Tortoise

“I loved what they did, and I was very respectful of it,” Parker explained to the Reader. “I don’t think they really knew what they were doing. I was coming from more of a jazz background, but I was looking to do something different musically. Their band was pursuing the same thing as a side-project from all the guitar-based bands that everyone was playing in. I think we all were surfing for new things, and they knew that I would fit in.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Tortoise is (primarily) an instrumental band whose main asset seems to be experimentation. Even though they are most often cited as being “post-rock,” they have made a career out of being pretty impossible to pigeonhole into a specific musical genre or scene. As a result, a Tortoise gig can turn into a melding of diverse musical minds.

“People will like us who are closer to hip-hop and beats because of our production and rhythm. There are people who like us because of the jazz association and influences. There are people who like it because of the experimental/avant garde sensibilities that we have. There are people who dig us because they’re just into indie rock. There are people who like it because some stuff we do sounds like Frank Zappa. It’s pretty all over the place,” Parker said.

Past Event

Tortoise

  • Tuesday, May 3, 2016, 8 p.m.
  • Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach
  • 21+

Perhaps most surprising from the experimental standpoint is how regimented the output of Tortoise actually is. This isn’t an experimental noise act or a jam-band with 30-minute solo odysseys. Tortoise’s songs are rooted in concise execution.

“People are under the impression that Tortoise improvises, but we don’t. At all,” Parker explained. “I might take a solo here or there, but pretty rarely. It’s usually us just playing these songs, just like any other rock band. Everything is pretty strict with adherence to these structures. In that way, we’re not any different from the Ramones.”

Parker calls Los Angeles home now but stays in close contact with his Tortoise bandmates. These days, the group only springs into action when gigs are scheduled or a new album is on the horizon. “Time just flies now. We’ve got kids and families — you lose track of how fast time goes,” Parker said.

The album that will temporarily tear them away from their loved ones is called The Catastrophist, and even though Parker recalls the band playing most often locally at the Casbah, this year’s tour stop will be at the Belly Up (Tuesday, May 3).

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Domestic disturbance at the home of Mayor Gloria and partner

Home Sweet Homeless?
Next Article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader