Some bands are together longer than what might be best for them. Though it isn't always a horrible thing when they do. Bettie Serveert – a Dutch indie-pop-rock band fronted by a cute Canadian chick who defies all age – are one of my favoritest bands and it's always a pleasure to see them when they play in town (though I had to miss them the last time they played, three years ago). If there's any recognition of them at all it's from the early '90s when they were signed to Matador, when that label was coming up with Liz Phair and Guided By Voices and such. They were never the marquee band on the label but people seemed to know them and they toured like crazy, getting a lot of recognition as openers. They turned in some amazing albums, ones that are enough to propel them to some kind of success even today. But it was after that heyday that they released Dust Bunnies (still one of my all-time favorite albums) and they got dropped by Matador and it seemed like they've been downhill since. Switching from small-label to smaller-label is never great and it doesn't hurt that the band has always had a goofy name (no, they're a band, no one is called "Bettie", and the name comes from a Dutch translation of a tennis term). They've still made fantastic albums, including the should-have-been classic Log 22, but they've gained no traction for such great music. Maybe whoever controls what music gets popular already wrote them off and they've never been able to recover, no matter how great their music is and how they've held together as a band (though they're only now just starting to look their ages). As it is now, they keep playing smaller venues; I skipped going to a show they did at the Palace in '92 and the last time I saw them was at the Troubadour – I didn't think they'd get smaller than that but then their last L.A. show was at Spaceland, as well as this one, and you can't get tinier than that unless you're playing my living room. At this show there were fliers for a show they were doing the next night, at Rock n' Roll Pizza, where surely they were relegated to being just some band in the background while people are more concerned about eating bad food. They steadfastly stay together, still making music and touring like they never left their heyday. They may not be gaining fans because they're not more popular and they may be playing the smallest places possible but they're still great, as it turns out. All of their albums have some immediately catchy moments but to really get them they have to grow on you, their newest, Pharmacy of Love, being no exception. Live, they're always a great, energetic, gracious, rock-out band. At this show the first few songs had a really wonky sound-mix, with the vocals too low after the first song (though Carol has the confidence to sing opener “Palomine” like she always has, which she has) but you can't blame that for the place not being able to contain guitars and drums that are better fit for a bigger venue. The band is always appreciative of whoever comes out to see them, which in this case was probably less than 100 people. I would have paid more than $13.02 to see them play a bigger place, which they deserve. A band that's been around for almost 20 years, and with nine terrific albums to their name, also need longer than a measly hour (and two songs for an encore, which, predictably, came off of Palomine), but they did a nice survey of their new album and a bit off the other albums (though, unfortunately, not a thing from Lamprey. They did a cover of a song from what I thought they said was a band called Mossy, though I couldn't find the lyrics, and their last song ground into something that was a lot like "I Wanna Be Your Dog" but with Carol hollering at the top of her lungs and the band tearing into some gnarly material). They do what they can. And there's always hope that they'll beat some kind of odds and one of their songs will get picked up for something mass-market and the world can discover them again for the first time. If they broke up now they'd be even more forgotten than they are now so it's a pleasure to see them still giving it their all and making music and playing shows like they're a big band on an impressive trajectory. The Fling opened and I didn't see them.
This show, the first of five in seven days for me (or six in 10 days or eight in one month (if you count the GBV show), I did alone. I wasn't going to miss it though I couldn't get anyone to come out even for the price of two beers. Oh well. They, like many, missed it and hopefully they'll come to regret it. Bettie Serveert's set-list:
“Palomine”
“Love Lee”
“Don't Touch That Dial”
“Deny All”
“Log 22”
“Private Suit”
“Semaphore”
cover by Mossy?
“Geek”
“Tomboy”
“White Dogs”
“Calling”
“Ballentine”
"Kid's Allright"
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