The date was May 10th, 2025: a warm spring day in Philadelphia, and a damned hot night over at Bainbridge and 6th. Inside the Pageant Soloveev gallery an evening of music presented by Open Mouth Records was escalating fast. Sharing the bill were Strapping Fieldhands’ Jacy Webster (a rare live appearance!), living legend Roger Clark Miller (Mission of Burma 5eva!) and, right in the goddamn middle, Body/Head’s Bill Nace + Purling Hiss’ Mike Polizze faced off in a taishogoto/guitar duo for the very first time. Fortunately Mike had the presence of mind to press record on his phone just as they took the stage, allowing their encounter to transcend fallible human memory; now your ears will tell you all you need to remember. “Live at Pageant” boils up quick and persists, an apodictic essay of amplified free string playing.
Once plugged in, the two men are off to the races, with barely breath taken nor quarter given. Inspired into a state of mutual mutation, Bill + Mike take it to the limit, flying through phases of post-Brancan atonal fury and post-Hendrixian bluewailing, full on sprays of napalm and neon plus decibels. Both men’s mastery of tone and waveform on their instruments sprawl together mindfully, trading leads and sheets of electrified harmonics back and forth. It’s a dense clash of frequencies in converse, unfolding continuously for twenty-three minutes, the decibels bisecting and diffracting around the room and into the phone.
Crying, raging, droning, lunging, grunging up into an evil, screaming little ball — all the colors of the noise rainbow woven aloft, alive in the Philly night. This was only the beginning too. They’ve kept on a-giggin’, so be sure to leave some room for Bill Nace + Mike Polizze on your next list of fave stringed noisemakers.
