Wino Wednesday: Spirit Caravan, “Be the Night” at Vultures of Volume II
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 9th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I wish I could say this was planned out, but the simple truth is that until last Friday I had no idea how Wino Wednesday would end. Spirit Caravan — guitarist/vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich, bassist/vocalist Dave Sherman and drummer Ed Gulli — sort of quietly announced they would be playing new material at Vultures of Volume II, and it was just my luck that Project Nod Zine was on hand recording the show and twice-over my luck that they kindly gave me permission to host the video of said new material. The song is called “Be the Night,” and if their announcement of its existence was subtle, so was the way in which they actually went about delivering it.
No fanfare, no notice, no, “Hey, this is the first new song this band has written in more than a decade.” They played it first, sped through its two-minute course at top speed almost as an intro to the rest of their set, and never mentioned it again. That was it. I’m not even sure most people knew what they were watching while it was being played. In fact, the lack of a big deal being made was so fervent that I’ve spent the last couple days trying to see if I could find them having done the song sometime before — in case I’m wrong and it’s not really new. Somehow, that would also make sense as a way to end the feature. Well, I can’t account for when it might have first been written, but there doesn’t seem to be any other performance before this past Friday in Hagerstown, MD (review here). If I am wrong, I hope someone will point it out.
Otherwise, it seems only too fitting to end this feature at number 200 with new material, since if we’ve learned anything over the four-year span since Wino Wednesday started in Aug. 2011 with the Premonition 13 video for “Le Hechicera de la Jeringa,” it’s that the man is positively relentless. Shows, bands, reunions, splits, collaborations, solo outings, we’ve explored a decades-long career that has left an indelible mark on the scope of American doom, and we close out with the reinforcement that, as much as he’s done, he’s not done yet. Couldn’t be more perfect if I’d planned it — which, again, I didn’t.
When and if I get news of a new Spirit Caravan or any other Wino-related release, I’ll let you know. And I’m not going to say this is the last Wino Wednesday I’ll ever do, because who knows what time, boredom and awesome show-tapers might bring, but as a weekly regular feature, at least for now, that’s a wrap. Thanks to everyone who’s liked, commented, shared, or taken the time to read any of it along the way.
Enjoy “Be the Night,” visit Project Nod Zine on YouTube here and Thee Facebooks here, and have a great Wino Wednesday:
