Lightning Bolt Blows Fuses at 285 Kent

Brian Chippendale, of Lightning Bolt. 285 Kent

It was a bit after midnight last Thursday when Brian Chippendale made the first strike upon his (presumably worn-in) drum kit. It was sitting on the elevated stage inside 285 Kent, several feet above the standing audience.

That may have been noticeably high for those familiar with the legacy of Lightning Bolt, Chippendale’s notoriously noisy union with bassist Brian Gibson. Since the beginning—in Providence, RI during the mid-nineties, and by 1999 with the first of a handful of records on local experimental label Load—Lightning Bolt’s reputation has been rooted to sonic belligerence and wild-eyed performances that eschew the stage for the floor, where the duo is usually surrounded by its audience.

If there were gripes amongst the acolytes hoping to rub (or throw) elbows with the musicians, they were inaudible during this exhibition of sinewy megalomania.