"Everyone gets all wet and sweaty. And I wouldn't be surprised if there was, like, fake blood sometimes," said the enlightened man, to the man who didn't yet know Wilson.
To truly "know" Wilson is to be forever trapped in that moment at the height of the night—where all of the greatest and worst decisions are made. Skinny legs in ripped jeans are eternally hoisted above expertly tapped kegs. Pretty little things in fishnets are bound, in perpetuity, by the 40-ounce bottles affixed to their hands, and the volume...oh my Devil, the volume! This is the Wilson "pure being." Although this state of being is far from what the Dalai Lama might call "pure," I am positive that dude has never licked PBR off of slippery skin. Until he does, the definition of purity remains relative.
Wilson has shared the stage with some of the world's most acclaimed metal bands—Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, and Between the Buried and Me—just to name a few. But when I spoke to Chad Nicefield, Wilson's brutally gregarious front man, I wasn't merely speaking to a man of metal. I was speaking to a man of music, a man of community and an experienced Sherpa for the vision quests of the belligerent.
"I want to play those shows with the 14 kids in purple pants and Hot Topic jewelry the same way I want to play the show with the old dudes in the back wearing Anvil t-shirts and toasting to the old days," Nicefield says. "I am stoked that we have been able to play so many great metal shows, but if we can find a way to turn the heads of the people who love Jesus Lizard, my boner would shine more brightly than it's already shining."
The boys are fresh off a Canadian tour that had them marching in a protest against college tuition hikes in Montreal. "We had just pulled up to the show, and all of a sudden 15,000 people flooded the streets," Nicefield says. "Within minutes, [drummer Matt] Puhy was in the middle of a circle of people, chanting and banging on a cowbell." The next night in Toronto, a heckler grabbed the mic from Nicefield. "He started calling me a 'bearded douchebag' and babbling," Nicefield says. "Then, all of a sudden, out of the rock and roll shadows, came Dan [Gillies] from the Meatmen, and totally Vulcan nerve-pinched this weird drunk nerd right to his knees."
This is the type of universe that surrounds the men of Wilson, and it will be brought back home for us to start our summer with a fucking party. Beware the magnetism of this universe; it's not for the faint of heart. Buy a new cover for your iPhone. Get some croakies for your glasses. Tell your girlfriend to get on the dance floor or GTFO, because we aren't leaving till the walls of the Pike Room sweat. | RDW
WILSON with All's Quiet, Act As One, Tharsis They and Quicksand Swimclub • 6/1, 7:30 p.m. • Pike Room • 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac • thecrofoot.com • All ages • $8
© 2013
Real Detroit Weekly, LLC | 615 S. Washington Ave (2nd Floor), Royal Oak, MI 48067
| 
Website powered by Foundation
