Electric Python Layeth a Yuletide Smackdown on The Basement

Hard rock and Christmas haven’t always had the most harmonious of relationships. Sure, there have been holiday tracks by the likes of the Ramones, AC/DC, The Damned and Slade. There was even a fantastic 2008 version of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” by Lemmy Kilmister, Billy Gibbons and Dave Grohl. But often, the blending of Yuletide traditions and monster riffs leaves a lot to be desired, smelling suspiciously like a cash grab that’s destined for the discount bin. And since it’s the season of hope and cheer, we’ll just leave the Trans-Siberian Orchestra out of this discussion.

But all denim-vested heshers aren’t totally immune to the spirit of a joyous Noel. Thursday night, I stopped by The Basement to join up with a crowd whose letters to Santa are likely to include original pressings of Hawkwind LPs, long-sleeve Sleep T-shirts and a vintage Graffix bong.

Electric Python’s annual holiday party celebrates the European folk-villain Krampus with downtuned riffs and volume knobs that go to 11. Krampus has recently gained a following in America as the anti-Santa, but if you’re still not familiar, he’s part of Christmas traditions that began in the Alps. While St. Nicholas treats the good children, Krampus punishes the naughty ones — beating them with rods, or perhaps making a meal of them, depending on the version you hear. With features like goat horns and cloven hooves, Krampus has an unmistakably heavy-metal appearance, even though he predates Ozzy Osbourne by at least 400 years. 

I got my first punishment swat from the Krampus stalking around Thursday’s show before I even got my ID out for the door guy. The mythical punisher stood just outside the venue door, waiting to give patrons a good thwack with a branch, just in case they were considering acting a fool. Cozying up to the wall near the sound board, I prepared myself for power trio MAANTA RAAY. The band is the most recent project featuring veteran riff-rocker Chet Weise. Currently the editor at Third Man Books, the onetime poetry professor has been playing loud rock ’n’ roll guitar for three decades with bands like the Quadrajets, The Immortal Lee County Killers, Ultras S/C and Kings of the Fucking Sea. 

With My Wall’s Carlos Ortiz on drums and recent addition Mason Hadley holding down the low end, MAANTA RAAY pairs up heavy blues chords with extended guitar solos and sparse vocals. When Weise does approach the mic, his singing shows that he’s pushed himself into new territory since the launch of KOTFS. MAANTA RAAY has been in the studio at Battle Tapes, so be on the lookout for their powerhouse intergalactic boogie to arrive on wax sometime in 2024.

While showmanship isn’t always welcomed by fans of underground music, Electric Python’s Jeff Hime never shies away from showing the audience a good time. The guitar slinger spends his days at Hime Amplification, building and repairing amps for rock stars and some of country’s best-loved side players. But when the sun is down, he’ll don snakeskin cowboy boots and his own band’s backpatch for some industrial-strength mayhem. 

Standing in front of a backdrop bearing the same Electric Python logo on his back, Hime called his rock machine to order. Surrounded by bassman Bingham Barnes (Glossary, Jasmin Kaset), shredder Dillon Smith (Faster Is Faster, Fetching Pails) on a second ax and Chris Fox (Asschapel) on drums, Hime served as the gravitational force at the center of their fuzzed-out blues riffage. The stoner-rock foursome draws on heavy music that made it to FM radio in the ’70s, like AC/DC and ZZ Top, dragging the sound through the crunchy debris left by ’90s groups like Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu, resulting in a concoction that’ll wallop you like a hit from a well-packed bong. The band’s veteran rhythm section gives Smith and Hime space to have tasteful fretboard duels that bring to mind the prime of Wishbone Ash or UFO. I spotted Mike Grimes — musician and co-owner of the two Basement venues as well as much-loved record store Grimey’s — fist-pumping and headbanging, while Krampus continued the limb-lashings throughout the crowd.

Electric Python’s lyrical content parties just as hard, as Hime hollers about his love of stuff like rocking hard and slamming cans of White Claw. Ever the jokester, Hime kept the crowd chuckling between songs with his impression of Ozzy’s ’80s stage banter. But the levity and humor of Electric Python is only good because the songs are actually great — it takes premium sativa metal to make goofs like this hit home. Would the relatable send-ups of holy text This Is Spinal Tap resonate as much if even the dumbest songs in the fictitious band’s catalog didn’t kick a fair bit of ass and play off of something smart?

Now that their lineup is solidified, the Python crew is working on a new record. Their dissonant October single “My Next Crime” — which is on streaming platforms as well as Weedian’s recent Trip to Tennessee compilation of Volunteer State heavy rockers — sounds even more gargantuan live. “Speed Demon,” their next single, will be streaming on all the usual suspects before the end of the year, and fans got a nasty teaser of it near the end of the set. The band put a cap on the evening by playing a request, the titular song from their 2020 LP Into the Night. While I settled my tab, Krampus appeared and gave me one more spanking, which I took as my cue to wander off into the night myself.