POSTS OF APRIL 28 AND 29, MAY 10, 13, 18, 19 AND 20 2006
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So... where have you guys been? Playing mostly in Milwaukee, it seems, though I have confirmed information that at least a couple of you live in Chicago. Finally, West of Rome was back in town for a gig at this little place in the North Center neighborhood called the Horseshoe (not to be confused with the more famous Horseshoe in Toronto). The band sounded pretty tight, with a lot of new songs, some nice covers. Don't wait another year before the next gig. PHOTOS. During the set by tonight's opening act, American Minor, someone in the crowd yelled out, "Play some Skynyrd!" (This is one conert where such a request is only half-joking.) American Minor's singer replied, "We'll play some Skynyrd-inspired shit. That's what you're here for, right?" It was indeed -- although I think it's unfair to limit the description of the headlining band, the Drive-By Truckers, to Lynyrd Skynyrd-style Southern rock. The Truckers have made their influences obvious, but their catalog of original music is so rich with great songs that there's no reason to think of them as some novelty -- a band in the 21st century playing 1970s-style triple-guitar countrified Southern rock? Imagine that. American Minor was actually not all that Skynyrd-influenced, though '70s rock was the source of everything the opening act played. I heard a lot of Bad Company, and a friend remarked that they reminded him of Alice Cooper. It was pretty good for what it was, with some decent guitar playing and a few dramatic musical moments, but I thought American Minor wore thin after a while. Another band, like Wolfmother, that needs to expand its sound a little beyond the influences. The Drive-By Truckers, on the other hand, have taken similar influences and forged them into a sound all their own. They were in excellent form tonight, playing a lot of songs from their last few albums, and a few numbers from older records like Southern Rock Opera and Gangstabilly. As usual, Patterson Hood was the most animated guy of the bunch. That grin of his is infectious. He always looks like he is having the time of his life as he performs up there on the stage, and he has a bit of Southern preacher in him as he holds forth at the microphone. Jason Isbell and Mike Cooley are a little more reserved in their stage presence, but their songs are just as good as Hood's. Isbell's anthem "Outfit" got an especially strong response from the crowd. It was just another night for one of the world's great rock bands. SEE PHOTOS OF THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS. Thank the rock gods (or whoever your reigning deity may be) that Eleventh Dream Day has soldiered on for all these years. (It's hard to believe they've been together for 23 years now.) EDD concerts and albums only come once in a rare while, but they're always an event. And EDD shows always rank among my favorites of the year. Sure, they might not be doing anything that's considered especially groundbreaking or trendy in 2006, but their music almost seems like it went out of fashion then came back into fashion. To my ears, it fits in perfectly with a lot of the garage rock and punk revivalism going on these days. The songs from the new album, Zeroes and Ones, sounded great next to older EDD tunes. It's as good an album as they've ever done, and the track "Lately I've Been Thinking" is one of my favorite songs this year. Rick Rizzo was in fine form, pushing and pulling on the neck of his guitar as if he were struggling to keep it from writhing out of control. Janet Bean's drumming was tight when it needed to be, more chaotic when the music called for it. And Doug McComb was excellent as always on the bass. (Does this guy look like the prototypical bassist or what? He really looks like he is exerting himself as he works those strings.) The show got really great when keyboardist Mark Greenberg switched to bass and McCombs took up guitar. The group kicked into a fiery version of an oldie, "Testify," followed by "Lately I've Been Thinking" (on which Kiki Yablon of the opening act Red Eyed Legends joined in). The encore was a surprising cover of Joy Division's "Isolation" (which really did sound like an EDD song) and a song from the very first EDD record, Prairie School Freakout. (Sorry, my memory of song titles is failing me here...) SEE PHOTOS OF ELEVENTH DREAM DAY. READ MY INTERVIEW WITH ELEVENTH DREAM DAY FOR PIONEER PRESS. The opening act, Red Eyed Legends, was interesting, but I'm going to withhold judgment until I hear more. Sounded to me like another band mimicking Fall singer Mark E. Smith's vocals, with a bit of a garage-rock vibe. SEE PHOTOS OF RED EYED LEGENDS. Last year's cancellation of an Acid Mothers Temple at the Empty Bottle was a big disappointment. Since seeing this band back in 2002 at SXSW, I've been eager to see them again -- especially since I've become more familiar with their recordings (though I've just heard a fraction of their prodigious discography). So it was exciting to finally see AMT again. I'm not sure which version of the band this was (Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.? Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno?), or exactly what the differences are. This was a lean, mean version of the band, with just four guys making a ton of noise. There was some fabulous guitar soloing, and several cacophonic moments that brought "Instellar Overdrive"-era Pink Floyd to mind. Commenting in their broken English on being in Chicago, AMT offered up a couple of fun Chicago pieces of music -- a short version of Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4," followed later by a chorus of "Saturday in the Park" thrown into one song. And the encore? Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye," the White Sox anthem -- or some twisted version of the tune. The opening band, the Antarcticans, was a pretty good instrumental group. They sounded almost exactly as I'd imagined -- big glaciers of guitar riffs. SEE PHOTOS OF ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE. SEE PHOTOS OF THE ANTARCTICANS. SIGN PHOTOGRAPHED MAY 10, 2006,
This was one of those nights when you find yourself thinking, "Is this group playing in front of me at this little club the best rock band in the world?" The Wrens are certainly up there on the list of best live bands, and they were in fine, fine form tonight. Few other groups can build such a sense of drama as they go from quiet moments (a little flick on the guitar strings or the soft beat of a shaker) to rampaging rock. You can also sense the camaraderie and playfulness of these guys. Bassist/keyboardist/singer Kevin Whelan is a nutcase on stage, with a ton of reckless energy that includes jumping (or falling) into the crowd... When he came back onstage for the encore he leaped over the keyboard, hitting his foot on the keys with a clunk and then tumbled onto the floor. As he said, "If you want polish, go see a Maroon 5 concert." I'll stick with the Wrens, thank you. My top reason for coming to this show was the opportunity to see the Essex Green for the first time. Their new album, Cannibal Sea, is one of my favorites so far from 2006, and I'm just catching up now on their previous records, which are pretty nice, too. Such delightful '60s-style pop... Think Mamas and Papas, Petula Clark, Simon and Garfunkel, played with some of the spunk of garage rock but without the sloppiness or noise. I had a feeling, though, that one of the opening acts, Tapes 'n Tapes, might be the main reason this show was sold out. I've heard the name bandied about, but haven't gotten around to hearing their music until now. It all started with a pleasant surprise, the new Chicago band Brighton, MA (that's pronounced em-ay, not "Ma" or "Mass" or "Massachusetts"), which was started by Matthew Kerstein after he left Scotland Yard Gospel Choir last year. Let's hope we get two good bands out of that split. Brighton, MA played fairly catchy folk rock songs that built into noisy interludes -- with the guitars making carefully constructed waves of feedback, one guitarist running a loose guitar string across his instrument like a bow. Methinks these guys have been listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Kerstein sang an old SYGC tune, one of my favorites from that band's record of 2005, "Bet You Never Thought It Would Be Like This." I'm looking forward to hearing a record by Brighton, MA. So what's my first impression of Tapes 'n Tapes? Well, as is often the case when I see a band without having heard their recordings beforehand, I found it hard to judge how good the songs were. The performance was pretty strong, though. I heard some of the trendy variety of singing, the indie-rock yelp, some good moments of loud rock but also fairly interesting use of dynamics and odd musical textures. And a tuba solo. That's cool. I'm not sure yet I entirely understand what Tapes 'n Tapes is all about, but I'm curious enough to find out more... And sure enough, when Tapes 'n Tapes finished, some of the crowd cleared out, not bothering to stick around for the main act. Their loss! The Essex Green did not disappoint... Their songs were just as lovely in concert as they are on record, and a little more lively. It became clear how good those guitar solos are, for one thing. And I loved the combination of male and female vocals. The place was still reasonably crowded for the Essex Green even if some people had left, and it was cool seeing young people dancing and cheering enthusiastically for music that their parents could have enjoyed back in the '60s. SEE PHOTOS OF THE ESSEX GREEN.
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ALL CONTENTS © 2006 BY ROBERT
LOERZEL. PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR PERMISSION TO PUBLISH PHOTOS OR OTHER MATERIAL.
