Big Night Out: The Hold Steady - Pearl Street - April 6

I’ve been listening to The Hold Steady for a few years now, and I always had a pretty clear picture in my head of what the singer would look like. Let me fill you in on how this came to be: the “I’ve been smoking cigarettes since I was in a crib” voice brought a bit of Tom Waits imagery, while the vibrant storytelling style made me think of a Bob Dylan/Bruce Springsteen hybrid. Add a dash of Johhny Rotten with all the allusions to partying and drugs in their lyrical landscape, and let your mental View-Master work out THAT rough-and-tumble fella.

So just imagine how blown my mind might have been when I first laid eyes on Craig Finn, the actual owner of that voice. The mashup we were looking for bore a closer resemblance to the possible love child of Elvis Costello and Pee Wee Herman. (And yes, I know how unlikely it seems that I had never seen a picture of the man on the intertubes, but I swear it’s true!) Preconceived notions and first impressions set aside, he’s one of the most visually enthralling leading men I’ve ever seen. With a shimmy and swagger dance style that brought him back and forth to the mic, he spit out the lyrics to some 23 songs during their 90 minute set.

And lest we forget, there was a whole band on stage with him…who went largely unintroduced over the course of the evening. So who are the Hold Steady players? Rounding out the rest of the original lineup, we have Tad Kubler on lead guitar, Galen Polivka on bass and Bobby Drake on drums. Joining them, we also saw fine additions in Dan Neustadt on keyboards (taking over for Franz Nicolay, who’s gone on to solo projects) and new guitarist Steve Selvidge (formerly of Lucero). Selvidge brings the guitar attack to a total of 2.5 (we can’t really count Craig Finn, considering his axe remains mainly ornamental, slung around his back for most of the set except for a few punctuating strums).

So, what can one expect for the highlights of a Hold Steady show? Well, you might very well see the rebirth of the great American rock’n’roll experience. The guitars are ferocious, both evoking a classic rock sound and creating a newly minted crunch of their own. And it’s not just background noise – there’s a craft to the six-string sound that makes you yearn for an old-fashioned spotlight solo. And when Kubler broke out a double-necked beauty during “Lord, I’m discouraged”…it’s almost like I was seeing Cheap Trick at Budokan (that’s a GOOD thing, for you young’ns). And for anyone who may have doubted that anyone could follow Franz’s keyboard work, Mr. Neustadt did just fine on “Stevie Nix”, adding his own nuances to a classic HS song. Making the evening even more intimate, Craig Finn stopped to tell us he had family in the audience, and that he’d been baptized in the beautiful (and sadly, now closed) St. Mary's church down the road. Overall, an extraordinary set, peppered with a handful of songs from the new disc (Heaven Is Whenever, due out May 4th). Thanks, guys - it was a great night out...

Set List

1. Hornets! Hornets!
2. Hurricane J (new)
3. The Swish
4. Magazines
5. The Weekenders (new)
6. Navy Sheets
7. Banging Camp
8. Massive Nights
9. Soft In The Center (new)
10. Chips Ahoy!
11. Constructive Summer
12. Multitude of Casualties
13. Rock Problems (new)
14. Lord, I’m Discouraged
15. You Can Make Him Like You
16. Stevie Nix
17. Hot Soft Light
18. Stuck Between Stations
19. Sequestered In Memphis
20. Slapped Actress

Encore Set

21. Barely Breathing (new)
22. Stay Positive
23. Your Little Hoodrat Friend

For more info on The Hold Steady, check out their web site. And if they're going to be in your area, GO SEE THEM!

Weekend Fun Time - Stone Coyotes, Treefort, Big Bad Bollocks and Nuggets Night

There’s so much good stuff going on this weekend, I hardly know where to start – so lets just jump right in:

Tonight (March 12th)

The Stone Coyotes – 9 p.m. at Burrito Rojo, Turners Falls, MA – Go early and have some of JD’s nice & spicy food and stay late for a glimpse of the first family of rock. If you haven’t seen this trio, then you’re in for a treat – the experience is a fine wedding of gritty American poetry and power chords. Barbara Keith’s work has been inspirational for decades, and working alongside her family in the Stone Coyotes – well, let’s just say that they’re one of western Mass’ greatest exports. And this is the only scheduled area show before they head down to their home away from home in Texas, so don’t miss it!

Saturday (March 13th)


The Big Bad Bollocks – 7 p.m. at The Iron Horse, Northampton, MA – These guys are also masters of poetry – though John Allen’s breed of rhyme is more akin to a drunken limerick. The trick here is not to try to match the band drink-for-drink – unless you WANT to pass out before the second set. On top of being their annual St. Paddy’s day show, it’s also The Bollocks' 20th anniversary – so expect some extra rowdy antics, kids…


Treefort – 10 p.m. at The Brass Cat, Easthampton, MA – You say you want shenanigans? I’m sure there will be plenty when our friends Treefort hit the stage. I’ve previously labeled them as self-deprecating rock with alt-country twang and some of the finest humor you could hope for. I stand by that statement and would add that they also put on one of the most fun live shows around. And maybe they’ve got news about the long-awaited release of their second album, Talking To The Dogs. Treefort only play a couple of shows a year now, so don’t miss this! (The Burns Brothers open the show at 10 p.m.)

Nuggets Night – 9 p.m. at The Rendezvous, Turners Falls, MA – What the frak is Nuggets night, you ask? Well, Nuggets refers to a brand of garage rock psychedelia that surfaced in the late ‘60s and has inspired generations of bands to continue the tradition. Some of the originals you may recognize would be along the likes of The Amboy Dukes or Strawberry Alarm Clock, and on Saturday we’ll witness some local legends pay tribute. Ray Mason, The Claudia Malibu and a slew of others will cover our favorite songs from yesteryear – and you can be sure we’ll see some fine vintage outfits for the shindig, too. Can you dig it?

The only problem now is finding a way to clone yourself for Saturday night to be able to make all of those shows. But hey, that's your problem now...

Come Play With Treefort - A Western Mass Cult Favorite

Have you ever gone to a show and felt like you were cheating on the headliner because you secretly liked the opener a little better? It happens, there’s nothing to be ashamed of - I’m guilty of it myself. A few years back at Harry’s/The Elevens (Northampton, MA) I went to a Fancy Trash show, and these Treefort guys were opening. It was self-deprecating rock, alt-country twang and some of the finest humor you could hope for. The next thing you knew, I was up and dancing (okay, bobbing my head, let’s not get too carried away here – everyone knows I’ve got no rhythm) and singing along with their call-and-response classic “Your Best Friend”. I bought the Girls Allowed CD after their set, and that was it – I was hooked.

Okay, so you’re a music whore, we get it. Who are these guys and why should we care? Wow, harsh. Slightly true, but still. These guys have been around since ’95, and if you’re from the Western Mass area you’ve probably seen their name on more than a few flyers. Paul Hansbury (vocals/guitar) founded the band with local legend Matt Hebert (Ware River Club, Haunt), who played drums at the time. They were joined by Mark Turcotte on bass and Bob Hennessy on lead guitar, and after Mr. Hebert left the band in ’99 he was replaced by Joe O’Rourke, drummer extraordinaire. And since then, aside from a number of fill-ins at various shows and some regular guests along the way (such as the vocal talent of Marcia Bergeron), that’s been the core foursome. As to why you should care – you may not believe it, kids, but Treefort actually put the “hoot” in “hootenanny” (if you don’t buy it, I bet I can put it up on Wikipedia, then you’d have to believe it. Right?).

So, Girls Allowed is their first disc – isn’t that the one with the gross can of baked beans on the cover? My girlfriend retches whenever she sees it in Turn It Up!, but should I give it a listen? Darn tootin’ you should. I’ll admit that, to some, Hansbury’s raw vocal style can be an acquired taste. But my best friend summed it up best when talking about another unusual crooner, this Bob Dylan fella: “You either get it or you don’t. I get it.” And once you open up to it, the album becomes a veritable playground of well-crafted songwriting (like “House”, increasing tempo with each verse, starting slow and bulding to a fevered pitch by the finale), self-deprecating wit (“Wimbledon” spells out how “My name will never be engraved upon the Stanley Cup/I’ll never figure out the pick and roll” but “I do come to play”) and absurdist humor (“Idi Amin Dada” tells the story of the Ugandan dictator from the viewpoint of his children: “Idi Amin was our Dada/Somebody gunned him down” and shares his cannibalistic diet tips: “Legs and arms and vegetables/Our meals all came complete”). Their mix of humor, emotion and deft musicianship spotlights the truly rare thing with this disc - that they’ve found the balance that most bands could only dream of. You see, most groups either thrive onstage OR on disc. It’s unusual to see a band as spirited as Treefort is live be able to carry that energy into the studio - but damn if they don’t pull it off. No overpolished, overly produced tripe - just a portrait of a band having fun.

Okay, okay - I’ll give it a go. Do they have any other discs I could check out? A second album called Talking To The Dogs is in the can, and everything I’ve heard from it so far has been equally entertaining. Early artwork from the disc features original paintings by Hansbury, and the cover art can actually be seen hanging in the background of the picture on the back of Girls Allowed. For more on the fate of the CD, I asked Paul Hansbury and Joe O’Rourke for some input:
Paul: Talking To The Dogs will arrive suddenly, without fanfare, and not on any scheduled campaign. When it is manufactured, it will likely contain many “label” links – but it will ultimately reside in boxes around my garage and cellar, as the first album does.
Joe: We recorded the disc back in ’04, but never released it. Maybe someday. We just love to get together and play – no one has any time to deal with releasing a disc. Sad but true.
Paul: And I live 100 miles away from Bob, Joe, Marcia and Mark now. Since 2004. When we manage to rehearse prior to a show, we usually are able to add a song or two – but often we must do the shows sans rehearsal. As long as we’ve been around, since ’95, we have never been about the typical rock band bullshit. As long as the other guys want to keep doing it, so will I.

Well, if they’re not putting out the new disc yet, how else can I make these guys prove themselves? Do you think they’d be up for some carnie-type test of their worth? Like fighting the wolf-faced boy in a cage match? Keep your pants on junior – how about we start with a live show? Yes, they don’t play as much as the old days now that they’re a bit geographically challenged – they alternate shows between the Basement (Northampton, MA) and the Brass Cat (Easthampton, MA). But you’re in luck, because they’re playing at the Basement this Friday night (December 12th) at 10 pm. If you’re from the area, the Basement is across the street from the Iron Horse and around back – in the old Table 9/Mulino’s building. Matt Hebert will play a solo opening set, then Treefort promises at least two sets and the possibility of a holiday classic. Come see the boys hang 20 years of sorrow and sarcasm on two guitars, bass, drums and “Look ma, no hands!” recklessness. Girls allowed.

For the most up-to-date info on Treefort, check out their MySpace page. And come show them some love on Friday night...

(A big thanks to Paul Hansbury and Joe O'Rourke for helping me put this together.)

No New Posts Since Turkey Day! Who's Writing This Thing?!

What the... this thing doesn't just write itself? Whoops...

No zombie invasion to blame my absence on this time. No aliens abducting me and probing my nethers either. So who's to blame? I'm gonna go with this kid:

It's true, kicking the undead's butt took a back seat to viewing cutie-patootie baby-types this week. I'm the pseudo-uncle (meaning I, as my parents like to say, am "living in sin" with the ACTUAL auntie) of this little bundle.

So I took another break, what, you wanna cry about it? I'll be back this week, and gearing up for the holidays to come. I've scheduled lists galore, plus we've got some fun local bands to talk about. First up will be Treefort, who just happen to be playing at The Basement in Northampton, MA on Friday night (the 12th).

So just keep your Lederhosen on a little longer, kids. We'll be back with new programming shortly...

The Felice Brothers: Iron Horse, Northampton, MA – Sept 5, 2008

Did you ever wonder what side of the line a certain family’s politics fall on? I mean, brotherly advice can range from: “Where did you find Jesus?” to “Where can I bury this hooker?” The Felice Brothers kinda walk a tightrope down the middle on that one. So who are these fellas? Well, just like the band name says, three members of the group are from the family Felice: Ian takes lead vocal duties (sounding a bit like Bob Dylan - but with more clarity) and plays guitar, James (Jimmy) plays the accordion and lends a hand on vocals, while Simone plays drums and fills out the vocal roster. (Of note: though Ian plays lead, all three look equally at home on the mic.) The brothers are accompanied by Christmas on bass and Farley on fiddle and washboard. They hail from the Catskills in New York, and their musical journey started by playing in New York City Subway stations. While they only have one major label release in the US (the self-titled Felice Brothers), they have an import album from the UK (Tonight At The Arizona) and a disc that they recorded themselves (reportedly in a chicken coop – what a perfect image – it’s called Adventures Of The Felice Brothers Vol. 1) that’s only available at the live shows. And that’s not counting their original indie debut, Through These Reins and Gone. So there’s no lack of material to choose from…

When I got in to the show, the whole downstairs had been opened up by removing all the tables – and it’s a good thing, because the place was jam-packed, even with the balcony open. When the guys took the stage, I thought how amazing it is that this unassuming looking bunch of characters can produce such a raucous sound. A lot of bands will wear their Sunday best to try to look “professional” – thankfully, this band isn’t in that pretentious crowd. T-shirts, plaids and jeans all around, thank you, with James wearing his trademark wide-brimmed hat. Scruffy and scraggly all, they were picture-perfect for this rowdy evening of Americana.

And right from the get-go, we got the feel for how these guys like to party when they gave the intro to “Ruby Mae” – “This one’s about the murder of a stripper in New York City” - a lovely ditty, punctuated by Simone’s pantomime of a cabaret dance while he stood atop his drum kit. This segued easily into “Where’d You Get The Liquor”, a song that proved to be one of the big three topics for the brothers Felice: booze, guns and Jesus – all three inspire a different sense of devotion, but these guys may be the only ones to squeeze them all together for one deliciously confusing evening.

During their 21-song set, the boys took us on a roller coaster ride. The boys regaled us with tales of sin like “Whiskey In My Whiskey” (sung by Jimmy and Simone) ending in a call-and-response kind of volley that left your head spinning like a good glass of Jack. Or perhaps you like your breed of sin to have a slightly more feminine allure? Well, “White Limousine” (a new song) might have the cure for that – it’s the tale of a lady who picked up the band after their bus had broken down in Ohio. In that white limo, she showed the guys how they put the “Sin in Cincinnati”.

Or maybe you were looking to hear some cover songs? No, these guys aren’t likely to break into a round of “Mony Mony” – but if you wanted to hear some songs about influenza or the Lord? They had you covered. Examples, you say? Well, their upbeat version of Elder Curry’s “Memphis Flu” almost had you wishing for hospital whites. “Saved” (an Elvis tune, also done by The Band) was one of the most animated songs – featuring a face-off between the washboard and drums while Ian danced side to side like a marionette with a drunken puppeteer. During “Lord, Send Me An Angel” (Blind Willie Mctell), there were the requisite band intros – and then the ladies in the crowd swooned as Simone went shirtless. Then the boys got a chuckle, too, as Simone kneeled in “prayer” by Ian, only to be knocked over by his brother – these fellas are true showmen.

Also of note during the set was another new tune called “Run Chicken Run”, and of course the “last song” was “Frankie’s Gun”, the huge radio single. Of course, last songs just lead to encores – which led to another four savory bits. At first, Ian came back solo for “Saint Stephen’s End”, but he was rejoined for “Two Hands”, a Townes Van Zandt tune. This may have been the pinnacle energy for the evening’s festivities, and Simone had appropriately introduced the song by saying we were in the Midnight Church Of Sin. At the fever pitch of the song, Ian was up on the drum kit kicking cymbals, Christmas was standing on one of the amps and Farley was clapping so hard that you really believed you might “dance through heaven’s door”. Hallelujah Brothers! And thank you for the best night out Northampton’s seen in a while!

For more info and tour dates, check out the band's MySpace page here and check out a great fan site called Hey Hey Revolver here.

For those of you looking for a full set list, here it is - thanks to the anonymous contributer for filling in song #11 for me:

1. Ruby Mae
2. Where’d You Get The Liquor?
3. Cypress Grove (by Skip James)
4. Whiskey In My Whiskey
5. Mercy/Christmas Song
6. White Limousine (Cincinnati Queen)
7. Her Eyes Dart Round
8. Memphis Flu (by Elder Curry)
9. Murder By Mistletoe
10. Saved (by Leiber & Stoller/Elvis/The Band)
11. Goddamn You, Jim
12. Run Chicken Run
13. Hey Hey Revolver
14. Radio Song
15. Lord, Send Me An Angel (by Blind Willie Mctell)
16. Helen Fry
17. Frankie’s Gun
Encore Set
18. Saint Stephen’s End
19. Two Hands (by Townes Van Zandt)
20. The Devil Is Real
21. Glory Glory (traditional)

Newport Folk Festival 2008 - Day 1, Part 2 (The Rains Came)

And now for the rest of the day – did I mention it was starting to sprinkle a little rain on the festivities during Steve Earle?…

3:00pm: Still at the Harbor Stage, waiting for my most anticipated band of the day, She & Him. If you don’t know who that is – first off, shame on you, but the “She” in the equation is super-cute indie movie sensation Zooey Deschanel while “Him” is alt-country hipster M. Ward. And if you haven’t HEARD them and you’re whining that “This is probably just another pampered Hollywood star needlessly indulging her musical fantasies!” – just shut up now, because theirs is one of the best collaborations/albums of the year. Deshanel’s soulful, delightfully off-kilter vocals mesh perfectly with Ward’s arrangements - a mix of music that is complex in its simplicity punctuated with endearing lyrical musings. Couldn’t have been more excited - so of course the skies had to open up right after they hit the stage. I’m not talking about a little rain, I’m talking about a hosing down rivaling wet t-shirt night, kids. But the show went on in the tent, with Deschanel in a sparkly yellow dress eventually covered by a polka dot poncho as we hit monsoon season. They were troopers, even when technical difficulties threatened – Ward had to abandon the acoustic guitar when it gave some (continuous) loud feedback, pulling a Newport classic and going electric. The highlights of the show? They played a good portion of the material from Volume One (their recent debut CD) during the 14-song set, with Deschanel occasionally playing keyboard. Their two singles were big hits, a rockin’ version of “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here” and their breakout song “This Is Not A Test”. Sandwiched between those two gems was “Magic Trick”, a song from M. Ward’s solo work, which also featured the talent of Jim James – the My Morning Jacket frontman who is up next on this stage. Two other songs of note: first, backup singer Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond) got lead vocal duties on her own song, “The Garden Rose”, and “Lingering Still” was the other non-solo-act non-album-track – very well received by the audience. They all took their bows after the finale of “Sweet Darlin’”, and Zooey graciously accepted flowers from a fan.

4:00pm: I now look like I’ve BEEN IN a wet t-shirt contest. No way to get under the tent, so we’ve been flat-backed against the fort wall, which has a slight overhang. Not MUCH shelter, but not AS drenched as other folks, so there’s that…

4:10pm: The aforementioned Jim James comes out. I’m not the biggest fan – I like the guitar work, I respect the man, I just don’t get the whole singing-in-a-tin-can vocal sound that he likes. But my girlfriend loves him, so I’m trying. At any rate, he came onstage with a little electric effects box (is there a more technical term – I’m sure, but you get the picture) that he rocked out with solo for the first few songs, later to be accompanied by M. Ward for a few songs (the two seem to travel in the same circles quite often, not just today – I saw Ward open for My Morning Jacket at the Webster Theatre in CT). The rain stopped partway through his set, so we decided to ring out our clothes and take a walk.

4:45pm: Got to the Waterside Stage and couldn’t hear anything at a distance. The Felice Brothers were supposed to be playing, and I was hoping they didn’t have to cancel them due to the rain. As we got closer, we could see the crowd and hear some singing and instruments – unplugged, how quaint, I thought (I also assumed that the tiny tent covering the sound storm probably wasn’t enough to shield it from the rain, and maybe fearing electrocution cut the power. I later learned that electricity had gone out due to the storm, and this was the only stage without backup power.). Trudged through the mud and puddles to get as close as we could, but the crowd was thickly massed around the band to hear better. It turns out that they had taken the act off the stage and into the audience to make things a little more personal. Their energy was astounding, and Ian Felice (lead vocals/guitar) was already starting to lose his voice from shouting. Oh, and he was down to four strings on his gee-tar, presumably lost to the frenetic first half of the show. James Felice, a bearded bear of a man, squeezed the accordion with flair, helping lend some backup voice to his brother. Simone Felice is the crazed drummer of the family, and he was encouraging the audience to sing and clap along, leaving his kit to maniacally roam the middle aisle in an attempt to bring the energy levels to a combustible level. On washboard and fiddle was Farley, joining in the raucous antics. When Ian asked for requests towards the end, it may have been a mistake – people were obviously shouting out things that were too difficult without a mic. They did the big crowd-pleaser, their first hit, “Frankie’s Gun”, and Ian got to take a break when everyone sang pretty much the whole song for him. James had everyone up and dancing with the band at one point shortly before the end, and prefacing the last song (which I think was a rousing rendition of a traditional tune, “Hallelujah (Lay My Burdens Down)”) Ian said it was their finale, then he was going to go die of throat cancer. Hopefully not, because I have GOT to see these guys again!

5:40pm: Went back to the Fort Stage to check on our soggy chairs and bags. Stephen & Damian Marley were still playing – much later than they were supposed to be, but everything on that stage was rain-delayed. They had the crowd up and dancing, but I confess I was preoccupied with drying out – although it was really fun to watch a bunch of older ladies playing the part of the dancing fools:)

6:00pm: The big finale, The Black Crowes. I love-Love-LOVE their studio music, but I confess I’ve been fairly disappointed seeing them live in the past (I’ve see them twice before). My previous experience was that they would noodle around on the guitar, extending each 3-4 minute studio song to a 10-15 minute opus. One of my bad experiences was a nearly two hour set consisting of seven songs. Yeeesh. Don’t get me wrong, I like some jam bands and guitar solos in general. But when you lose track of what song the band was playing out of sheer boredom, they’ve lost you. This set was almost the exact opposite – they came out with acoustic guitar for the first few songs, keeping it to the 3-4 minute limit. Good, I thought, maybe they’ve figured out the right stage formula. But it never really got any flavor to it, and I actually found myself wanting more electric guitar, god forbid. Chris Robinson has an amazing voice, but it just seems like they weren’t giving it an opportunity to shine. It sounded like there was a lot coming off the latest disc, Warpaint, like “Whoa Mule”. Although it’s a solid effort, it may be a bit on the slow side to showcase the band’s talents. I want to love every facet of these guys, but I just don’t get the live stuff…

All in all, a fantastic day – I just wish the rain hadn’t trapped us for so long. As usual, the most fun to be had was at the smaller stages, since they provide more intimate venues and have such great new talent - we've seen Old Crow Medicine Show, Hot Buttered Rum and Foghorn Stringband play the Waterside Stage in the past, and such an exciting way to be introduced to new music.

Coming up soon, I'm looking forward to seeing the Felice Brothers again, and as luck would have it they will be appearing at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA on Friday September 5th (for more info/tix go here). Hope to see you all there!

Overlooked and Under-Appreciated: Southern Culture On The Skids

This is the kickoff to this series about bands that just don’t get enough credit - and who better to start with than a band that splits their time between making you laugh and wowing you with tasty guitar while pelting you with fried chicken? That’s right, you may want to wear a bib at the live shows, kids. Soooooo…

“Baby, would you eat that there snack cracker in your special outfit for me please? OOOWWEE!”
Who-What, now? Southern Culture On The Skids (referred to as SCOTS by fans) is a band that writes songs about… well, let’s just say that the band name evokes the proper image. Hailing from North Carolina, they lovingly skewer trailer park life – hitting all the hot-button white trash topics, ranging from tales of kinky sex to carving critters for dinner. And they do it with style.

SCOTS was founded by Rick Miller (guitar, vocals, king of fried chix and hot licks), and talk about the perfect blend of childhood influences – as a kid, his time was split between spending time with his father in North Carolina (who ran a mobile-home factory) and his mom in Southern California (where he discovered surf and rockabilly). After an earlier incarnation of SCOTS disbanded, they settled into their current three-piece lineup in 1987 when Miller reformed with Mary Huff (bass, vocals, bouffant beauty queen) and Dave Hartman (drums, prime minister of Soul City) – both of whom grew up in Roanoke, VA. This lineup has been together since, pumping out eight studio albums, a live disc and a handful of EPs, all on a mix of labels – but they’ve been going steady with Yep Roc Records since 2004’s Mojo Box.

So, what do these guys sound like? They’re not a bunch of inbred hicks, right? Like you should be talking – everyone knows what you did behind the barn with your cousin Tammy in the 6th Grade.

No, these guys are a class act – granted, it’s a class full of clowns but that’s the beauty of SCOTS. They’ve taken this simple parody and turned it into a lifestyle. The sound? Imagine taking everything from garage rock, rockabilly, surf rock, country and blues, squeezing out the delicious nectar and feeding it to a rabid possum that knows how to do the Swamp Stomp. Yeah, it’s a little like that. (Add a dollop of punk attitude or the occasional horns for extra zest). And they found their niche early on – sex and food, baby, the best and greasiest of both.

Okay, Southern rock-y goodness with a twist of lemon. But with so many albums, what should I check out first?! Don’t soil yourself, junior, I’ve got some start-up ideas for you.

First off, you may want to check out Dirt Track Date (1996). This was their first major label release (of their two on Geffen Records), and you may have heard their one big single “Walk Like A Camel”, which gave them a modicum of national attention. The rest of the album featured a few tracks from previous indie releases, like the finger-lickin’ goodness of “Eight Piece Box” – which had already been on two discs. While the repeats were somewhat of a disappointment to longtime fans, this album was a great jumping-on point for new listeners. And the new songs, such as the insanely upbeat “Soul City” (where “It don’t matter if your pants are shiny/If your dick is big or your dick is tiny”), and “Fried Chicken and Gasoline” (their newer ode to food on the road) were poised to be classics.

The next (and final) Geffen release, Plastic Seat Sweat (1997), had one of my personal faves – “Banana Pudding”. Their steaming take on dessert makes you want to grab a partner and swing (and makes you worry a bit about what they’d do in a locked room with a big ol’ bowl of the stuff). And on the opposite end of the spectrum, tracks like their take on “House of Bamboo” evoke a ‘60s cocktail lounge, while “Carve That Possum” conjures up a recipe that you never knew you’d want to cook.

Their most recent disc, Countrypolitan Favorites (2007), shows off their versatility. The album is a collection of covers ranging from T. Rex to the Kinks and back round the bend to countrified classics like “Oh Lonesome Me”. This CD is much more subdued than most of their works, but the patented SCOTS distortion tweaks these songs in just the right way. Horror maven Stephen King even gave the album his seal of approval, listing it as one of his “Top 7 of ‘07” in his column for Entertainment Weekly.

So why aren’t these guys superstars? And I think I’m ready to get beaned off the noggin with a chicken wing – are they touring? As to the superstardom status – let’s blame it on ignorance of how phenomenal these guys (and gal) are together. A lot of folks dismiss them as a novelty act, but Miller’s guitar chops alone will make your jaw drop. As an entire band, they might just blow your mind - so spread the word!

As to the touring, trying to make them stop would be like trying to polish the stank off of a skunk – it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. And the fact that they’re not huge just means that you’re still able to see them in small clubs, thankfully. In fact, they’ll be at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA on Saturday, August 2nd (for more info/tix, go here). SCOTS will have you out of your seat and boogying, and they might even invite you on stage – last time I saw them, the drunk folks pulled from the audience couldn’t get the words right, so you might want to brush up on your “Camel Walk” lyrics!

For up-to-date info on SCOTS, go to their web site here. You can get more tour dates, fun merch and even a recipe for Chipmunk Fricassee – I kid you not.

Big Night Out: Rilo Kiley & Thao - Calvin Theatre, Northampton, MA – June 1

I wasn’t prepared to do a review for this show, but not sharing how fantabulous these bands are would be a disservice to you, the music listening community. And what I mean by this is that you should find a way to see either/both of these bands if they come to your area by any means necessary. What do I mean by that? Well, here’s how I’d rate the importance of seeing these bands: Low level of commitment – Stealing money from mom’s purse to get a ticket, Appropriate level – Willing to “borrow” a team of snow dogs to cross an icy tundra to see the show, Zealot level – Ready to punch the Pope for declaring the show sinful and blasphemous – and he woulda had it coming, too!

Who? – We started out with Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. I wrote about this band a while back, likening their first big single, “Bag of Hammers” to a Modest Mouse song. Well, this three-piece rocked my socks off throughout their 45-minute set, proving that they might very well be able to knock those Modest kids out in a musical cage match. To say that Thao herself was feisty would be like saying lava is “a little warm” – it looked like what might happen if a speed demon possessed the Energizer Bunny. There was hair flying, feet stamping and gyrations that threatened to make her guitar fly from around her neck and smash to bits. But they never missed a beat, even after her stage banter about the “Bullshit!” that are Dr. Scholl’s inserts – she fought through the foot pain and stamped those heels some more for the title track to We Brave Bee Stings And All (the song is actually titled “Swimming Pools”). The songs were all a bit more up-tempo than the album versions, but that just made for a better show – this trio produced more sound than most big bands ever could, and I started to worry that the headliner just wouldn’t measure up…

Nothing to worry about there! This particular big band wasn’t lacking in the ferocity department, either – they blew the doors off from the start with “The Moneymaker”, the huge single from their most recent album, Under The Blacklight. I was initially a bit hesitant about this band – fronted by two former child stars, Jenny Lewis (Troop Beverly Hills) and Blake Sennett (Boy Meets World)? Was it a gimmick? If so, it really frakkin’ works! Lewis’ sultry-yet-bombastic vocal style gives the songs a seductive vibe, while Sennett’s smartass comments and guitar chops show that this band doesn’t need any tricks. And the fact that most of the musicians on stage (5-6 people, depending on the song) could seamlessly switch instruments (Lewis herself played bass, guitar and keyboard) was that much more impressive.
But what might have made more of an impression was the amount of songs that I knew. Have you ever gone to a show thinking you weren’t going to know anything on the set list, only to be constantly saying: “Huh, I didn’t know they did THAT song…”? From radio hits and TV soundtrack songs like “Portions For Foxes” and “Silver Lining” to the creepily seductive “15”, there were sing-along-worthy moments throughout. And they craftily proved that when they let the audience sing an entire, rousing verse of “With Arms Outstretched”. All told, a helluva show – but with four studio albums under their belts, not to mention the EPs, they certainly leave you wanting more.

So what are you waiting for? Go to the bands’ tour pages and find out when they’re going to be coming to a spot near you! And don’t give me that “But gas prices are so high!” crap – if you were willing to punch the Pope, siphoning gas from some asshole with a Camaro shouldn’t be a problem for you…