Jul 14
guaranteed, this band is quintessential garage rock, the definition of it – but their live show was kind of horrifying – really old men using the same-old ‘we’re-so-crazy’ rock star antics they’ve used for probably some 30-40 years now – one guy looked to have the same haircut he had in the 70s – jumping on the rails and running into the crowd is best pulled off by 20-somethings
May 28
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Punk No Comments
[Nashville, TN] I liked this band, partly because I am a sucker for female bands (there was one guy (on bass?)) – so I kept thinking that they were a mix between riot girrrl music (Babes in Toyland) and retro-garage stuff like the Donnas but finally came to the conclusion that they were basically a total ripoff of The Runaways – the girls, very young, were in high-waisted shorts and ugly 80s ankle-boots – take note, little hipsters
May 08
Country, Garage Rock, Punk No Comments
[?] I am a fat sucker for this band despite their silly rockstar posturing – they act like pretentious partiers and play like rockers and it works – it’s the over-the-top tongue-in-cheekness of it that makes it hilarious and then suddenly I’m kind of believing it – even falling for the sexy LA sunglasses at night – plus, like other long-playing bands, they’re just so fast and professional and… tight (I don’t know another word for it) – they totally reminded me of The Hellacopters (I forgot they did last time too) which is such a good good thing – if you’re going to rock, then don’t mess around = garage punk
Mar 18
Garage Rock, Hard Rock No Comments
[Toronto, Canada] hardest garage band I’ve ever heard and I’m sure they’d take that as a compliment – so loud it was painful but they’d probably take that as a compliment too – thought the sound system was causing the feedback and fuzz but they sound about the same on MySpace – two men and a woman – they’re good but earplugs required
Mar 17
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Punk No Comments
[Los Angeles, CA] I found them through internet radio stations (“Action” and “The Split”) and was pretty excited to see their show – it was immediately apparent that the five guys milling around in long lean black jeans and black pointed boots and black shirts were “The Lords” – their dress code was simultaneously hilariously and effective – as was their music… sleazy fast garage punk with big-drama vocals… love them – Rockboy heard the Fuzztones in them and it was (sketchily) confirmed that there is a former member of both The Fuzztones and MC5 amongst The Lords – and, the sullen girl on the sideline with long black hair and long black boots and a long black coat jumping to stay warm transformed into a jumping go-go dancer with tremendous breasts only restrained by a black bikini once The Lords got on stage
Mar 17
Blues, Garage Rock, Hard Rock No Comments
[Los Angeles, CA] I wanted to see this band because the homecoming (prom?) king of my 5000-person high school is in it but Rockboy had actually listed them as someone he wanted to see through his SXSW research – hard blues rock with garage swagger – vocals and lyrics are genuinely blues inspired – something like The Black Keys, which is a very good thing as far as I’m concerned
Dec 09
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Punk, Thrash Comments Off
There really is no other musician who has mattered more than Jay Reatard in the last couple of years. I realize I may say this more often than I should, but for Jay Reatard, it’s the truth. He reins in diverse aspects of rock into a sound that is all his own, a sound that encapsulates the fury and angst of frustrated youth. I envision him as a troubled prodigy who can’t start enough bands to keep himself sated. His Lost Sounds material is what changed my world, but this night he played his solo material which is similar but less synthy and gothic. A barrage of raw garage punk. Unceasingly intense. Which could have been a boring annoying wall of sound, except that his material is also finely crafted and well executed. The sound was not what you would call crisp or tight, but it didn’t displease me. The show ended with two audience members jumping on stage and attacking him. Rather than an amusing band antic, it was disturbing and upsetting. Rockboy maintains it was staged, but I maintain that PMS and Jay Reatard being attacked do not go well together.
Dec 09
Another fantastic local band. Jangle-pop garage punk with all three male members harmonizing sweet vocals. Reminded me of The Strange Boys. Seemed like they achieved a nice consensus of sound from a diverse range of influences from the band members. Extremely danceable. Some of that stop-start groove guitar like the Gang of Four. I had lots more to say about this band that escapes me now. You should see them. Great live show.
Oct 16
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Punk No Comments
a motley crue for sure and Austin no-names but I thought they were great – a happy-dad keyboardist, a stringy haired lurching ex-hippie lead singer, a punk kid on bass guitar and a slick-guy drummer (smelled like a ‘session drummer’ to Rockboy) – their music reflected these disparate influences – some blend of a garagey, punky, post-punky rock – lots of energy too
Mar 20
Garage Rock, Psychedelic No Comments
I didn’t recall at the time why I was so committed to seeing this band but I was surprised when I saw the audience members who ended up being the band members: the freaky guy with a bald head with the exception of a stringy shoulder-length curtain of hair along the rim of his skull AND in a truly awful shirt with wide white and pink stripes underneath an old suit jacket AND those I-want-to-molest-you yellow-mellow 70s eyeglasses – otherwise, the drummer and bassist were cute young people and the other band members were average-joe older people – they’re from Detroit which is instant cred – despite my misgivings, they were instantly much more exciting than the last band – a stomping drum was matched with dark psych-infused garage rock – the freak’s vocals were particularly interesting… a distinctive ponderous progression… almost spoken or stumbling – I was not surprised at all that I had some memory remnant of really liking them – unfortunately, as usual, they were running late and I had to run and only saw a couple of songs – but I looked them up upon arriving home and these are the two songs that had led me to being subconsciously committed to them: “You’re Not a Nice Girl” and “A Song for Someone Sometimes”
Mar 20
Montreal – came to this showcase for Outrageous Cherry but also because I have discovered I am a girl immediately smitten by the sound of garage rock which was the theme of the showcase – this band was young and idyllic – they were a more melancholy version of The Beach Boys – they were quite good but I’m always annoyed by young freshness in rockers – on a happier note, the music played in between sets was fantastic: all old garage I instantly recognized and an indication I was in the right place – BUT the crowd was ALL OLD MEN which was a clear indication I was in the wrong place
Feb 06
Blues, Garage Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk No Comments
so silly I couldn’t stop the smirk and I don’t mean that politely, the crowd was peeing all over themselves, apparently this band’s hype precedes its arrival – some sort of political repression legend based on their Israelian origins and the fact that a few places haven’t allowed them to perform (though they’ve managed to rack up some 300 shows of late despite this), there is nothing political in their message, in fact their lack of message was complemented by a lack of music, there was some sort of something going on with sounds though the only band member you could pick out (what with the 40 drooling boys swaying ON the stage) was the lead singer in his jockey shorts hanging from a tree near the stage – I think the drummer was up there for a while too, this is a band for people who have a need to belong to something… to get caught up in the fervor and collectivity of… something, anything
Oct 03
Britpop, Garage Rock No Comments
the Chronicle was correct to classify this band within the cream of Austin – they are infectious plus interesting enough to be enduring – the lead singer is inexpressibly darling and delicious, in his dark elfish-ness with a T Rex voice and mischievous knowing smiles – with his voice and a competent band, every audience I’ve seen has been unable to not dance – which was unfortunate in the case of this crowd: the drunk college artistes stumbling around in their European knee-length jean shorts and vintage cowboy shirts were amusing but the thought of the middle-aged couple grinding in New Age slow motion with their general total lack of sexiness and 80s perms still puts me in an uncomfortable place between admiration for out-there sex and personal aversion
Sep 06
Blues, Garage Rock, Grunge, Punk No Comments
there were two epiphanies during this show that I haven’t been quite able to recollect, something about grunge and how it has such a distinctive sound and a sound so distinctive from contemporary sounds and all of this despite being such an amalgam of old sounds, and how grunge was the defining sound of my adolescence and I couldn’t break it down to you now nor then with words more descriptive than ‘grunge,’ so I tried to hear this band as if there were no history between us – as if they were any old band – and they were so good but I had a hard time piecing them out, firstly Mark Arm has a tremendous and passionate voice that sticks with you, they are a mix of blues and punk and garage, they are thoroughly influenced by the Stooges, lastly I am not as thoroughly tired of them as I am of all of the other 90s bands
May 31
Garage Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
The Black Lips from Georgia opened the show, and their potentially interesting music was overshadowed by the frenetic—and occasionally revolting—stage antics of their guitarist. While the band played songs which all seemed to come off a ’50s compilation CD, the guitarist would frantically whip around the stage performing all the tricks he could think of. It’s fine to have one or two gimmicks, but he did the same thing for every song: he’d knock over his mic stand and catch it with his foot before it hit the ground; he’d strum over his head or with his tongue (are we back in the ’80s now?); and worst of all, he’d spit a huge wad of phlegm into the air and—brace yourself—catch it in his mouth. A middle school gross out trick at best, he did it over and over again throughout the set. Maybe that’s his way of amping up the routine.
Their music was an updated version of ’50s chord progressions and drumbeats, played louder and faster and crunchier for a modern audience. The annoying guitarist also played vocalist on a few numbers, singing in an odd imitation of Bob Dylan, both in terms of the timbre of his voice and general incomprehensibility. I think in a smaller venue or perhaps on CD, I might have enjoyed their music, but I was too distracted by the mediocre performance.
May 31
Americana, Garage Rock, Rockabilly No Comments
it is unfair to blame my mild disappointment in them on them because I had built them up unreasonably in my head and created a sound for them that didn’t really exist, I had filled in all of the fuzz from the first time I saw them with really bad sound with this fantastic original sound, so they didn’t have on their old ranchero clothes and they are not bizarre creening country but pretty straightforward 60s garage rock, they are very rounded and irresistibly danceable, there is some country in there and maybe old-school rockabilly, the voice remains though and is the key to their originality, very good band
Apr 30
Country, Garage Rock, Psychedelic, Southern Rock No Comments
fantastic, their sound had a roundness and polish that you don’t often hear in live music, lots of energy, diversity of sounds revolving around hopped-up rock country, from garage to psychedelia, very energetic show with lots of appealing personalities, I think there were two exchanging vocalist duty, stilly-moustached keyboard player, and a guitar player who kept leaping up to the microphone to yell out punk references, if all of that wasn’t enough they claim Jay Reatard, Gun Club and Lee Hazlewood as influences
Mar 15
Garage Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk No Comments
my beloved lead singer of Lost Sounds, his look fit his irreputable reputation: face never breaking free from the cover of his shaggy hair, he was younger than I would have imagined, he was also a lot more intense and together than I would have imagined, he knows his music up and down and left and right, this reincarnation sounded little like Lost Sounds (no synth, less dark and less intense) but was some amalgam of hair metal, punk and garage– veering from head-banging joy to darker undertone, always fast and ferocious but light-hearted and sincere, his voice also altered dramatically even within one song to the point that I suspect he may be the male and female lead I hear in Lost Sounds, may be schizophrenic but a music genius I think, Jay and the guitarist’s (also mop top curls) dedicated head-banging was very amusing for some reason
Mar 07
Garage Rock, Hard Rock No Comments
first thought was that this was the reincarnation of Gore Gore Girls, lead singer a cute young rocking girl in a 60s A-line dress playing an authentic 60s keyboard, vampire-gothic girl who made appropriate grimaces as she played bass, much older guitarist whom we presumed to be the inappropriate husband of the lovely lead singer, nondescript drummer, playing to an audience of ten in the back of a record store – two of whom were ancient women – became obvious that the younger of the two ancients was the vampire’s mom and we all melted when the vampire finally smiled – the older of the two ancients bobbed her head like Dr. Dre, the point is that the band was much better than Gore Gore Girls (though similar in sound and feel) – their sound was more complex and subtle and had harder riffs
Mar 07
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Rock and Roll No Comments
the pleasant surprise of the week, the drummer is fantastic: just a girl but so intense and lively and plain good she dominates the stage, flanked by two good guitarists, high quality and engaging and intelligent and driving garage rock
Feb 10
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
Dead Moon and the Pixies, quirky indie rock with a lot of soul, only saw the end of the set but pretty appealing
Jan 09
Garage Rock, Southern Rock No Comments
this really disturbing lead singer, not an ounce of pretension, wearing a white v-neck sweater with trim on the neck and cut-off sleeves with a vest, sizeable nose, seemed an excellent guitar player, couldn’t quite put my finger on music genre, quality but not really interesting, little swampy maybe?
Jan 04
also a big Austin name, straightforward traditional garage rock, a good band
Aug 24
Blues, Classic Rock, Garage Rock No Comments
Josh Allen Band: the reason I picked this place, average-quality music that is quiet enough to allow conversation; Josh Allen and the Whiskey Bros.: the place has changed, music was very loud and much better than what I’d seen in visits past but was very loud, garagey bluesy Southern rock band, did cover of Pixie’s Where Is My Mind, music was very loud
Aug 18
third time I’ve seen them and you know I’m against that, they’re darling and the lead singer has gotten braver: invited guys up on stage and then immediately warned a drunk one Don’t touch me!, wasn’t as impressed with their music but possibly just poor attitude on my part
Aug 18
Classic Rock, Garage Rock No Comments
kept thinking they must be from Detroit like next band because of their garagey sound but turned out to be from Nashville, female drummer, good stage activity, garage with some heavy riffs, quite liked it though uninspiring in the end
Mar 16
Detroit band in for SXSW. Grrrl voice with punk garage. Immediately striking and maintained the intensity with quality control. Just old school good rock a la Hole. A balls out girl, very much of my generation (Babes in Toyland). Character of a lead singer, Wendy Case — touched me with a comment reaching out to the misfit kids of America. There were times when she screeched a bit too much — Rockboy says she has a voice like Brody of the Distillers.
Mar 14
Contemporary garage rockers from Detroit. 60s inspired and all female. Bad ass lead vocalist – very sexy with her strong facial features. Cutesy side guitarist in a white leather dress that rode up as she played to show ruffly black panties. Older plainer and wiser drummer. Curly haired round bassist. Intense and worked hard to put on a good show. Nobody yelled, “Show us your tits!”
Sep 16
know them because on my SPIN Essential Garage Rock CD, dorky energetic showmen, probably play casinos in Vegas, real problem was that the show I should have been at was happening one room over: Trail of Dead with Okkervil River opening
Aug 26
Country, Garage Rock No Comments
some incongruence that made her unlikeable, she wore a green A-line go-go girl dress but sang 60s country and then some garage rock (only good stuff), she posed and sang in a manly way and the force she pushed her voice out with was not enough compensation for the lack of beauty in it, no audience connection whatsoever
Apr 17
The Dead 60’s was a band so bad, that the only opening act I have seen that was remarkably more painful was Abandoned Pools, who opened for Garbage on their last tour outing. The Dead 60’s are a four piece punk band made up of little boys from Liverpool who admit that they don’t write tunes for the melody. The word cacaphony doesn’t describe the mess of noise they made for 45 minutes, injuring anyone ambitious enough to plant themselves in front of the speakers, and just about annoying everyone else. Lead singer Matt McManamon repeatedly tried to get a cheer out of the crowd, and predictably, had to wait until their set was over to be fulfilled.
How lucky we were that they opened the show with their first single, “You’re Not the Law” with its trademark siren wail (I say that in jest, as no one outside of the lone man in the audience singing along to every word had ever heard the single before.) The worst of the set was Ben Gordon’s keyboards that vibrated the room. All I can say about the experience is that I had a physical aversion to the noise. This band models itself after The Clash, and have described their sound as dance music (no kidding.) They haven’t recorded their first commercially released LP yet, and I can only hope what’s recorded in Liverpool stays there as well.
Mar 15
Garage Rock, Hard Rock No Comments
Seattle, WA—suspectly straight-looking band but for the heroin-strung lead, excellent but may have been biased what with the hype about it all day and what esp with them being a band of my time, MusicGod informed that they were the harbringers of all our other bands (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, etc.), same old hard rock but had some twist and variety and distinction to it and definitely that old 90s flavor, did Stooges covers at end
by Andrew Marx and Dara Shifrer
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