Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Reverend Horton Heat is one of the best bands you’ll hardly ever hear on the radio or see on MTV. And that’s just fine with the Texas trio, which falls somewhere between the retro rockabilly sound and the frenetic psychobilly craze.
Despite the paradoxical name of the Gin Blossoms’ current album, “Congratulations, I’m Sorry,” the five-man band from Tempe, Ariz., has no reason to apologize. “Congratulations” is as good as the Blossoms’ 1992 breakthrough CD, “New Miserable Experience” – something many critics predicted wouldn’t be possible after the suicide of original member Doug Hopkins, who wrote many of the group’s hits.
I pity the fool who doesn’t like the Mr. T Experience. Playing a potent blend of poppy punk tunes, the 10-year-old San Francisco trio sings songs that are sweetly melodic and, at times, hysterically true-to-life (“I’m like, `Yeah’/But she’s all, `No’/And I’m all, `Come on baby, let’s go’/And she’s like, `I don’t think so’).
As a warm-up before resuming their world tour in Las Vegas, the Smashing Pumpkins played a “surprise” concert Friday afternoon at Metro. It was the band’s first show since the firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin in connection with the July 12 heroin overdose of keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin.
At the Aragon soundcheck, it was Liam who was intent on hassling Noel. The moody singer jumped off the stage and meandered around the venue playing with a worn soccer ball. Looking at Noel, who was still rehearsing, Gallagher took aim and expertly kicked the ball to or, depending on who you asked, at his brother. Noel stopped the ball with his right foot, but wouldn’t surrender it to Liam until the song was over.
Matthew Caws can’t wait until he gets to Chicago for his band’s Friday night concert at Metro. Sure, the Nada Surf singer is anxious to show fans that his trio has more substance than its kitschy single “Popular” would indicate. But just as important, he wants to collect his birthday present.
Scholars and artists may argue about punk’s origin, but few will disagree that until the Sex Pistols exploded onto the music scene in 1976, not many people paid attention. “The Sex Pistols were created by Malcolm McLaren, who was in the fashion business, so a look was pushed on them more so than on the American punks,” said James Stark, author of “Punk ’77” (Stark Grafix). “That definitely made them more marketable.
God save the queen – the Sex Pistols are back. And if they’re not as lean and mean as they were 20 years ago, they don’t care. The British press gleefully speared the quartet whose name has become synonymous with punk rock, accusing the 40ish musicians of being too old and fat to be punk.
When a cocky guy like Noel Gallagher rates your band as being better than his, there might be a tendency to get a swelled head, especially since the Oasis guitarist isn’t particularly generous in his assessment of other groups. But while John Power is quick to tout the merits of his band, Cast, he’s just as swift to set the record straight with a modicum of modesty.
Back in the early 1980s, when he was doing the Stray Cat Strut, neither Brian Setzer nor his fans would have envisioned the tattooed, pompadoured singer playing in an orchestra. These days, the former rockabilly hep cat not only performs in one, he fronts one.