I’ve determined, especially after Friday night’s show, that the
Montage Music Hall needs lots of bodies in it to make it sound right and absorb
some of that immense boom and swell. And there’s nothing other than laziness
that keeps would-be rockers from peeling their eyeballs off the boob tube and putting
themselves in front of some good ol’ loud ‘n’ heavy.
For Instance, as I rolled up, AFR
was brandishing its set like something a Viking might use to disembowel an
opponent. There was no 0; the band hit the ground at 60, cranking the intensity
incrementally until the climax at the end of its brief set. People Can Be More Awesome followed
with interesting percussive additives to music that sounded a lot heavier than
I expected from a band that I figured more for indie rock. Who knows, maybe
this is the next wave to fall under that category. It was interesting at the
very least.
A Beautiful Ending made its debut
with a quick set of intensity that hovered in the twilight. Singer Lisa Canarvis’ voice is as penetrating as her gaze. It was not
the least bit shrill, but it capably cut through and rode the band’s seriously
pounding sonic swirl. There was a sense of elegance to its largess. I liked it,
I liked it.
Like a cross between Hasil Adkins
and those bearded, square-dancing hillbillies that Bugs Bunny had to deal with,
Filthy Still rocked a three-quarters-full
Abilene Saturday night with an unparalleled redneck fury. Straight outta
Providence, Rhode Island, the band was reminiscent of Hank III in attitude, but
much more raw and to the bone. With its utility man swapping back and forth
between resonator and banjo, it was pure Appalachian punk-grass stomp ‘n’
holler.
Following that hootenanny was Denver’s Reno Divorce, a band that
collectively blasts out four-barreled rock music a la the Cadillac Tramps or
Social Distortion. It was slick, tight, and loud, with a cocky lyrical swagger
and come-on riding shotgun with its Les Paul attack.
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2013.
