Out of the oblivion of Memphis low-fi rockers’ The Oblivions
emerged The Reigning Sound,
a raw and low-down outfit full of Muscle Shoals muscle and stacks of Stax. The band rocked unpretentiously and unparalleled. Nobody
did it better. Nobody, that is, until the advent of Rochester’s The Fox Sisters. This band of
brothers is a deep-dish, double-scoop of rock ‘n’ roll talent. It’s a savage
wail that runs deep from musical histories that, if added up, collectively
equal dead. You’ve got members of Dog’s Life, The Quitters, Hinkley,
Veluxe, The Thundergods,
and that’s before you even get to drummer Rob Filardo’s
resume (want a copy? Send a SASE to City Newspaper and I’ll do my best).
The band rocked an unbelievably packed house at Abilene
Friday night. I think the crowd inadvertently — and out of necessity — invented
a new dance called The Sardine. It’s easy; just rub your body all over the
bodies of the people shoehorned in around you. It was so crowded I went home
with someone else’s wallet. It was so crowded that when the girl next to me sneezed,
she covered my mouth. You get the picture: it was packed.
The music was a full shot-from-the-hip delivery of blue-eyed
soul and twisting r ‘n’ b. The band was locked in loose/tight and had an
incredible groove and feel. What an awesome new band.
Headliner 5Head, which
was mostly to blame for the copious crowd along with the gaggle of fine females
lapping up the boogie ringside, exploded with a slick set of ska/pop that most ska/pop bands
only think about in the shower. New tunes and old ones brought on another new
dance we’re going to call the Skankin’ Sardine. I
tell ya, it doesn’t get much more fun than this.
I’m not intentionally following Minds
Open Wide (no shame if I was), but the band seems to pop up on
bills in a variety of venues all over the map. The band is an interesting study
in extreme dynamics and stop/start control. Despite the precision, it has
settled into a comfortable cruise and flow. The covers are more tongue-in-cheek
than anything else, and during the band’s brief set at The California Brew Haus on Saturday night I arrived at one suggestion. In much
the same way that blues clubs around the United States have banned “Mustang
Sally” from being covered, rock clubs should get together and enforce an
injunction on “War Pigs.” Let the crowd howl, “Oh lord, yes” to something else.
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2013.
