I’m usually quite hesitant to recommend shows that have already sold out, but I’m quite excited for tonight’s show at the Showbox with The Whigs and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It is a really good pairing because both are garage rock bands that are smart enough to know better than trying to reinvent the wheel.
The Whigs hail from Athens, GA and are releasing their latest album, In the Dark, on a week from Tuesday. I’ve been enjoying the title track, especially, as of late because it descends into a glorious wall of noise and distortion in its final moments. Still, though, The Whigs are closer to The Rolling Stones or a great Southern rock band than they are to My Bloody Valentine. In the right context, their songs can be anthemic, but almost always catchy. The video above has the band treating Neil Young as their biggest muse to their song (coincidence?) “Already Young”.
BRMC has been one of my favorite live rock bands to watch. Just how good the vocals from Peter Hayes and Robert Been are can be missed on first listen when they’re drowned out in reverb but they really do have a great sense of harmony. Like The Whigs, they’re a power trio with a new album forthcoming (Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is out on Tuesday) and I’ll expect they’ll be playing a lot of songs from that album, but I can’t wait to feel like all is right in the world when they play “Whatever Happened to my Rock and Roll?”
Fortunately, that rhetorical question will surely be answered later tonight.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot6FFSb5SzY]