1.) Duell’s playing at Lola’s tonight. By now, you’ve probably seen them, but you might not have seen opening band Supersonic Lips, because they’re from Dallas, and they haven’t been playing as often as they used to. There’s some kind of “bands battle for a chance to compete for a fabulous prize” component to it that involves Ninkasi Brewing Co., so maybe help one or the other act win? I dunno. It’s a fun bill, go see it. Huh. Looks like Supersonic Lips played in June. Not as long ago as I thought:
2) Three Links will be full of Arlington metalheads (and I mean that in the best way) on Friday night – it’s the return of Big Fiction. If you want to know more about Big Fiction, buy someone in War Party a beer and ask him about it; they play second, after a band called Ten Foot Beast. Also on this bill: doom duo Mountain of Smoke (they’re headlining), and a band called Bargoyles. Big Fiction played Riot Fest three years ago, and someone made a video of it. That Gibson Grabber is dope, Ricky!
3) Shipping & Receiving is celebrating its third anniversary on Friday, but its show on Saturday is also not to be missed, so they’re getting packed into one listing. Friday night’s party is headlined by Holy Moly, with Oil Boom opening and Henry the Archer starting the night. These names you probably know, but if not, Holy Moly is a “cowpunk” rock band with a song about a mustache and another one about a werewolf; Oil Boom is a “regular” rock band with a song about records and another about Chili’s; and Henry the Archer is an “alternicana” band that sings about nightmares and laser guns, like if Moonraker gave you bad dreams for some reason. TW: the following is the trailer for Moonraker …
4) Team to Beat Show of the Week alert: COM TRUISE AT SHIPPING & RECEIVING ON SATURDAY. I fucking love Com Truise. I read somewhere that he refers to his own music as “slow motion funk” which is way more apt than anything I’d come up with, though for further clarification, there’s a video at the end of this for a song called “VHS Sex.” If you loved the Stranger Things soundtrack but wished it was a lot more danceable, don’t miss this show.
5) Black Sabbath play at Gexa on Wednesday the 7th; lawn seats are probably affordable. The band says it’s their last tour, and I tend to believe ’em. The classic rock icons are old men and women now, with the physical toll of rock ’n roll piled onto regular old people physical problems. Try to imagine your dad or grandfather standing and shredding for two or three hours a night, four or five nights a week. Don’t miss the last time Black Sabbath play in Dallas, in other words. I don’t think you’ll another chance.
Side note: it still boggles my mind that Sabbath and their contemporaries were unwitting pop culture revolutionaries when they were like 20, 21 years old. What were you doing at 20? Probably not writing the next “Black Sabbath,” that’s for sure:
