1) I hope it doesn’t offend anyone, but if you are female and thinking about starting a band, now is the time. Stop what you’re doing and start learning an instrument, because this absurdist soap opera/political WWE match/dark comedy that’s not really that funny of a country we live in right now needs to hear your voice more than ever – it’s time to lock up the phrase “you play good for a girl” (and a bunch of equally reprehensible other phrases) in a time capsule and set that shit on fire. As critic, I would love to not have to write the words “female-fronted” or “all-female” about a rock band ever again, not because I don’t like bands with women in them, but because it would be great if those kind of groups were more or less the rule rather than the exception. I would love for America to be a place where you could just say “rock band” and not have to add qualifiers denoting specifics like members’ genders, race, or other hot-button identifiers. Per that expressed wish, here goes: Live Oak Lounge’s totally free Wednesday night show (that’s tonight, y’all) features Denton psych rock/weird-dream fuzz pop trio Pearl Earl and local hard rock trio Panic Volcanic, who take a minimal set up (drums, bass, vocals) and make it sound colossal. A select draft beer will be on special for 50 cents; the show starts at 9pm. Here’s a full set of Pearl Earl ripping it up at a house show this past spring:
2) Here’s another free show on Wednesday you might want to check out if you’re on the West 7th side of town and don’t feel like leaving: Japanese girl punk (fuck – I’m sorry, but maybe “girl punk” is a universally acceptable genre? There are so many minefields when you try to be fair about this stuff!) band Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re is playing Fred’s with Austin psych punks WE Are the Asteroid opening. The show starts at 7pm, so if you mind the time, you can probably watch most of both bands before jetting over to Live Oak to catch PV and Pearl Earl. Unfamiliar with Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re? Watch this video. Don’t you want to see them now?
3) Do you miss hanging out at the Wild Rooster? Do you also enjoy Cross Canadian Ragweed? I bet the overlap between those two qualifiers is significant, and if you fall within its reach, you’ll want to be at Lola’s on Thursday night because Cody Canada and the Departed are playing a bargain-priced show outside at the Trailer Park. The cover is $5, and the verbiage on the Facebook invite for the show suggests Canada has been trying to renew his songwriting chops and vigor in the six years since he dissolved the Red Dirt band that made him famous. No matter what, he’s a consummate performer, and even the most basic Texas Country fan should give his recent material the chance it deserves. Don’t fault a man for moving on from summer river floats and worshipping Robert Earl Keene. People grow up, y’know? The show starts at 7:30. Here’s CC’s most recent video:
4) If you’re not in a band, you probably can’t appreciate the unique frustration associated with a radius clause. It is what it is, which is why Oil Boom (self-promotion/full-disclosure alert: I am in that band) will be headlining Friday on the Green as Crude Explosion. In case you’re curious about Crude Explosion or work at the Granada theater, the deal behind that band is that they are an Oil Boom tribute from Saskatchewan, Canada, and as such, their other favorite band is Bachman Turner Overdrive – if you are fan of BTO deep cuts, there is an excellent chance you’ll hear one. Also performing: roots rockers Chucho, whose keyboardist, area music MVP Katie Robertson, will be tickling the ivories of a grand piano, onstage for Cliburne pianist Tomoki Sakata, who plays after veteran psychedelic band the Cush. The Cush kick off October’s Friday on the Green at 6pm. As for an accompanying video, I wanted to post that clip from the Simpsons where BTO plays some fair in Springfield, but YouTube keeps suggesting I watch this interview with Jason Newstead on “Why He Left Metallica,” and I’m sick of fighting it. You win, YouTube. I succumb to your earnest pestering:
5) Wow, this is a cool show on Sunday: the Boiled Owl Tavern has a Dreamy Life-sponsored show in celebration of local dream pop/garage rock four-piece Dead Singers Party’s new EP Get Dead. The four-band bill starts with Surduda, the low-fi, folk rock side project of War Party’s Cameron Smith and Petter Marsh, followed by Programme, the new ’70s cop show-theme-music-inspired trio featuring Ben Hance (Secret Ghost Champion, the Cush), Landon Cabarubio (of Cleanup and Doc’s Records), and Nathan Brown (Ohm, Nathan Brown, Browningham, and Facebook). Surduda and Programme will hopefully bring people in the door to catch The Veldt, who play third. You may not have heard of this band, but according to Nathan Brown (summarizing a recent Guardian article about them) their story is one of those indie rock tragedies in which a really good, pioneering shoegaze band (compelling for its stylistic mélange of My Bloody Valentine and Otis Redding) missed their chance at rock ’n roll greatness because of label incompetence – the North Carolina quartet’s members are black, and the label couldn’t understand why they didn’t sound like Living Colour – yet persevere because of the music or whatever. Needless to say, this is a band you should not miss, nor should you leave before Dead Singers Party plays; along with Movie the Band, Dead Singers Party is a newish band on the forefront of what Fort Worth music is sounding like these days. Show starts at 9pm with Surduda. Not sure when this Veldt video came out, but I’m guessing it was around the time Tool’s Undertow was new:
