1) Have you heard that “Katchi” song by Nick Waterhouse? Leon Bridges is on it, and if you’ve wondered what that word means, according to this Consequence of Sound article, it’s a word Bridges’ family uses for a “nice massage.” Click the link, because it describes how the song came about, which is oftentimes an interesting type of article to read.
Anyway, Waterhouse is playing Club Dada Thursday night, and local up-and-coming country troubadour Vincent Neil Emerson is his opener. Since Leon Bridges is buds with both dudes, perhaps you’ll see a Leon appearance in one or both performances! Doors are at 8pm, tix are $15 online, probably more at the door.
Seems like “Katchi” is on KXT pretty often:
2) Another rad Thursday night show: Ryan Sambol at the Boiled Owl Tavern. The former frontmant for the now-defunct, Austin-based rock ’n roll band The Strange Boys has a bunch of new solo material; sorry if I’m being reductive – it sounds like it falls under “roots music,” but click this link to a video of his trip to Morocco to see how “roots” is a pretty shallow descriptor. Sur Duda and Daniel Markham fill the opening slots, both of who are two of my favorite local rock ’n roll songwriters. Show is free, and if you bring a minor with you, they’ll have to wait in the car, so make sure they have a blanket because it’s cold out now. Here’s another Ryan Sambol video:
3) Saturday at Lola’s marks the debut of Royal Suns, the new band featuring ex-Hanna Barbarians singer Blake Parish and members of hard rockers In Memory of Man. Because they rehearse near the room my band uses at ye olde Castle Practiceskull, I’ve caught sheetrock-muffled snippets of their songs, and I’d say they fall in that space between a psych rock band like the Black Angels and a retro-leaning stoner metal band, though the band describes themselves as “Tx bred psych rock, like a knife fight at a Mexican sex party,” so think fuzz pedals and bleeding to death in a sketchy ER in Tijuana. Jetta in the Ghost Tree is direct support with Dead Vinyl opening, so the entire bill is heavy on loud rock ’n roll fronted by singers who work their asses off at performing. What I mean by that is think about how long a solo section in a Black Sabbath song can be, and then think about how Ozzy didn’t just sit around waiting for Tony to be wrap it up. Unless it’s like an encore thing, lead singers generally don’t get to lean against a speaker or go off stage for a beer until it’s their turn again. For more information on what lead singers do, here’s that band argument scene from Almost Famous – the important part is at the 42-second mark:
Doors are at 8, cover is probably $10, plus or minus $2.
4) Long-running area hard rock band House Harkonnen headlines a heavy show at Three Links on Saturday. The middle spot in the lineup features Barb Wire Dolls, a sleaze-punk band from none other than home of the Minotaur, the Greek island of Crete. Dallas locals Bastard City open the show – if “Deep Ellum punk ’n roll” were a Wikipedia entry, it would probably link to this band at some point. Doors are at 8pm, cover is $10.
This is an official Barb Wire Doll video:
5) There’s a Stand with Standing Rock benefit at Lola’s on Sunday 5pm-close, and it features a long list of local songwriters, poets, and artists – Tammy Melody Gomez, Tornup, Joe Savage, Morgan Lindley, KatsüK, plus more than 20 others – slated to perform. The cover donation, all of which will go to aid the protestors, is $15. More info about Standing Rock:
