1) This week’s Wayhomer Wednesday at MASS features Dallas-based Bravo, Max!, and if you’re a fan of somewhat-country-flavored rock and roll (they currently have lap steel in the band), they’re a band that should definitely be on your radar. They’d be a great fit on a bill with Cutthroat Finches and Kevin Aldridge and the Appraisers, but until that show happens catch them at the end of your hump day for a mere $3. Show starts around 6pm. This song doesn’t have lap steel, but it does have saxophone:
2) Lola’s Saloon (2736 6th St) hosts another one of those “legendary” bills, the kind of lineup you might have seen at the Wreck Room 15 years ago, before it was leveled and turned into the 7-11 near the art museums, though two of the bands are actually reconstituted versions of the acts that would’ve been on the Wreck’s famed stage – by that I mean they have different members, different sounds, and new names. The experimental, Dadaist rock group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is now called Free Salamander Exhibit, for example, and they headline the show with Pinkish Black in the middle slot; Pinkish Black, as you probably know, was born out of the tragic demise of Great Tyrant, which rose from the ashes of Yeti. Denton prog-metal veterans Shaolin Death Squad open the show; of the three, they seem to have the longest in-band continuity. Now, I don’t know if Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Yeti (or Great Tyrant), and Shaolin Death Squad ever played together at the Wreck Room – you’ll have to bother someone about this at the show who is better versed in local scene lore than I am – but this bill seems like one that would’ve happened years ago. Anyway, in terms of the here and now, this is probably the most interesting display of heavy music you’re likely to see for a while. The all-ages show starts at 9pm, and cover is $15. Check out what you’ll be in for with Free Salamander Exhibit:
3) You can read more about fuzz-rock trio Panic Volcanic in this week’s music feature, but here are some specifics about their CD release show: it’s at MASS (1002 S Main) on Friday; doors are at 8pm, and it’s 18+ with a $10 cover. Huffer and Vicious Firs (who, like PV, are returning from a period of off-the-radar inactivity) are the opening acts, and, as the article states, laser beams will be provided by LaZer Ed. Pack it in and scoop up a copy of PV’s new album, Speak Your Evil – apparently, it’s been sitting in frontwoman Ansley Dougherty’s living room for way too long. Though they have a new set of songs, they’ll probably play some old material, like this one:
4) You can read more about Friday night’s What’s Happening Berry Street in this week’s Hearsay column, but here’s the gist: it features rock bands like Duell, Son of Stan, Programme, the Cush, and the Fibs, and it features electronic acts like Kit Bashes, Vogue Machine, and Gil Trythall (feat. Lily Taylor) – all these acts are great in their own right, but Gil Trythall’s the one you’ll want to watch the most. Cover’s $10, it’s all ages, and doors are at 6pm. Here’s one of Gil Trythall’s audio/video compositions:
5) Lots of stoneriffic jams at the Grotto on Saturday night: FTW headlines a heavy rock show that starts Joint Efforts, Silvertonguedevil, and Tenacious D tribute NR/CD. Cover’s $10, and the NR/CD’s set starts at 9pm. This Silvertonguedevil song is called “Witching in the Cosmic Graveyard”; it doesn’t get any stoneriffic than that, if you ask me:
FULL DISCLOSURE/WRITER BIO ALERT: per editorial suggestion, in addition to writing about music and other shit for the FW Weekly, I am an investor in a venue/bar called Main at Southside, colloquially known as MASS. I also bartend there, as well as the Boiled Owl Tavern, a bar that also hosts shows a few times a month. And, since we’re on the subject of warning you against what may be perceived as my own icky, unseemly self-promotion and/or conflicts of interest, I play bass in the following bands: Oil Boom, Son of Stan, Darth Vato, and maybe, once again in the hypothetical future, EPIC RUINS. Sometimes I talk about one or more of those entities in this space, but I assure you that it has very little to do with my own vested interests; it just happens that the aforementioned venues and bands are part of the Fort Worth music scene, and this music scene is something I care very passionately about, as I have been part of it for the past fifteen years.
