1-3) If you have the “blues” over being stuck up here while all your friends are having the time of their lives discovering all those new bands and catching once-in-a-lifetime performances from venerated popular acts in intimate settings far removed from their normal arenas and such, well, there’s not much to be done for your crippling fear of missing out, now crystalized into an actual thing like one of the plot devices in Stephen King’s It. I dunno… maybe write a song about it? At least Parade of Flesh is around to bring you some good bands who are in the proverbial neighborhood this week for SXSW. This year, POF is throwing Not So Fun Wknd, a festival in its own right running from Thursday through Monday across Dallas’ Three Links, Dada, Trees, Canton Hall, and City Tavern. A ticket for all four days will set you back $90, but I presume that you can buy tickets on a per-day basis. Or maybe per venue or per show? I’m not sure. You’ll just have to do your own digging. There are lots of bands playing, so search Facebook for “Not So Fun Wknd.” Highlights for me from each day are:
Thursday: Sports kinda sound like a watery white kid version of Prince, and I mean that in the best way possible. Computer Magic makes me think main lady Danielle Johnson might be a fan of Stereolab and/or the Eurythmics; both are at Dada (2720 Elm); synth-heavy heavies Pinkish Black at Three Links (2704 Elm).
Friday: Sludge lords Eyehategod headline Trees (2709 Elm); party punk trio The Coathangers anchor a show opened by local psych bois Acid Carousel at Dada; Nick Oliveri can be credited for helping create the modern iteration of stoner rock, and he headlines Three Links.
Saturday: feminist rapper Princess Nokia is at Canton Hall, and given what’s going on in America these days, this is the show you try to get into the most, in the way that it was important for your parents to see Bob Dylan if they are Boomers or, if your folks are Gen Xers, I dunno… Pearl Jam? I guess Pearl Jam was a politically minded, important youth band once upon a time. But if you can’t get into the Princess Nokia show, the bill at Trees is a good bet; it’s opened by Ratboys, whose songwriter vibe evinces a low-key affinity for Sheryl Crow which I kind of dig. Never thought I’d write something like that in my life, but here we are, and in fact, I caught myself enjoying “Ants Marching” the other day, so who knows WTF is going on with me.
Sunday: Wavves are at Club Dada on Sunday, and are indeed a reason to be there, but if I were to go, I would make sure not to miss the reverby, harmony-gilded psych pop of La Luz, who are the third of six bands.
Monday: I confess that I do not know either of the artists playing at City Tavern, but they are called U.S. Girls and Ruby Haunt.
4) Remember Skeleton Coast? They were a band from here that got really popular, really fast and reached their peak around 2013 with the release of their self-titled LP only to fizzle away when frontman Bobby McCubbins moved to Washington. The remaining members joined Son of Stan and Bummer Vacation, but McCubbins wrote new music and formed a band called Close Encounter, and now that band is on their first tour, showcasing their debut album. They’ll be at MASS (1002 S Main) Friday night. The usual details (18+, doors at 8pm, cover between $5-10) apply.
5) Roar Shack makes its return on Sunday night at the Tin Panther (937 Woodward); the garage rock trio now features Dead Vinyl’s rhythm team of bassist Zach Tucker and drummer Parker Anderson. Tucker was already in Roar Shack, but the phrase “rhythm team” sounds important, and as a bass player, I enjoy typing it. Also on this bill: Witch Jail (from Kansas City, MO), Mountain Kid, and LeQube.
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 at 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. 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 since 2002.
