The Days of Lore

Hmm … very strange, boys

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 | musiX | No Comments

[Ed. Note: It's no secret to anyone that The Days of Lore loves The Strange Boys (I mean, unhealthy). The band's debut handily made the top spot on the TDoL 2009 year-end list. Sheesh, you think I'd have already written something on their latest record Be Brave. Well, I did for one of the publications that actually pays for my opinions on music. Since I hate repeating myself, here it is. Enjoy!]

0riginally published in the Chico News & Review, March 11, 2010

Last year Austin’s The Strange Boys released their In The Red debut, a record that had more in common with rock ’n’ roll’s formative years than it did the label’s garage-punk rock roster. It’s been less than a year, and the Boys (and new girl, former Mika Miko saxophonist Jenna Thornhill-DeWitt) are already offering up album No. 2.

Be Brave lacks the sock-hop pop of And Girls Club, and instead sounds as if the band spent time hanging out in a smoke-filled back room with England’s Newest Hitmakers. The more lackadaisical feel could be partly attributed to the absence of powerhouse drummer (and co-founder) Matt Hammer, who left the band last year. But what the new songs lack in energy they more than make up for in texture and intimacy. Ryan Sambol’s voice creaks like an old rocking chair on more spare folk offerings like “All You Can Hide Inside” and “Dare I Say.” And piano and organ fuel the record’s boozy blues (“Between Us”), while sax rips through on the title track.

If anything, Be Brave shows that The Strange Boys are their own men/woman—which should make album No. 3 all the more interesting.

“Between Us” - The Strange Boys

“Be Brave” - The Strange Boys

Video for “Be Brave”

Tags: Be Brave, In The Red, Jenna Thornhill-DeWitt, Matt Hammer, Mika Miko, Ryan Sambol, The Strange Boys

Reigning Sound: Rock’s saviors?

Monday, August 10th, 2009 | musiX | 1 Comment

Remember back in the early aughts when bands like The Strokes and The Vines were going to save rock ‘n’ roll? I don’t remember … did they ever save it?

Years before garage rock moved to the dorm room, bands like The Gories, The Mummies, The Oblivians and countless others were carrying the torch, making strange and primitive noise underground … wait a minute, did they save rock ‘n’ roll? The Oblivians lasted about as long as any band of that ilk should, and disbanded in 1998 after five years (although they are back together playing dates). Greg Cartwright went on to form Reigning Sound soon after, a band that dipped as much into musty garages as it did deep into the soul of Memphis R&B. I’ve doted on the band tirelessly, Cartwright in particular—to my friends, on this blog, in my column, year-end lists … on this blog again. Maybe they saved rock ‘n’ roll for me.

Cartwright is from another time—it’s unlikely he’s ever listened to The Strokes, or even Black Lips. But he has listened to The Counts and The Guillotines and Glass Sun. In fact Reigning Sound’s cover of the Glass Sun banger “Stick Up For Me” is the tune that immediately grabbed me off their latest Love and Curses, the band’s first platter of new material in five years. It doesn’t quite match up to Break Up, Break Down and Time Bomb High School, both more refined albums that captured the tenderness of early Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. Love and Curses is essentially Reigning Sound live—sweatier, grittier, not quite as sweet. Although Cartwright has his moments, most notably in “The Bells” and “Something to Hold Onto,” where his venomous rasp gives way to grievous croon and Dave Amels’ organ swirls between the guitars.

I’m still soaking it in, but I keep going back to that Glass Sun cover. I’ve actually decided that from now on when someone asks what kind of music I listen to I’m just going to strap headphones to their skull and let the song play. I hope that doesn’t make things awkward.

“Stick Up For Me” - Reigning Sound

“Something to Hold Onto” - Reigning Sound

Tags: Break Up Break Down, Greg Cartwright, In The Red, Love and Curses, Reigning Sound, The Oblivians, Time Bomb High School

The Strange Boys are all right

Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

South By Southwest is over. Good bands left their marks. Other bands are already looking forward to next year. Austin’s economy is fat and happy. Matt Pinfield’s totally awesome coverage for Direct TV is already a distant memory. Four days of music and sin are being picked up, swept away and hosed down by someone who’s happy to have a job. Yes, life in the hipster mecca has returned to normal. Sort of.

The four kids that make up Austin’s The Strange Boys are still there making rock ‘n’ roll in its purest form. The band’s debut full-length And Girls Club is out on In The Red and is shaping up to be one of my favorites of 2009. It would be quite easy to dismiss them as just another band in a long line of garage rock throwbacks—if the songs weren’t so damn good. “Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up” is cut right from the blues bone. Essentially, the young-ish (early-to-mid 20s) Strange Boys know early rock ‘n’ roll, and play it as if they’ve never been exposed to anything post-1970 (I actually have a few friends who I’m convinced this is the case). It’s not so much garage rock as it is early Beatles if Dylan and the Fab Four smoked that joint and immediately went into the studio together.

“Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up” - The Strange Boys

“Should Have Shot Paul” - The Strange Boys

Tags: In The Red, SXSW, The Strange Boys, The Strange Boys...and Girls Club