Not afraid to mix it up: the Von Ehrics.
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Von Ehrics
By Anthony Mariani
Long-time country-metal superstars the Von Ehrics are wrapping up a tour of a baker’s dozen cities throughout the South and Midwest with a show this Saturday at home in Dallas, at Club Clearview. One of North Texas’ craftier, more intelligent in-your-face outfits, the Von Ehrics always put on a good show. Robert Jason Vandygriff (guitar and vocals), Jeffrey Wayne Mosley (bass), and Shawn Henry Kenneth Benjamin Pierce IV (drums) understand something that a lot of similar bands don’t: Hard, loud, and fast is cool only in intervals. A band has to be able to foment drama, to accent those moments of heaviness. Build up, release. Build up, release. You know that hard, loud, and fast for longer than 10 or 20 minutes can become — how you say? — annoying as hell.
More information: Even on excursions into slower country or folk, the Von Ehrics still manage to sound like the Von Ehrics when they’re rocking guitars on 11 to eighth-note beats. In the same way that the band shifts tempos and timbres in concert, it also creates shape-shifting songs. Even though made up of the simple arrangement of guitar, bass, and drums, the Von Ehrics’ songs — such as the ones on the band’s 2003 full-length and most recent disc, Damn Fine Drunks — seemingly never repeat themselves. That’s quite an accomplishment and statement of purpose unlike most of the stuff seen and heard around these parts. — Anthony Mariani
Sat with Golden Falcons, Spector 45, and Smile for Society, at the Curtain Club, 2806 Elm St, Dallas. 214-939-0077.
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