Hearsay: Wednesday, April 02, 2008
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
On the Cusp

Not sure what it means, but at Calhoun’s packed show last week at Lola’s, when the Fort Worth rock ’n’ roll quartet/quintet played “Kick-Drum Mind” — a catchy number off the band’s 2006, eponymous debut — the crowd started jumping up and down, and a bunch of people were actually singing along. I’ve seen similar stuff happen at other local shows, like when Black Tie Dynasty or The Burning Hotels play. But for a considerably less poppy outfit, Calhoun nevertheless draws the masses and keeps ’em. The show was on a Tuesday night to boot and was headlined by a national band I’ve never heard of (though there are a lot of national bands I’ve never heard of). BTW, I later heard that said band, Sleepercar, was pretty bad-ass. Anyway, since the show was on a school night, and since some local shows, such as Calhoun’s, Black Tie’s, the Hotels’, are almost as much social events as musical performances, most people, self included, skedaddled as soon as Calhoun unplugged. With so much happening in town — including the blossoming of Calhoun and also Titanmoon, Collin Herring, the cut*off, Daniel Katsuk, and a few others — there has to be a tipping point. I recall a similar vibe a couple of years ago, and when the tipping point came, it went downhill — you all may remember that dead period between the summers of ’06 and ’07. What would a good tipping point be? I don’t know. Maybe some national airplay for a local band. Or, even better, some local band’s song starts playing on Gossip Girl, Smallville, One Tree Hill, or some other popular tweener TV show. In the grand scheme of things, whatever happens won’t really matter. Look what the last dead period has produced. On Friday, Calhoun will play, along with Red Monroe, Airline, and Sunward, at Lola’s, 2736 W. 6th St. (817-877-0666). Visit www.myspace.com/calhoun. ... Speaking of Black Tie, the Fort Worth quartet plays tomorrow (Thu.), with The Crash That Took Me (a sort of Black Tie side-project), at 8.0, 111 3rd St. (817-336-0880). Visit www.myspace.com/blacktiedynasty. ... And as a tonic or just a simple change o’ pace, 1919 Hemphill is going all hardcore on Saturday, with The Shortest Distance, Jane Loves Dick, Excretion, and One Fingered Fist, the last a Fort Worth band that navigates the rather unexplored (or, rather, typically weakly explored) terrain of stoner rock, punk, glam, and death metal. There’s loudness in there, with giant bass riffs, loud guitars, and rapid-fire beats, but there are almost always strong vocal melodies, and the changes are mercurial but never anything less than accessible. They’re ... well, let them tell you: “Music is all we give a flying fuck about,” they write on www.myspace.com/themcrazyboys. “Besides our onstage comedy routines, which are usually on-the-spot and unintended, we’re just four fuck-ups (or goof-offs, depending on your preferred nomenclature) who don’t take anything too seriously. We turn our amps up too loud, play everything faster than rabbits fuck, and get the fuck off the stage in almost record time.” Sounds like a party.

Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.

Email this Article...

Back to Top


Copyright 2002 to 2022 FW Weekly.
3311 Hamilton Ave. Fort Worth, TX 76107
Phone: (817) 321-9700 - Fax: (817) 335-9575 - Email Contact
Archive System by PrimeSite Web Solutions