Steve E. Nix and the Cute Lepers, the Pink Spiders and the Horror Pops – Feb 20, 2008, the Canyon Club, Las Vegas

As I have lamented before, there is a dearth of good live shows here in Las Vegas, so when we saw this line up, we made it a point to go, even though it was a Wednesday night!

We’ve been big fans of the Briefs ever since we first saw them in LA playing in front of a small crowd but putting on a fantastic show! They sounded exactly like ’77 punk rock and also looked the part – skinny ties, duct tape, wild patterns and a fun attitude! We made it a point to see them any time they came back and became like-minded “band friends”.

The Cute Lepers are a continuation of the Briefs’ ethos with Steve E. leading the act as sole lead singer (as opposed to the Briefs), songwriter and lead guitarist. Backed by a 2nd guitar, bass, Chris Briefs on the drums and, surprisingly, 2 female backup singers, the group continues in the early punk/new wave vein with great tunes and a fun stage persona. We bought the two singles that were available and the songs are absolutely solid. They are on an extensive tour of the States for the next couple of months, so any fan of the Briefs and early punk in general should go out and support this incredible act! Check out their My Space page here.

I’ve found a couple of the Pink Spiders CDs and really enjoyed the songs, though I thought that the records were a little slick. I was hoping for a bit more energy and edge in the live setting, but was somewhat disappointed this evening.

Singer/guitarist Matt Friction was apparently quite sick and even augmented by a 2nd guitarist for the show, there was no real excitement. They didn’t even dress as well as their CDs would suggest. It wasn’t bad, but I was hoping for an improvement over the recordings and instead it was a bit of a let down. Hopefully, they are better when everyone is healthy.

It didn’t help anyone that the sound man for the Canyon Club was terrible and the sound seemed to get worse as the night went on. I’m not sure what it is about sound people who think that drowning bands in echo and reverb improve anything – and I’m as big of a fan of echo and reverb as anyone – but whoever was working the board this evening started bad and went to terrible as the night wore on.

By the time the Horror Pops went on, the sound was so atrocious that it was hard to make out what the band was doing. We knew nothing about this group when we found out about the show, but in looking for information on them, it seemed like they had some good tunes and weren’t mired in the psychobilly clichés that their image might suggest. But this night we couldn’t even tell what they were doing due to the sound. Too bad, as they definitely had a number of fans there and the drummer, at least, seemed to be a super nice guy – he started talking to me about the Briefs and Steve E due to the Briefs t-shirt I was wearing.

We have heard better sound at the Canyon Club, so I hope that this was an exception and not the rule for this place, as it is a nice space.

The show line up is pretty cool though and hopefully with better sound and healthier participants, this gig will impress people across the nation!

(PS - pix by me with a new digital camera that I haven't completely figured out yet so sorry for the poor quality.)