The Circus Kids - Double Down Saloon Saturday August 24, 2013

During a break in the monsoon season storms, the Swamp Gospel made it out to the Double Down for our back-to-school revival. Fittingly, joining us on the bill were a duo of youngsters called the Circus Kids, who turned out to be three rings of fun!

Being a guitar/drums duo, there are natural comparisons to the White Stripes, but these Kids have a sound of their own - less blues-oriented, a bit psychedelic at times (their "Chinese New Year" on the CD they were giving away has plenty of echoed guitar lines) and drummer Elise X. can really play! (Sorry Meg - you were never much of a musician.) Pawl E. sings (and he does sound a bit like Jack White vocally) and plays a Telecaster decorated with circus-y dots and a big Joker sticker while wearing a light-up, over-sized, clownish bow-tie and occasionally donning comically over-sized glasses with a clown nose! These pieces of silly theater are not really needed as they are energetic onstage, have real songs and are damn good musicians. They keep the songs interesting with enough changes and dynamics and riffs and manage to put out a big sound for just two people.

Those in the O.C./So.Cal. are should do yourself a favor and check these two out. They had a solid and growing fan base, as evidenced by the number of people they got to come out to Vegas with them!

(Once again, no good pix from me, so I stole the above from their Facebook page!)