Fred & Toody of Dead Moon, the Psyatics - the Beauty Bar, Monday Feb 29, 2016

Local garage-rock combo, The Psyatics, were an apt choice for opening for Fred & Toody of Dead Moon - rockers who have created garage-punk music for decades. This was an early show, which was nice for a Monday night, but it meant that there were few people in attendance while the Psyatics played. Unfortunate, as they missed a heckuva band performing songs from their two albums, including "Bourbon Sway", "Swing on This", Evangeline", "Gonna Find a Cave", "The Sharpest Claws" and more before closing with a cooly unique take on the Velvet Underground's "I Can't Stand It Any More". Sound was a bit bass-heavy, but I dig seeing bands up-close-and-personal on the inside  stage at this venue.

Fred Cole has been around since the 60's, when he fronted bands such as the Weeds and the Lollipop Shoppe ("You Must Be a Witch") and with his wife, Toody, they have performed as Dead Moon and the Pierced Arrows. Although this was advertised as Dead Moon, in reality it was the duo more-or-less playing acoustically - beat'n'battered electric instruments though tiny mini-amps. They sat close together, and, in a touching moment, appeared to tell each other how much they loved each other - they have been together since 1967! - before they started the set (or was that simply my romantic imagination?). The sound was raw'n'ragged but goddamned if there wasn't some magic flying there. They traded vocals - Toody sang at least as much as Fred - and harmonized through songs like "Goddamn I Hate the Blues", "Wash Away the Pain", "Miles Away" and other powerful numbers. I got a bit of a 13th Floor Elevators vibe at times - similar garage/psych vein - and I just kept thinking just how f'k'in' genuine this was.

A decent amount of folks ended up in the little room for this intimate performance, including a number of the local garage/rock scene and even some slightly older rockers who knew Fred from his early days in Vegas' 60's garage scene! Great night and mucho kudos to the Beauty Bar for bringing these legends to town!