The Rhyolite Sound / Durango 66 at the Griffin, Wednesday May 11, 2016

Although Wednesday nights can be tough, the Griffin does put on some fine shows in their back room mid-week, with drink specials until 11:00 (though, oddly, the bar in the band room is never staffed) and with a good sounding space and an actual sound man!

Up first this evening was Durango 66, a new(ish) stylin' surf/instrumental band making the scene in Vegas. Bands normally start around 11:00 here and I have had to stand around for ages waiting for bands previously, so I got there right on time, only to find out that D66 went on far earlier and I missed about half of their set!

In any case, I really dug their sound - a mix of traditional surf (some of their tunes even have bits'n'pieces "lifted" from classic numbers) and their own brand of rock'n'roll. The keys add a nice touch - Katrina adds plenty of cool fills - and the Moog Theremin gives some wacky sounds to the proceedings. For this set they had Gerry Proctor on drums (from Thee Swank Bastards and New Waves, among others) and he fit right in and even contributed some bongos! Cool to have another rockin' instro band in town!

Of course, I'm a huge fan of The Rhyolite Sound (still getting used to calling them that instead of Eddy Bear and the Cubs!) and although they continue to have problems keeping a steady drummer - this time they had a cat who has worked with bassist Davis on the Million Dollar Quartet show - they never fail to put on a fun-filled set of rockin' honky tonk music!

There was a new song or two here along with their interpretations of trad country numbers ("Ooh Las Vegas", "Got You On My Mind", "Bulge in Satan's Pants", etc.) and I never get tired of hearing their near-flawless harmonies and excellent musicianship.

A bachelor party joined the proceedings at one point so, of course, they were welcomed by the gents and Larry joined the drunken celebrants in the crowd (and it was a good crowd too - they pretty well packed 'em in!) and wished them well as they stumbled out again.

The guys got an encore and Wade gave us his rockin' version of "Shake Your Hips" and then, as any good country act should do, they pulled out "Fulsom Prison Blues"! Great night!