RIP Burt Ormsby of the Wailers

Rock ’n’ legend: Last of the ‘Louie Louie’ hit makers dies in Mexico 
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Nina Coyote eta Chico Tornado, The Swamp Gospel, The Super Zeroes at the Double Down, Saturday Oct 29, 2016

After more than two years, our friends from Spain, Nina Coyote eta Chico Tornado finally returned to Las Vegas! Knocking people out with their two person blast at the Huntridge Tavern in 2014, and playing all over the world since (besides the west coast, they have also invaded Mexico on this trip and have plans to go to Japan soon!), Koldo and Ursula requested a gig over this weekend and I couldn't resist getting the Swamp Gospel on the bill as well!

Opening the night was our pals, the Super Zeroes, doing their brand of melodic, super-hero themed punk rock. Although there were some technical difficulties this evening, overall they sounded tighter than ever, with cool, rockin' guitar tones and a drivin' rhythm section. Great warm up for the night!

The Swamp Gospel did our set of preachin' blues'n'garage, throwing in a couple of appropriate Sonics' numbers for the season ("The Witch" was added tonight) and healed some poor afflicted members of the congregation and saved some souls! (Thank you Nikki and Kevin for the abundance of photos!)

(Above SG pix by Nikki Ruffing)

(Above SG pix by Santo Kevin)

Nina Coyote eta Chico Tornado are a powerful duo who produce a manically magical sonic assault worthy of a multi-member combo. Ursula pounds the beat with a strength that belies her tiny frame, while Koldo, playing through a guitar and bass amp simultaneously, and using a splitter, an octave pedal along with an array of others, gives a wide variety of high energy sounds, and screams'n'sings on top of it all. Great, super-heavy, Sabbath/Blue Cheer influenced, head-bangin' songs, cool image, nice interaction with the audience and just damn good folks! They certainly won over the DD crowd and we all hope that they will return again soon!

Thank you again to the Double Down for allowing us to put on shows like this and special shout-out to Mark Bartschi for lending NC/CT his prized drums!

RIP Zacherley

Rest in Peace: John Zacherle a.k.a. Zacherley, The Cool Ghoul 
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The Darts - EP

A brand, spankin' new, all-femme, bi-state, garage rock'n'roll band, the Darts are a conflagration congregation featuring members of the Love Me Nots (organ/vocalist Nicole and bassist Christina), the Two Tens (drummer Rikki) and Brainspoon (guitarist Michelle). They brew up a potent stew of powerful, organ-fueled garage music, not unlike the terrific Love Me Nots (a logical comparison, as Nicole keys and voice drove that combo, as well).

Christina starts things off with a dirty, growling bass riff in "Running Through Your Lies" before the rest of the gals burst in with a knock-out punch - a stompin' rocker with a cool'n'cathy call'n'answer. Fast'n'furious, "Revolution" is a commanding, memorable, poppy bit of high energy with fantastic playing from everyone (great guitar solo!), cool dynamics, sing-along chorus, vicious lyrics and even a bit of spelling! "Carry Me Home" has an off-kilter beat, is just a click or two slower, a little more haunting, but still wild'n'wooly and "You Got Me" slows the pace a bit more, but certainly not the intensity for this moody, maniacal number. They dish up a head-boppin' four chord garage rocker in "Take What I Need" before closing things out with a Bob Diddley-esque "Ramblin' Stone" - raw guitar work here (both rhythm and leads) over a swingin' beat, dynamic flourishes and a wild rave-up.

Absolutely terrific debut from some supremely talented ladies Looking forward to seeing them in a couple of weeks here in Las Vegas!

recommended gigs

Thursday Oct 27 - The All Togethers at the House of Blues
Thursday Oct 27 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Double Down

Friday Oct 28 - Deadbolt at the Golden Tiki
Friday Oct 28 - Bob Wayne, Three Bad Jacks, The Rhyolite Sound, Whiskey Breath at the Dive Bar

Saturday Oct 29 - The Swamp Gospel, Nina Coyote and Chico Tornado, the Super Zeroes at the Double Down

Sunday Oct 30 - The Bitters at the Double Down

Monday Oct 31 - De Phobic and the Phobic-tones at the Double Down
Monday Oct 31 - Franks'n'Deans, Jerk, the Quitters, Louder than Words at the House of Blues
Monday Oct 31 - Jello Biafra DJ'ing at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday Nov 2 - X at the Foundry SLS
Wednesday Nov 2 - Franks'n'Deans 2nd anniversary Weenie Roast with the Psyatics and much more!

Friday Nov 4 - The Ditch Diggers, Drunkard's Remorse, Red River Massacre at the Double Down

Saturday Nov 5 - Geekapalooza at the Dive Bar with 3d6, the Super Zeroes, the Velveteen Band and more

Sunday Nov 6 - Howlin' King Crawdad at Saddles'n'Spurs

Thursday Nov 10 - Gram Rabbit, Acid Sisters, Darts (with members of the Love Me Nots, Two Tens and Brainspoon!) and the Van der Rohe at the Bunkhouse

Saturday Nov 12 - Cash'd Out at Adrenaline Sports Bar with Dr Phobic, the Rhyolite Sound and Dante's Inferno

Friday Nov 18 - Gogo Bordello at the Brooklyn Bowl
Friday Nov 18 - Eric Idle and John Cleese at the Venetian

Saturday Nov 19 - The Swamp Gospel and the Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday Nov 25 - The Heiz and Franks'n'Deans at the Double Down

Thursday Dec 8 - movie premier of Atomic Punks at the Double Down

Friday Feb 10 - Adam Ant at the Brooklyn Bowl

Sunday April 9 - the Damned at the House of Blues

What have I forgotten? Lemme know

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, the Supersuckers, Jesse Dayton, the All Togethers at Backstage Bar and Billiards, Tuesday Oct 25, 2016

I don't often get out during the week, but with a strong line up that was starting at a reasonable time (just after 8:30pm), I was lured from my house to Triple B on a Tuesday!

Opening slot was given to one of Las Vegas' premier acoustic combos, the All Togethers. With a constantly changing line-up, the band now consists of stalwarts Ken and Cindy (vocals and mandolin/banjo and stand-up bass) along with Mike, Brandon (guitars/vocals), Brenna (cello/vocals) and brand new cat, Ian, on the fiddle. Brenna is now playing her cello with a strap, enabling her to stand up while playing - one of the more unique sights you're likely to see with an acoustic combo! This did not hamper her playing in any way and she and Ian added nice flourishes to the songs. The set was mostly songs from their CDs, most performed with fine 5 part harmonies, along with Mike's "Sonata in Whiskey" and the big closer, "Baba O'Reilly" (this time with Ken on mandolin instead of the usual banjo)! Great set!

I was not familiar with Jesse Dayton before this eve, but he has worked with major artists such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Rob Zombie (!), Kris Kristofferson and even contributed to an album by the Supersuckers! Surprisingly that I didn't know who he was. This evening his rockabilly trio sported Blasters gear, showing where they were coming from, and pumped out a set of original rockabilly tunes highlighted by some superior guitar work by Jesse. The rhythm section was ace, as well, and added harmonies to the tunes, and even did brief bass and drum solos! Jesse interacted a lot with the audience and even got everyone to sing along here'n'there and entertained with songs with titles like "At Home Getting Hammered While She's Out Getting Nailed"! Fun set!

The Supersuckers no longer rely on a wall of Marshalls to make their point, as Eddie Spaghetti has put down his bass and now donned an acoustic guitar and the rest of the group play though small-but-tough sounding amps. Backed by Marty Chandler on guitar, Chris Von Streicher on drums and, for this evening, a return of Jesse Dayton on guitar, their sound is now slower and more country than the bombastically big rock of the old days. Yes, Eddie's stage persona is pure egomania, and they still do several of the older "hits" ("Born With a Tail", "Double Wide", "Coat Tail Rider", "Jackalope Eyes" etc.), though nowhere near as maniacally as before. There were actual ballads with plenty of harmonies (everyone sang), a slower spaghetti western number, country tunes about marijuana, a rockin' soul song and some old school high energy punk'n'roll. Eddie also got the audience to join in, singing along with songs, doing call'n'answers, recognizing that all songs were ending with "cha cha cha" so that the crowd would know when to cheer, taking a pic of the audience all flipping him off, and on'n'on! Unfortunately, the sound was kinda muddy throughout the night, with the bass drum FAR too loud (to the point of being chest-thumpingly painful) and the vocals too buried, so it was difficult to pick out everything. Guitarist Marty got to sing lead on a tune and pulled out all of the stops for his leads - and several times did some smokin' trade offs and dual leads with Jesse - the highlight of the set. Obviously, not the same as the old days, but still quite entertaining in a posing-rock kinda way!

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band is really not that big - it consists of the Rev. on guitar and vocals, his wife Breezy on washboard and vocals and Maxwell on drums (and bucket). Their sound is old school country'n'blues, with Peyton pickin'n'slidin' on his vintage guitars and addin' a bit of bass with simply the lower strings (he did run it through a bass amp as well as his guitar amps). He comes across as a cartoon character - Bluto from Popeye, to be precise - while making faces and stompin' his big frame all over the stage, interacting with Breezy and Maxwell, as well as the audience, who they also got singing along with their songs. They're definitely a visual group and dig putting on a show - from their outfits and general goofiness to the Rev. kicking a cymbal'n'stand high in the air at the close of a song for their roadie to catch to Breezy setting her washboard on fire! (You could buy the washboard at the end of the night for $200!). Their well deserved encore was "Two Bottles of Wine" with Jesse and Eddie joining the mayhem with vocals, guitar and Eddie playing the bid damn bass drum while Breezy was burning things and the Rev. was wailin' away! Definitely a good time! (And I was home by 1:00! I hope that more local clubs adopt this policy of reasonably early weeknight shows!)