X__X, The Psyatics, Stagnetti's Cock, Action Cat at the Dive Bar, Thursday May 10, 2018

Legendary Rocket From the Tombs bassist Craig Bell reached out to me about a Thursday night show for one of the bands he is currently working'n'touring with, another Ohio 70's art-punk legend, X___X. Thankfully, we were able to work out a suitable arrangement for them at the Dive Bar (thanks, Nate!) and Vegas once again hosted a group that many people around the world can only dream of seeing.

Opening the evening was locals Action Cat, a new (apparently) punk rock trio that was plagued with problems during their short set - lots of tuning, drinking water and other distractions in between songs. The sound was generally fast punk, but with some tempo'n'time changes to make it interesting and with female, screaming vocals. We'll see what this team evolves into.

Local stalwarts Stagnetti's Cock were up next, with their brand of goofball punk rock (songs like "Nuns Having Fun", "Jack Daniels" and "Beer, Sex and Satan", "Fuck Our Drummer") with some 70's rock influences. Great guitar sound (even through a borrowed guitar), April is becoming confident on the bass (she's now also playing in the Negative Nancys), the drummer somehow plays in a banana suit and Joe does some impressive whistling in their pseudo Spanish song, "Felipe".

Of course, I always dig seeing my pals, the Psyatics and they were the first band I thought of to play with X___X due to their mix of noise, punk, and garage. Their set was short'n'strong, with covers like "Two Timing Touch", "Pigs" and "Gonna Find Me a Cave" mixed with their intense originals like "Gentlemen of Four Outs". Glad that they were able to join the fun this evening!

I think that "unpredictable" is one of the best ways to describe X___X and, as with any band of extreme personalities, you never know what you're going to get. The last time I saw them, singer/guitarist/founder (and ex-electric eels) John Morton spent the majority of the set in an extended monologue complaining about this'n'that. Thankfully, this evening we were treated to more music than anything else, but that isn't to say that there wasn't performance art elements to the set. John opens the set by creating a tin foil hat for himself and then making a tumultuous clatter with his theremin. He occasionally traded his Gibson Firebird guitar for a Coral Sitar, he made a call on his cell phone at one point, he cut a steel pipe into several segments (no context to this action that happened between songs) and every once in a while he would again make the theremin bellow'n'blare when he wasn't wrenching tortured sounds from the Firebird. There were some portions of the set that reminded me of Half Japanese, there were some almost free jazz stylings, some early punk (one tune even reminded me of the Gizmos' "Pumpin' to Playboy") and some great covers from Blue Cheer and fellow Ohio natives, the Pagans. Craig provided ferociously heavy bass lines and sang a couple of numbers, as did second guitarist (and founding member) Andrew (who also added some appropriately turbulent guitar clamor), while drummer Rich Rodriguez smashed'n'crashed in a Monks-like manner. They closed with a number dedicated to their hometown in which they derided the R'n'R Hall of Fame while chanting "Cleveland Sucks", as an answer to Ian Hunter, apparently.

As it happens in Las Vegas, especially on a Thursday night, the bar was sparsely attended, but those that were there were treated to a spectacle that they are not likely to find anywhere else! Thank you again to the Dive Bar for taking a chance on some wild mania and thank you to X___X for making this a stop on your tour. They are playing a number of dates on the west coast, so see them if they come to your town!