The Peculiar Pretzelmen and the Implosions at the Huntridge, Saturday Mar 9,2019

The Peculiar Pretzelmen are certainly one of my favorite combos these days - a Tom Waits-ian duo with homemade instruments, a mandocello, banjo, car parts, bicycle tires and great songs! So, I make it a point to be there whenever they come to town and usually try to have one of my bands play the show, but unfortunately schedules conflicted this time out but the amazing Implosions were on hand this eve.

It turns out that the Implosions first show, which was also with the PP on their last foray to Vegas, was at the Huntridge 17 months ago. Tonight they showed how much progress they have made in that time! While I thought that they were great right out of the gate, their sound has definitely coalesced and they are, naturally, tighter and more confident on stage. Cool, Vegas-themed songs about million dollar photos, the Blue Angel, playing the ponies and more, with a variety of sounds, from tremelo'd, Cramps-ian to frantic punkiness. Always a blast!

The Peculiar Pretzelmen's esoteric sound comes from a mixture of Kevin's Waits-esque songwriting and his penchant for homemade instruments (as well as a weirdly strung Japanese guitar and a mandocello - always impressive) and Deacon's incredibly creative drum kit made out of car and bicycle parts, pie tins, chains and more. Their sound is amazingly full for just two people and they are highly entertaining to watch as they put their weird creations through their paces. A number of songs were from their latest CD, Transmissions From the Electromagnetic Understream, but they mixed it up with various tunes from their career for a terrific set with plenty of crowd pleasers.

There are few acts, no matter how much I like, where I am disappointed when they come to the end of their set - the Pretzelmen are one of them - I really could listen'n'watch them all night. Thanks for Kevin'n'Deacon for coming back to Vegas, for the Huntridge for hosting the night and to the Implosions for setting it all up!

(I think I'm going to have to stop listening to Jw and bring my real camera out for shows again - sorry for the crappy quality of the pix here!)