I don't get out to see them all that often - usually just when I'm playing a show with them - but I always dig the wild surfy sounds of Thee Swank Bastards. Tonight's line-up consisted of their fearless leader, Jesse, on guitar, natch, along with hot-shot bassist Jeff Murphy, and snappy drummer Mark Bartschi, who was in top form this eve. All of the various incarnations are a pleasure to watch, but I gotta say that these three might be the most seasoned of the bunch. The lovely Ivanna Blaze helped with the visuals as she danced the night away as well as playing several songs on bass with the band (and showing off her behind-the-head playing!). Jesse surprised me by passing me his guitar at one point, at which time I basically made a lot of noise until he took it back, and they finished strong with the covers of the likes of the Ramones and Black Sabbath. Always a good time with these cats'n'kitten! Oh yeah, and light-footed bouncer/bartender Cactus, swept Ivanna off her feet at one point with some fancy dance moves!
Next up were the Psyatics, and I was definitely way off my game this night, with technical issues and just general malaise for some off reason. I think we were all a little less than perfect this night, but did our best to entertain the relatively sparse Friday night audience with our usual combination of noisy garage covers (Velvet Underground, Scientists, Banana Splits) and the garagey noise of our originals from our various albums, as well as some brand new tunes that we plan on recording later this year. Hope that those that were there had some fun and see us next time (we're taking a few weeks off, so see ya in July!) and I promise to be better (life permitting)!
(Psyatics photo by Nikki Ruffling!)
Apparently, the Way Outs are an old-school Las Vegas established surf/garage legend from before our time on the scene and I really wanted to check them out, but had to get back home to help take care of our sick pup and to rest up for the Psyatics video shoot the next day. Hopefully, I will be able to see them soon!
As always, thanks to Ian, Cactus and the whole fine crew at the DD for another rockin' night out on the town!
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