Messer Chups, the Shakewells, the Violet Mindfield at the Swan Dive Sunday 5-31-26

 

Apparently, a number of bands have been taking advantage of the pleasant springtime weather and are making their appearances in the Vegas area. Nice to see the town happening again!

I've been looking forward to this one, as it certainly appealed to my 60's-inspired soul. Opening the evening was the Violet Mindfield, who I was not familiar with but Danny from the Shakewells was very complimentary of them and so we made sure to get in early to check them out!

These cats (and kitten) took me back to my 80's garage days with their excellent visual style along with their Remains-ish (or, for a more 80's reference, the Vipers) garage-pop. The guitarist/singer had great tone (with plenty of old-school effects), the keyboardist/harmonica player added fine embellishments and the rhythm section locked in and drove the tunes, despite the drum kit self-imploding after every couple of songs! Great set of originals and a finale of the old stand-by, "Gloria", although, despite it being ubiquitous back in the day, who has covered this recently? Truly one of the best new bands I've seen in a long time!

We've been fans of our friends the Shakewells since we first saw them blasting out their own brand of garage rock'n'roll and they never fail to please. We were sad to hear of the departure of keyboardist Kate, but the band is still powerful as ever - and actually, if anything, more punky now without the keys to smooth things out a bit. Great originals from their record along with rockin' new numbers and a wild cover of "Night of the Sadist". I understand that they are considering adding keys again, so if you're interested, let them know, but that's not going to stop them from plying their garage-rockin' trade in the meantime!

Everyone is a monster here - Turbo and Ruckus have been stalwarts of the scene for as long as anyone can remember and are an incredible rhythm section, while Danny sings'n'shouts with a fine voice and the guitar wails with various tones, from clean and spooky to nasty noize, as appropriate to the tunes. 

Definitely the best straight-ahead garage rock'n'roll band in town!

The Russian-born Messer Chups have been taking their own brand of instrumental (and sometimes vocal) surf-rock on the road for a number of years now and just seems to be getting more'n'more popular - they packed the house for this show with screamin' fans!

Of course, the lovely Zombierella is the stunning visual focus of the show, even though no one is particularly wild on stage, relying instead on showing off their instrumental prowess. The songs and performances are super strong, although a bit more action on stage wouldn't hurt - although they don't seem to need my advice! 

Absolutely worth seeing, just don't expect craziness, just talent on display!

Big thanks to Ralph and Beau Monde Productions, along with the new Swan Dive Bar for a fun, rockin' night!