It had been an exhausting weekend- eight hours of yard work both days, shows every night, and worst of all, no naps- and I was starting to feel it. Still there was one more show I just had to see.
Louka Patenaude has been sitting in with the Classic Tawnies (Josh and Blake’s cover band) on and off for the last year. He plays a metallic blue Ibanez electric guitar that looks like a prehistoric insect and should be accompanied by devil signs and the histrionic vocals of a hair metal band. Surprisingly, what comes out of his guitar is anything but prehistoric rock; instead he plays tight, concise melodies with none of metal’s excesses. He’s a natural on lead guitar for their blues and classic rock covers, but he was equally good as one of the more impressive parts of a country cover band that Blake spent a short time playing bass with. I had no idea he had also written and recorded a very catchy pop record under the name the Optimistic (which matches his perpetually positive disposition) until Blake popped it in my CD player one day.
He had done most of the work himself on the debut CD, an infectious listen that often resembles Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy in the AM and Being There days, but for the live shows he rounded up a rhythm section. They were the first band tonight on a bill that also included Dead Sparrows and Des Roar who had just played the night before at the Corral Room, while Des Roar had also joined the Know It All Boyfriends on Friday at Café Montmartre. I’m not even sure who these bands are but even after playing a couple nights in town they were still drawing a large crowd on a Sunday night, which was certainly a bonus for Patenaude’s band who had only played a few shows before tonight.
The rhythm section does a good job, but Patenaude is definitely the star of the Optimistic. His shiny guitar lines and contagious melodies sell the music convincingly. No one tune stood out, but it was a solid set. I wish I hadn’t been too tired to stick and figure out what the deal was with the other two bands, but the Optimistic was all I had come to see.
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