The Low Czars; January 21, 2009; The High Noon Saloon

Leave it to the Low Czars to attribute their looming name change to a cease and desist order from the Russian government. It seemed ridiculous, but leader Aaron Scholz’s e-mail claiming that the letter from the descendants of Czar Nicholas Romanov of Russia had ordered them to change their name because it was 'unholy and nearly criminal...to suggest that Czars are lowly,' was well written enough to seem plausible. I mean if the country group Alabama can force the UK’s Alabama 3 go by A3 stateside (like there is any danger of people confusing the two), then I guess anything is possible. It turns out they had other reasons for wanting to change their name, but in the meantime they gave us all a scare by claiming it was the “last Low Czars show ever.” I guess we all missed the *under the current name.

During their far too short set (they only played an hour which apparently wasn’t enough time for any Big Star songs), they mentioned the name change when bassist James Leaver jokingly started calling them the New Admin, admitting that it was actually better than any of the other names they had come up with so far. After the set I asked the nothing-but-trouble Leaver why he doesn’t sing the Elvis Costello song “Radio, Radio” that they cover since he sounds uncannily like him. He confessed that Bruce Thomas (the Attractions bass player) is such an animal that there was no way he could play the bass part and sing. Not to say that Scholz, didn’t do a good job with it, it’s just that his voice is more perfectly suited to the Kinks and Who covers they do. In fact the former’s “Victoria” was one of my favorite songs of the night.

I’m sad to say goodbye to the Low Czars, but I am sure I will warm up to the Towne Squares soon enough (though currently I think the new name is a bit too clever). And I am pretty sure that under any name they will still sound just as awesome.

Jeremiah Nelson & the Mysterious Bruises/Deleted Scenes/This Bright Apocalypse; January 18, 2009; The Frequency

Seldom is a night of music as satisfying as tonight’s show was. And I’m not just talking about the music, even when all the bands are good there are other factors involved- the sound, the crowd, the drinks, even the people you are with all play into the formula of whether or not a show was “good.” Luckily all those stars seemed to be aligned for tonight’s show, and even though I hadn’t wanted to get up off the couch to head out into the frigid night, I was certainly glad I made the effort.

The line-up was rearranged shortly before show time, which ordinarily would annoy me, but in this case it made perfect sense. The two local bands on the bill ended up bookending the out of town band, guaranteeing them the best crowd possible. This Bright Apocalypse played first and they started right on time. This was the second time I had seen the full band with the new line-up and they were even better this time around. They all swear they screwed up “Sweat & Bare Feet,” but with rhythms that complicated, who would be able to tell?

I guess this is what they mean by “math rock.” It’s a genre term I’ve never understood, but figured it had to be for nerds. TBA’s changing time signatures seem natural given the strong African influence (another thing I never thought I would like), but I get the feeling it isn’t as easy as it sounds. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the two members of the band that aren’t related to me, Luke Bassenauer and Chris Sasman, are two of the sweetest, most easy-going and likeable guys I’ve ever met. Going to see them and my equally charming cousin Johnny Maloney is always a pleasure.

The thing about a band that’s as hard to categorize as TBA is that you never know who they will end up on a bill with. The last time they played the Frequency on a Sunday night they ended up on something of a metal bill. It’s probably a good thing I was trapped under a mountain of procrastinated Christmas cards and had to miss the show because I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have liked the other bands on the bill. Tonight however I couldn’t have loved the other bands more. The Deleted Scenes are a charismatic bunch of boys from Brooklyn who have been driving all over the country playing shows in support of their newest release. The next day they had a show in Pittsburgh, 12 hours away, but that didn’t stop them from staying till the end of the night and using up all their drink tickets.

Unfortunately, the whimsically named Birdseed Shirt doesn’t sound quite as good as they did live, though I’m not sure if you could actually capture that much joy de vie on record. Even with the muddy recording songs like “Got God” retain their appeal. A song about an on again off again relationship with religion, they make finding and losing faith sound as easy as changing your shirt. Their reasonably priced selection of merch also included T-shirt choices of a dead horse or a disassembled doll. As I looked at both the lead singer laughed, “I have to apologize; all our shirts are kinda dark.” I got the one with the dead horse.

It’s hard to believe that Willie Schultz just started playing with the Mysterious Bruises back in December as he has already made himself an essential part of the newest of Jeremiah Nelson’s bands. The new songs that make up the bulk of the Bruises’ set are among the best that Jeremiah has written and are absolutely perfect for the quartet. Echoes of Dylan’s Desire can be heard in the aching violin of songs like “Waiting for a Sign” and “Drugs to Make You Sober.” The double meaning of “Waiting for the End of a Run-on Sentence” has never sounded more hopeless or unforgiving than it did tonight. In other words, it sounded amazing. Even though I see the Mysterious Bruises every few weeks, I hope Jeremiah gets these songs recorded soon because I want to hear them all the time.

Insert contented sigh here.

The Dirty Shirts; January 17, 2009; Barrymore After Holiday Party

Last Band Standing V; January 16, 2009; High Noon Saloon

Last Band Standing proudly encourages what the Onion used to call “the despicable practice of drinking” on both sides of the stage. Fans join band members in rounds of shots to see who can drink the most and still maintain their dignity, or at least follow a set list. Hell, just remembering how to play their songs in the face of adversity, otherwise known as whiskey, is sometimes enough for a win. After missing LBS IV for a rather silly reason and not remembering much of LBS III, I was determined to make a better showing this year. Despite nursing just two glasses of wine the entire night, my bar tab was nearly $40. Such is the way of Last Band Standing.

Who actually “wins” is always a subject of much debate. This year my vote would go to the Runners Up. Playing their last official show as a band, they were given more shots than a college kid on their 21st birthday. I’m actually surprised the High Noon had enough shot glasses. We were actually responsible for the first round, buying any after that would have just been cruel. As the buyers taunted them to drink, the band begged for mercy. “After this song, I’ll do two, I promise,” singer/guitarist Erika begged (it should be noted she was last year’s winner, even though she didn’t play), while Bob Koch just stared them down, “Can’t you people see I am already drunk?” In fact the only member of the band who didn’t seem to mind the wealth of alcohol was nothing-but-trouble bassist James Leaver. “Who said we don’t want any more shots?” he laughed, downing two more.

Despite the fact that Bob claims to not even remember most of what happened on stage, they still sounded great. I’m going to miss their ridiculously poppy songs and enthusiasm. At least they put out a CD that captures their quirky, irrepressible charm earlier this year, and the girls in the band have already formed a new venture the Hemlines, sure to feature a few Runners Up songs. At one point their protest led them to ask why they hadn’t done this to the previous two bands, Goat Radio and Shazy Hade. Other than the obvious fact that neither of them were playing their last show, the other answer was that the audience wasn’t that drunk during their sets. “Looks like you caught up,” James laughed at Goat Radio’s John Wiedenhoeft as he stumbled on stage, I’m assuming to defend his band’s honor. I don’t even think he said anything before stumbling off again.

I think that’s why they like to play first, during Goat Radio’s set he was not only coherent, but quite chatty, giving several of his trademark, rambling introductions to their songs. It had been a long time since their last show (June), but the rust didn’t show. Songs like “Nadine” and “Hell on Wheels” were still barn burning rockers, but disappointingly there weren’t any new songs in the set. I know Wied has been job hunting since being laid off from the State Journal, but c’mon; he hasn’t had time to put together the artwork for the CD that they released last year at Last Band Standing? As a world class procrastinator myself even I have to be impressed by that. The good news is that they seem to be back on track as far as playing shows and already have a happy hour show booked for February.

The first time I saw Shazy Hade they were inexplicably the first band on a bill that Okkervil River was headlining. I had enjoyed Eric Shinker’s (Shinky) previous band, the booze-loving, Robert Pollard-channeling New Recruits the one time I saw them, but the best thing about Shazy Hade that night had to be their name. A too loud, too long set had scared me away from them ever since. I was hoping they would be better tonight, and they were. Most of the songs were ranting three minute pop songs, and in between, well, there was more ranting. As he babbled about how we should all get out and take a walk every once in awhile and about how happy he was to be there on January 17th (it was the 16th), I spent most of the set trying to figure out why I didn’t hate it.

The Motorz have been on hiatus even longer than Goat Radio, playing what they kept calling a farewell show at a MAMA after party back in May. As this show approached, lead singer/songwriter Kyle Motor insisted they weren’t even going to do any Motorz songs, they were just going to do Cheap Trick covers all night. While I can’t think of any band that could have actually pulled that off better than the Motorz, I would have been disappointed if that’s all they had done, and I found myself singing long to all of their much-loved songs about girls, cars and summer. They finally did get around to doing perhaps the ultimate Cheap Trick song toward the end of their too-short set. Despite the fact that the cheers were obviously louder for a Motorz song during an informal poll, Kyle insisted “Surrender” had won.

The Motorz have broken up once before, but with a new line-up and a show in front of an enthusiastic crowd I am hoping that maybe they will realize once again that they are all on the same page. While he isn’t as good a guitar player as he was a drummer, the completely adorable Josh Motor seems to be having even more fun than he did before. Watching the enthusiasm of the new drummer, who is “playing in his favorite band,” I have to hope they start playing shows again. It just doesn’t seem to be fair to him if they don’t.