2007

Rose Hill Drive: Are You Covered?

We’ve been wanting to see Rose Hill Drive for a while, yet we missed this weekend’s show. Thankfully, Neddy was there, and he filed this report…

I felt like there was a white duck following me around Mercury Lounge on Saturday, abruptly squealing “AFLAC!” every couple of songs. The occasion was the Rose Hill Drive show, and I spent much of it feeling the limits of my flesh and bones, wondering if I needed supplemental insurance.

RHDpete
Photo of Townshend and RHD by Someone Else

It was about three songs into the set that I was wondering if my regular insurance would cover all the hemorrhaging my ears were doing. You see, Rose Hill Drive was making my ears bleed. Sharp, loud, intense — guitar, bass, drums — ouch, ouch, ouch. It was a cranking start to the show.

The room was crowded and loose for a Saturday night, and they lit right into it. There was a “Showdown” early on, and they wasted no time getting onto the Hendrix bus with Band of Gypsy’s “Power of Love,” but song titles didn’t seem to matter much to me and my ears. There are few bands doing what Rose Hill Drive can do every night — Wolfmother, Earl Greyhound and, um, you tell me.

But none are doing the base, primal power trio face-melter thing with as much talent and zest as these guys. Not many have ever done it — Jimi Hendrix, Cream and, um, you tell me. I’ll take these under appreciated boots-to-the-head over whatever you got. I hadn’t felt this way about a band since the first time I saw Gov’t Mule for the first time almost a decade ago. A couple songs into the set and my head was buzzing, my nose was running and my ears were bleeding. What would happen if I lost my hearing — or sense of smell or taste for that matter? The rock was burrowing deep into me like a parasite, nibbling away at my soul from the inside. [AFLAC!]

Read on to see if Uncle Neddy makes it through the night…

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Morning Listening: SugarMegs SugarGems

Well-preserved archival live music’s not very tough to find, if you’re looking in the right spots (and you’re not a wall-eyed doof). And when I’m bored at work, or when I wish

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Mooney Suzuki: Have Mercy

The record is a very bizarre change in direction that falls apart at the seam, with the Brit-pop of “Ashes” the only early redeeming moment.

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The X-Ray Eyes: Chop Suey, Seattle, WA

Seattle band The X-Ray Eyes put on a solid show recently at Chop Suey, adroitly playing songs that were clearly familiar to the audience while still making time for newer material. Their sound grounded solidly in straight-ahead rock with just a tinge of folk, the three-piece act put on a polished show.

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Mega-Raging Boners for Fans at Coachella

Rage Against the Machine is back. The rap-rock-but-better-than-Kid-Rock’s-brand-of-rap-rock-group reunited for the first time in seven years at this weekend’s universally beloved Coachella festival, and choppy amateur videos from the performance

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Picture Show: The Hold Steady Goes to College

One week it’s the Flaming Lips at Brown, the next it’s The Hold Steady at NYU. Apparently it’s college time for our resident photographic genius Danfun.

Hey, NYU parents: Maybe this is what your $46,800 a year in tuition, room and board gets ya. For all that money, your kids can dance the Watusi (or however the devil it is you kids dance these days) at a semi-private rock ‘n roll show like the one on Thursday that brought The Hold Steady to NYU’s Kimmel Center.

HS

The intimate concert did open itself to the public, and Dan managed to sneak his wiry frame through the doors to snap the following photos for us. He added, “The crowd was going crazy. NYU students were running up on stage and jumping in the crowd every couple of minutes. I haven’t been a pit like that in some time. In some ways it was really fun, in others it was just a little too crazy for me.”

Too crazy for all us older folk — we’ll just never understand these crazy kids and their newfangled electronic mail. Read on for some more shots from Dan…

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