Tag: live music

There are certain bands that just grabbed my attention the first time I heard them. The Cowboy Junkies have done that twice. The first was their beautiful spooky version of the Velvet Underground classic “Sweet Jane” that appeared in the otherwise tedious Natural Born Killers. Margo Timmins’ ethereal voice floating above the music was stunning and perfect for that particular scene. I didn’t know who the band was, only that it was the best part of the film.

I heard them again in the late ’90s when “Common Disaster” started getting play on KGSR. This time it was Michael Timmins’ guitar that hooked me. I love the gently distorted riff that shimmers in the background, fading away behind sister Margo’s haunting voice. That time I caught the name and bought the album, Lay It Down.

Trying to describe the Cowboy Junkies sound is difficult; there are many influences that converge creating an uncanny mixture of blues, country, low-fi alt rock, and folk. The end result is a quiet intensity and interplay between Margo’s vocals and Michael’s guitar.

I had no idea what to expect at last night’s show at One World Theatre in Bee Caves. I imagined that the show would be mainly Margo with her brothers backing her up, but what I heard went far beyond what I expected. The focus of the music moved back and forth from Margo’s vocals to Michael’s dynamic guitar work. I knew she would sound great, taking the audience on a journey of “heartbreak and misery” as she jokingly referred to the band’s music at one point.

I was surprised and pleased with how much of the show was dedicated to the musicians. I love listening to quiet, gently ebbing and well-controlled guitar feedback and Michael Timmins is very good at this. He can of course bang out rockin’ and bluesy solos, but creating and controlling noise in such a way that it adds to the color and overall feel of the song, surrounding it and giving it shape is something I love to hear live. The overall effect of the show was a feeling of being in a smoky lounge late in the night of a David Lynch film.

The set was a mix of old and new. They played several tunes from their latest album Early 21st Century Blues, a collection mainly of covers from influences such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. A favorite moment of mine came when singing “Miles from Our Home” one of their hits, if the Junkies can be said to really have hits, Margo seemed to forget the words and had to refer back to a notebook. She kept going but with a wonderfully sheepish smile and a wink to the audience.

They ended their set with the closing track from the new album, a beautiful rendition of U2’s “One” an amazing song that takes me back to my Dallas year, cruising the plastic nightime highways with airplanes swarming over DFW like robot fireflies. It’s a song that has always filled me with a sense of melancholy and yet at the same time hope. It seemed perfect to hear the Junkies play it and was a great end to a captivating set.

On Saturday, we went to see Hell’s Belles, the Seattle-based all female AC/DC tribute band, play Stubb’s. As mentioned in a previous post, my cousin, Lisa (Malcolm Young) Brisbois, is in this band and that’s what brought us to the show. Now I know my cousin is in this band, so I may be biased, but I’m also not that into AC/DC so I think it balances out.

In a way, not being familiar with much other than AC/DC’s most well-known songs allowed me to appreciate the band in their own right. Had it not been for such crowd-pleasers as “Highway to Hell,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” and “Big Balls,” I probably wouldn’t have known that they were covering AC/DC. But it didn’t matter. Hell’s Belles just absolutely rocked. I love seeing shows when I know very little of a band’s music and still walk away having totally enjoyed the set. This was one such evening.

One of the things that contributes (emphasis on tribute) to the band’s show is what comes across as a real love for AC/DC. This is not a parody or a deconstruction act; this is truly a tribute to the energy, excitement and fun of AC/DC’s music, and seeing that legendary band’s testosterone-heavy swagger performed with such enthusiasm and love for the material by a group of highly talented women is wickedly subversive in its own right, which is exactly what hard rock should be.

Lead guitarist Adrian (Angus Young) Conner and Singer Jamie (Brian Johnson/Bon Scott) Nova maintained an all-out intensity throughout the evening that had everyone on both levels of Stubb’s indoor venue rocking, dancing, and having a great time. This was a show where everyone was into the music and having fun. Even the woman who fell and busted her ass while doing what appeared to be an I-used-to-be-a-stripper routine for her husband came up smiling and kept on rocking.

This was one of the most energetic, all-out rockin’ shows I’ve seen in a long time, and I do hope they come back. In the meantime, Conner – who is based in Austin – has a band called Adrian and the Sickness that is surely worth checking out when they play around here.

I stumbled upon Calexico at the 2004 ACL Fest and standing under the sweltering heat of that day, I was immediately enthralled with their ability to create a sonic landscape that sounds the way the southwestern deserts look. Listening to them that day, I heard traces of country, mariachi, western swing, surf rock, spaghetti western soundtracks, electronic experimentation, jazzy improv, well-controlled guitar noise, and acoustic folk produced by a large group of musicians many of whom were multi-instrumentalists. And an upright bass, a welcome change of pace outside the jazz world. The music was big and lonely and utterly captivating. By the end of the month, my wife and I had collected all of their CDs, and ever since then they’ve been in constant rotation on the stereo and in the cars, especially The Black Light and Feast of Wire.

Last spring, we went to see them when they were opening for Ozomatli and Los Lonely Boys at The Back Yard. Sadly that was a bust for us, since due to horrible traffic and a parking fiasco, we only caught the last two songs of their set. What we heard from the parking lot was great, and Ozomatli turned out to be an interesting show (we left before Los Lonely Boys) so it wasn’t a total loss.

Finally, last Sunday night, we made it to see a (sort of) Calexico show at Stubbs BBQ. I say “sort of” only because the headline portion of the show was Calexico with Iron & Wine supporting their recent collaboration. Calexico came on after a quick set by Edith Frost and started out a bit too folk-y for our tastes. This is a band that is capable of substantial musical exploration, but the incarnation that started was to me the least interesting version of Calexico. It works for me on CD, but when I see live music, I want to see a band stretch out a bit, as I know Calexico can.

As the set progressed, my allergies began to get the better of me (as they do every time I am foolish enough to stand around outdoors in October) and disappointment began to set in. About halfway through the set though (at “Alone Again Or”), things changed. Charlie Sexton joined them on stage and they began to play more like the Calexico that I love…mariachi horns, Spanish rhythms, the hints of surf rock, the country twang, all creating that impression that when someone opens the first country bar on the moon, it will be a regular gig for Calexico.

The remainder of their set was well worth the price of admission and exactly what I was hoping to hear. We left before Iron & Wine and the joint set primarily because of a combination of allergies and what I’ll call end-of-daylight-savings-time exhaustion that on a Sunday night was more powerful than a desire for more music. Of course, I did pick up two of their tour-only CDs, Scraping, and The Book and the Canal. So far, I’ve listened to most of the former, and only the first few tracks of the latter. Overall, I’m pleased, but I’m still waiting for an actual Calexico (as the headliner and primary draw) show. Not during October, please.