The Rock Report

SOANGELICATE’S ROCK REPORT: DR DOG W/FLOATING ACTION @ THE STATE THEATER, ST PETE, FL

Apr 262011

I am nothing, if not a rabid Dr Dog fan. Ever since seeing them at Lollapalooza a few years back I have made a point of seeing them every time they come around, so I was crushed when the Tampa Bay Area wasn’t part of the tour announcement following the release of their last album, Shame, Shame. In fact, I summed up my review of that album with the following, “This one goes on my personal essential listening list, and if these guys come anywhere near you, don’t walk, run to the show…and tell them to get their asses back to Tampa.” That said, you can only imagine my glee when I got the announcement that they were doing a second leg of the tour and they would be playing The State Theater on Record Store Day.

Opening for Dr Dog was a band out of Asheville, NC called Floating Action. I had never heard them before, but I liked them pretty much instantly. The first thing their sound evoked for me of was Band of Horses and maybe a little Fleet Foxes, mainly because of their harmonies and twanginess. Looked into the band post-show, it turns out that their last album, Desert Etiquette, was actually produced by Band of Horses’ bassist, Bill Reynolds. I will definitely be picking this up. Seeming not to notice that they weren’t in the mountains any more, lead singer Seth Kauffman was wearing both a stocking cap and a blazer in the 80+ degree heat. I was already pretty darn warm in my t-shirt and shorts, but by the fourth song I, along with much of the the almost capacity crowd, was dancing and clapping (and sweating) along. Highest praise of all may be that members of Dr Dog kept coming out from beside the stage to watch the performance.

As I settled closer to the stage in preparation for the main act, a friend of mine asked about what she was going to see when Dr Dog took to the stage, if it was going to just be a couple guys. If you’ve seen this band before, you know why I couldn’t help but smile at this. Dr Dog has 5 members, 6 on this tour, and they filled the whole stage even before they start dancing. You can tell these guys genuinely love what they do. They transform a simple concert into an all out experience, playing every single song as if it was the last song of the final encore. This also happened to be the last show of the tour, but you’d think it was the first with all the energy they still somehow had. Even the more low key songs are played to the fullest, like when Frank McElroy’s rhythm guitar set the mood for an achingly slow and heavy rendition of “Someday” and when they put on a sweat-drenched rendition of “The Beach” that fucking killed me. I am, in fact, dead now.

I had the chance to chat with the newest band member, drummer Teach (Eric Slick), after the show and he made my night even greater when he said they’re already ready to work on their next album, which is apparently going to be produced by Dangermouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz). I can’t wait to hear what a more edgy Dr Dog sounds like and, even more exciting, I can’t wait for the next tour.

Check out more pix from the show by the Drunk Camera Guy

SOANGELICATE’S ROCK REPORT: RA RA RIOT @ THE CROWBAR, YBOR

Mar 242011


Ra Ra Riot has been on my radar since their eponymous 2007 EP but I honestly never expected them to come to Tampa. When the show was announced, I was surprised that not only were they coming to my town, but the show would be in the cozy confines of the Crowbar. Would Tampa show up for this must see show on a weeknight? In the rain? Yes and yes, even the double whammy of a wet weeknight didn’t stop the show from selling out and the place from being filled wall to wall.

The full six member band was quite an impressive sight on the intimate stage, especially because two of them were playing stringed instruments, a cello and a violin. Some bands have a violinist step in for one or two songs, but not RRR. These are full time band members playing their instruments on nearly every song, and cellist Alexandra Lawn even had her debut as a lead vocalist on the last release, The Orchard. In fact, “You And I Know” may have been my favorite song in an overall brilliant performance from the band, and I’d be surprised and disappointed if I didn’t get to hear more from her on future releases. They played every single song I wanted to hear from their back catalog, mixed in with a lot of the newer stuff. I have to admit that I hadn’t given the last album a lot of playing time, but I’m definitely planning to give The Orchard more attention now.

Opening the show was local band The Sleepy Vikings, self-described “loud country shoegaze”, followed by The Luyas, a Canadian band that brought out such artillery as the French horn and hand bells. It was a bit too quirky for me, but I may download a song or two to check them out.

Check out some more shots from the show here

GUEST POST: THE ROCK REPORT: MICHAEL DEAN DAMRON HOUSE CONCERT

Mar 112011

Our good buddy, Chris Green, recently booked Mike Damron for a house show and asked if I’d be interested in posting some of the video from it. Of course I responded with a solid Clay Davis “Shhhhhiiiiiiiitttttttttt” and accepted. Enjoy:


Ninebullets.net has devoted plenty of coverage to the music of Michael Dean Damron‘s music over the years. Longtime readers will know him both as the front man of incendiary hard rock band I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House, and also for his more contemplative solo albums.

Mike D’s home base is Portland, and so as a Seattle-area resident, I’ve been lucky to have had many opportunities to see him perform. I’ve seen him and his band winning over new audiences when opening for bigger name acts, and I’ve seen him playing more intimate venues full of his established fans. On stage, or talking in person, there is one invariant – whether headlining or opening and whether the crowd is big or small – putting his all into the performance is what he cares about.

His next solo album, “Plea from a Ghost” is due out this month, and he has started off his cross country tour in support of it with a few pacific northwest dates. In Seattle, he played a Saturday night house show (along with fellow Suburban Home Records artist Lizzie Huffman) at a private home that had a great performance space. When we saw his tour schedule, a friend (and ICLASOBITH fan) of mine and I decided to invite him to play a Sunday afternoon set at my buddy’s house out in the ‘burbs the next day.

We were pleased when he accepted without hesitation, and we started inviting people. We ended up with a very diverse set of guests of all ages, including some of our friends who had seen him play before, but also including plenty of people with no idea what to expect. When the show started, MDD joked that he was nervous because he was used to shows with drunker audiences and fights. Amusingly (if you’re familiar with his stage banter), he promised not to curse because there was a baby present, bouncing to the music on his Mom’s knee (I was impressed that he kept his promise until it was baby-nap-time). It turned out that there was no need for nervousness – he won the audience over quickly, and the applause grew louder throughout the set. He played a mixture of new songs from his forthcoming album, older material, and some covers (including a great cover of Two Cow Garage‘s “Swingset Assassin“). When he played the crowd-pleasing “Westboro Baptist Church” towards the end, he told us that he had decided that this was the last time he was ever going to play it. However, by that time the batteries on my camcorder had run out, so I don’t have any legally binding proof of this should he change his mind.

Here’s the good part: At the end of this party, besides leaving with some fine musical memories, I also left with some video of Mike D performing a couple of songs. While watching these should give you a little taste of the cozy garage where we had so much enjoyment this past weekend (and without you having to experience our typical crappy March weather), watching video on the computer is a poor substitute for a live performance. I urge you to get out and see the real thing when he plays your area.

Michael Dean Damron – Graveyard Song


Michael Dean Damron – Keep me in your heart


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THE ROCK REPORT: THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ THE HOUSE OF BLUES; ORLANDO, FL

Jan 262011


I’ve been hard on the Drive-By Truckers the past few years here on ninebullets, I know. Truth is, I’ve been even harder on them in my own mind, so when they posted Florida tour dates that made it to Tampa for only the second time since Isbell left the band, my excitement was about that of an eight year old with Brussels sprouts on his dinner plate. Ultimately, I decided I was gonna miss the show here in Tampa in favor of attending a local band’s show and figured that would be that. But, as fate would have it, the band’s publicist reached out to me the day of the Tampa show and next thing I knew the wife and I were gonna be driving to Orlando the next night for the DBT show at the House of Blues.

Now, it bears mentioning that I still wasn’t bouncing-off-the-walls excited to go to the show, I had just agreed to go see it. The wife and I had also agreed that if it sucked we were leaving immediately. The last two times I’d seen the Truckers (once with Isbell and once without), the band seemed less than interested in the show, bordering on distracted. I wasn’t the only one who noticed, either. I chalked it up to fatigue, band tensions or a product of getting bigger and playing bigger venues, but ultimately it didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was that they disappointed me, so a few years and a couple of albums that fell below the band’s high water mark pass later, and I find myself walking into the House of Blues to see what the band is like these days. To put it bluntly, I was not expecting to be blown away, amazed or rocked. I only hoped to be entertained.

I was entertained. I was rocked. And, hell, I was blown away.

The band was as good as I’ve seen them in years. Patterson’s smile was back. Cooley looked like he wanted to be there. As a whole, it was like the band had their moxie back and the setlist seemed to suggest the same thing. The first ½ of the show was dominated by tracks from Southern Rock Opera and spiced with choice selections from Patterson & Cooley’s contributions from Decoration Day and The Dirty South. The latter ½ of the show saw the pace mellow a little, as the band began introducing songs from the upcoming Go-Go Boots to the crowd, but it never let up enough to bore you as Cooley managed to squeeze “Birthday Boy” and “Ghost To Most” in there, with Patterson dropping “Tornadoes” into the last portion of the show. In the end, my only complaint about the show would have to have been the crowd. Orlando shows usually make me jealous of the Orlando scene, but the House of Blues crowd was lethargic to the point of being a deterrent to a good time (luckily Mr. Jimmy Beam kept the good times on tap).

So if the band is hitting your neck of the woods in the coming months, go check them out. They seem to be enjoying the road again and are putting on a great rock show right now.

Drive-By Truckers – Zip City (live)
Drive-By Truckers – Marry Me (live)
Drive-By Truckers – A Ghost To Most (live)

Songs taken from Live From Austin, Texas

GUEST POST: ROCK REPORT: SLIM CESSNAS AUTO CLUB’S NEW YEARS EVE SHOW:

Jan 182011

Autopsy IV is on his annual pilgrimage to strap a board to the bottom of his feet and slide down mountains. While he is away 9B will feature a collection of guest posts. Today’s post comes from our good buddy Shawn Kellogg who reviews a show I hope to make it out to one year…the annual Slim Cessna’s Auto Club New Years Eve show.


To those of you that are lucky enough to live and be apart of the wonderful Denver music scene, you know that when you see what appears to be the Rocky Horror Picture Show of Americana walking down East Colfax, you know that its that time of year once again, for Slim Cessna Auto Club to invade the new year’s eve holiday. This year, we were blessed when it was announced that Drag the River would be playing support, which totally blew my mind about this show. I have seen Drag to many times to count, but have never seen the much talked about live show that Slim Cessna’s Auto Club is known to put on.

The show itself drew the packed crowd at the Bluebird theatre that Slim Cessna always draws for these shows, despite the eight inches of snow that we received that day. Upon arrival, we ran into Jon Snodgrass from Drag who broke the news to use that J.J. Nobody and Steve Bauer (bass and drums respectively) just could not make it from the springs due to the weather, so Jon and Chad Price held down the fort. This was disappointing since Jon told us that Drag has been practicing a bunch of new songs and were stoked to play them. After that bummer of a surprise, that was much more of a pleasant surprise. The first support band, A. Tom Collins was a new name to me and to everybody I talked to around the stage. They were an eclectic mix of piano and songwriting with a dash of horns. It was quite a refreshing sound and definitely surprised myself with how much I really got into them, and their live show is definitely worth catching. I later found out from some of the Suburban Home crew that the lead singer is the former lead singer of the sorely missed Machine Gun Blues that were gathering steam in the Denver scene before their demise.

After A. Tom Collins, Jon and Chad from Drag the River came out as a duo to the unfortunate weather circumstances and played a wonderfully well rounded set, about an hour long. It was quite obvious that much of the Slim crowd was totally new to Drag and it was a good introduction to them. Along with some of the staples of a DTR live show, including “Medicine” and “Mr. Crews”, many of the songs from “Demons” made an appearance, and eventually turned into a crowd request with the Slim crowd obviously enjoying their first, and hopefully not their last dose of Drag the River.

After Drag played their set, Slim Cessna came out for the tenth anniversary of their New Year’s shows at the Bluebird theatre. And they held their version of Alt-Country church that their live shows our famous for. Both Manly and Slim Cessna himself spent a good portion of the set in the audience, who was hanging on every word the two of them had to say. After about 90 minutes, the Slim Cessna revival continued for about another half hour with a long encore that had the sold out crowds of the Bluebird near combustion. Despite the snow that everybody, including the bands, had to deal with, A. Tom Collins, Drag The River and Slim Cessna Auto Club helped everybody ring in the New Year a day early, and its never to early to start drinking for the New Year. And on a real quick note, I just want to thank Autopsy IV for the opportunity to write this article, and thanks for reading.

Drag The River – History with History
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Children of the Lord

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