I don’t generally leave the cozy confines of Blog of Doom Headquarters on a weeknight, but when two of the baddest stoner rock bands in the country are co-headlining a show nearby, I tend to bend the rules. That was the case last night when Black Pussy (Portland) and Mothership (Dallas) invaded The Southgate House Revival for an evening of retro-tastic metal that still has my ears ringing 12 hours later.
With no local openers on the bill, Black Pussy took the stage around 9:00 and proceeded to blaze through an hour long set of fuzzed-out 70’s metal that was every bit as catchy as it was heavy. The absurd amount of Sunn amps along the backline was the sexiest thing I’ve seen on stage in a long time and provided ample wattage to deliver the bands riffage. The drummer just beat the shit out of his kit the whole show, while the bassist kept to the shadows and cranked out some super melodic bass lines. The lead guitarist can shred for days and his leads evoke images of Pink Floyd. The keyboards add a cool, spacey effect on top of everything and the frontman is just a rock star, plain and simple. Also, I usually don’t take note of a band’s sartorial prowess, but the Black Pussy guys pull off a retro look that’s so cohesive and complete and that you would swear that you woke up in 1974. The guitar player from Mothership joined the boys onstage for a 10+ minute space jam entitled “Galaxies” that closed out the set and was arguably the highlight of the whole evening. It’s quite obvious that Black Pussy has grown in leaps and bounds since I saw them last time, and I thought they were killer then.
On a side note, I saw these guys open for Vista Chino all the way back in September and they were already shifting away from the mellow stoner rock featured on their debut release, On Blonde. The band has added an assload of heavy to their sound in the time since the debut was recorded. It’s kind of weird to see a band stray away from the recorded material on stage, but I’m digging the newer stuff way more than the debut, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on a new release as soon as possible. Stay tuned.
Dallas power trio Mothership strips the sound down a little and goes for more of a classic metal vibe with some serious blues influence, which is to be expected from a band of Texas gypsies. Co-fronted by a pair of brothers, Mothership takes the vibe from 60’s and 70’s rock and adds a touch of early 80’s metal to create a fairly unique sound that still manages to melt faces. The guys played a mix of stuff of their self-titled debut and songs from their upcoming release (Fall 2014, I believe) and everything sounded amazing. The bass player handles the bulk of the vocals, and his voice is not what you’d expect from a big dude with a killer beard. He’s not exactly in the high register, but he has a smooth, mellow voice that blends in perfectly with the sound. Killer bass fills, too. His brother has more of a rough-edged voice, but when he took the mic, it just sounded natural. His lead work was astounding and the interplay between the two brothers was almost telepathic; the kind of cosmic mojo that only brothers can manufacture. The man behind the kit laid down a solid foundation for the heavy maelstrom and gets credit for the band’s super tight stops and starts. I think those guys just got back from Europe, which shows in the absolute lack of rust in their performance. It appears that I’ve been missing out on these guys for too long. Killer band with killer tunes.
There are still plenty of dates left on this tour and I encourage every single one of you in the Midwest and West Coast to check out these two fine bands. You’re just not going to get more bang for your buck in one evening and all the dudes are super cool, too, so that’s a bonus.
21-Jun The Outland Springfield, MO
25-Jun Duffy's Tavern Lincoln, NE
26-Jun Moon Room at Summit Music Hall Denver, CO
28-Jun Bar Deluxe Salt Lake City, UT
29-Jun Neurolux Boise, ID
1-Jul Soda Bar San Diego, CA
2-Jul Backstage Bar & Billiards Las Vegas, NV
3-Jul The Satellite Los Angeles, CA
9-Jul Harlow's Sacramento, CA
10-Jul Volcanic Theatre Pub Bend, OR
11-Jul Kenton Club Portland, OR
12-Jul Highline Seattle, WA
18-Jul Yucca Tap Room Tempe, AZ
19-Jul Leftwoods Amarillo, TX
20-Jul Backstage Lubbock, TX
With no local openers on the bill, Black Pussy took the stage around 9:00 and proceeded to blaze through an hour long set of fuzzed-out 70’s metal that was every bit as catchy as it was heavy. The absurd amount of Sunn amps along the backline was the sexiest thing I’ve seen on stage in a long time and provided ample wattage to deliver the bands riffage. The drummer just beat the shit out of his kit the whole show, while the bassist kept to the shadows and cranked out some super melodic bass lines. The lead guitarist can shred for days and his leads evoke images of Pink Floyd. The keyboards add a cool, spacey effect on top of everything and the frontman is just a rock star, plain and simple. Also, I usually don’t take note of a band’s sartorial prowess, but the Black Pussy guys pull off a retro look that’s so cohesive and complete and that you would swear that you woke up in 1974. The guitar player from Mothership joined the boys onstage for a 10+ minute space jam entitled “Galaxies” that closed out the set and was arguably the highlight of the whole evening. It’s quite obvious that Black Pussy has grown in leaps and bounds since I saw them last time, and I thought they were killer then.
On a side note, I saw these guys open for Vista Chino all the way back in September and they were already shifting away from the mellow stoner rock featured on their debut release, On Blonde. The band has added an assload of heavy to their sound in the time since the debut was recorded. It’s kind of weird to see a band stray away from the recorded material on stage, but I’m digging the newer stuff way more than the debut, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on a new release as soon as possible. Stay tuned.
Dallas power trio Mothership strips the sound down a little and goes for more of a classic metal vibe with some serious blues influence, which is to be expected from a band of Texas gypsies. Co-fronted by a pair of brothers, Mothership takes the vibe from 60’s and 70’s rock and adds a touch of early 80’s metal to create a fairly unique sound that still manages to melt faces. The guys played a mix of stuff of their self-titled debut and songs from their upcoming release (Fall 2014, I believe) and everything sounded amazing. The bass player handles the bulk of the vocals, and his voice is not what you’d expect from a big dude with a killer beard. He’s not exactly in the high register, but he has a smooth, mellow voice that blends in perfectly with the sound. Killer bass fills, too. His brother has more of a rough-edged voice, but when he took the mic, it just sounded natural. His lead work was astounding and the interplay between the two brothers was almost telepathic; the kind of cosmic mojo that only brothers can manufacture. The man behind the kit laid down a solid foundation for the heavy maelstrom and gets credit for the band’s super tight stops and starts. I think those guys just got back from Europe, which shows in the absolute lack of rust in their performance. It appears that I’ve been missing out on these guys for too long. Killer band with killer tunes.
There are still plenty of dates left on this tour and I encourage every single one of you in the Midwest and West Coast to check out these two fine bands. You’re just not going to get more bang for your buck in one evening and all the dudes are super cool, too, so that’s a bonus.
21-Jun The Outland Springfield, MO
25-Jun Duffy's Tavern Lincoln, NE
26-Jun Moon Room at Summit Music Hall Denver, CO
28-Jun Bar Deluxe Salt Lake City, UT
29-Jun Neurolux Boise, ID
1-Jul Soda Bar San Diego, CA
2-Jul Backstage Bar & Billiards Las Vegas, NV
3-Jul The Satellite Los Angeles, CA
9-Jul Harlow's Sacramento, CA
10-Jul Volcanic Theatre Pub Bend, OR
11-Jul Kenton Club Portland, OR
12-Jul Highline Seattle, WA
18-Jul Yucca Tap Room Tempe, AZ
19-Jul Leftwoods Amarillo, TX
20-Jul Backstage Lubbock, TX
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