Long live The Living Things
Orly and I took in The Living Things last night at Doug Fir, and this is the first "new" band I've seen in a long time that had the magic formula of equal parts bravado, substance, style, and fun. You can listen to four of their songs at www.livingthingsmusic.com, but as good as they are on disc, they're live presence is rock & roll at it's finest. The band is supposed to be politically outspoken, but outrageous antics like burning pictures of Dubya and pissing on them to put them out were sidelined in favor of locking into the music and putting on a brief but brilliant show. There *was* a hoochie dancer for a couple of songs who alternated between masks of both the carnivale and gas variety, but if she was there to theoretically bolster the boys on stage, she ended up looking like the annoying little kid who whines for attention at the grown-ups' party, and proved more of a distraction than a visual focal point.
The opening band (whose name I can't recall, and wouldn't be allowed to tell you even if I could) were interesting in a kitschy, tounge-in-cheek 70's stoner rock kind of way, full of sarcastic swagger and messy power chords. Unintentionally funniest moment -- "You can only catch us live. We're not on the internet or shit like that..." When the singer said they didn't want a whole lot of people to know about them, the guitarist dryly remarked about how he didn't need to worry about that. And... well, yeah, that's true. But for about 45 minutes, it was entertaining.
The opening band (whose name I can't recall, and wouldn't be allowed to tell you even if I could) were interesting in a kitschy, tounge-in-cheek 70's stoner rock kind of way, full of sarcastic swagger and messy power chords. Unintentionally funniest moment -- "You can only catch us live. We're not on the internet or shit like that..." When the singer said they didn't want a whole lot of people to know about them, the guitarist dryly remarked about how he didn't need to worry about that. And... well, yeah, that's true. But for about 45 minutes, it was entertaining.