Friday, August 15, 2008

Royal Bangs

Ugh. Last night I had a terrible night.

No use lingering on it any more than to say it was a total bummer.

But today is a new day.

And tonight is the Royal Bangs show at the Beachland.

The Royal Bangs are an up-and-coming indie band from Knoxville, TN. They first came across my radar when they were selected as one of the featured college bands for last week's New American Union music festival in Pittsburgh, brought to you by the fine folks at American Eagle and "curated" by Anthony Kiedis. The selection of the Royal Bangs cemented, in my mind at least, the band as one worth checking out. Some time last month I picked up their newish cd, We Breed Champions, and have been periodically digging it since.

The album is interesting and fundamentally inconsistent. The apparent influences change from song to song, with a guitar hooked, chorus-friendly, poppy gem like "Cat Swallow" followed shortly by a seemingly Sparklehorse-inspired tune ("Japanese Cars") followed later by an equal parts Bob Seger/Arcade fire tune like "Russia Goodbye." Plus there are lots of subtle Pinkerton-era Weezer feints throughout.

None of this is bad, but I think it will be a while before the Royal Bangs discover their "real" sound. Which is cool.

Meanwhile, I'll be there to check them out, along with solid opening acts like Austin's Oh No! Oh My! and Memphis's Antenna Shoes.
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2 comments:

Kelly and José said...

Sounds like it will be a good time :)

You might enjoy getting a drink and appetizers at The Grovewood Tavern & Wine Bar prior to the show -- have you ever been?

August 15, 2008 at 2:42 PM
CB said...

Hey - I hope it will be fun. As for the Grovewood, I thinks drinks and appetizers are a good idea usually, though I've been disappointed every time I had dinner. Usually I like to snag wings at the Boardwalk. They aren't exactly good, but they are cheap and go nicely with $1.25 glasses of Gennee Light.

August 15, 2008 at 6:46 PM

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