This past week we were blessed with two fantastic shows: Slim Cessna's Auto Club at the B&G Lounge in South Windsor & The Royale Brothers at Bank Street Cafe in New London.
Bernie, Marko, friend Matt & I went to South Windsor on Wednesday (a school night!) and found ourselves in a real hick dive tucked away in a strip mall. We walked in and I was kind of relieved to see quite a few people there listening to the local opening band, who were kinda punk/rock & roll. I was even happier getting a hug from Slim Cessna on the way in....
We girded our loins with drinks and I was desperately hoping we'd see a really great show because the place was so cruddy. Apparently the band decided to play there because they had a 'day off' between gigs and we were happy because it meant we didn't have to drive to Providence a couple of days later to see them. When I mentioned to Slim we had never been to the B&G Lounge, he looked around and said 'Yeah, I'd never go here, too..'' Hee!
We were certainly not disappointed by the show! This is a great band, great musicians & really entertaining- and there were only about 30 people at MOST and we were right at the 'stage'. It was a really fast, energetic show and many of the shaved-headed weird guys (did I mention S. Windsor is infested with KKK?) were virtually worshipping the band- a big ole redneck homoerotic experience. It was a sweaty time.
(Oddly, we saw Cortlandt from The Witch's Dungeon there and he had been filming the opening band & stuck around for the headliner.)
I thought that show was all the stress-relief I needed in this horrifically stressful month, but I had forgotten about The Royale Bros. CD Release Show!
The Bank Street Cafe was PACKED! We arrived to see the last bit of the opening band's set and then The Royale Brothers hopped on stage and kicked out the jams.....this was also a sweaty time!
The Royale Brothers are one band that gets rock & roll RIGHT. There's a lot of musical history in their sound- country, metal, punk, blues, 60s, you name it. They have a fantastic bass player and you can actually hear him- the kind of sinful, sexy, sinister, thumping bass that is supposed to exist in rock 'n' roll! The drummer is magic. The guitarists are amazing. The lean, mean, New London's Man in Black singer is the perfect frontman, for many reasons. The new CD is righteous- it actually reflects their sound well, which is not always the case with smaller pressings for local bands- nice production, very full sound.
And Joey Royale, how can you be so young and yet sound like a 65-year-old-man? It's a little freaky.
All I can picture listening to the CD is a group of weather-beaten, crag-faced, leather-wearing, long-haired older men playing atop a mesa, baking in the sun & getting beaten by the wind....
My ears are still ringing.
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6 comments:
Yes, when we worked at the Witch's Dungeon this past Saturday, Cortlandt and Dennis remarked on how great the band was. Dennis, especially, loved Slim Cessna!
And yeah, B&G is a dump. It's gone by various names over the years. It's the place where Mad Cow Disease was paid to stop playing! We were gleefully proud of that!! :-)
Haha! What's better than getting paid for less work?
And who wouldn't love Slim Cessna? He's about 6'20" tall, weighs maybe 50 lbs and has a gold front tooth....
Sounds like you had a great sweaty time! Sorry this month has been stressful. May you have many such happy concerts in the future!
What's with all the loin girding?
Ah, well, sometimes these bands can just make one so aware of one's loins....
Hee hee! I see...
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