Chain & The Gang, Strange Boys

Nodzzz kicked off with "Troubled Times." "Hey, um, is this Noise Pop?" Sean Paul Presley chided, taking the piss out of the competing events outside. Nodzzz being a band apart from those huddled masses of amped up potential, the group sang their way through some tricky new material to crowd pleasers like "Is She There" from What’s Your Rupture?  I began imaging what Nodzzz covering the Byrds' "So You Wanna Be a Rock n' Roll Star" would sound like. They could blast that McGuinn/Hillman sound into the 21st century with their trademarked enthusiasm. They never covered this song, but Presley’s excellent guitar work on “Old Clothes” echoed these possibilities. They closed the set with their recent 7" single "True to Life" and almost had the stage stormed by two intoxicated Mutt and Jeff wise guys. However, in pouring fans and fellow revelers swiftly drowned out their derelict antics with mass moshing, hooting and hollering.

Ah. Now we have Ty Segal tearing 'ish up. By now the Elbo room is packed wall to wall, slam dancing has commenced and everyone is moving back and forth in wave formations in time to all that thrashing guitar
business. "This is fun," Ty commented as he brushed a wave of golden hair from his eyes to see a few crowd surfers thoroughly enjoying themselves. I recognized some songs from Lemons, but I must say that Ty's best work and performances are better suited for the live stage than any recording of his I have ever heard. Even a live recording would fail to retain the raw, unleashed fury of an entire 1960s suburbia’s worth of blaring garages from the monstrous live sound he brings.

It's moment San Francisco had been waiting for. Austin's finest, the Strange Boys are about to go on stage. Making my way to the front, I had the pleasure of being less than a foot away from Ryan Sambol’s guitar neck. The band was looking cool, weary eyed, yet world savvy with Jenna Thornhill from Mika Miko standing center lead with her blazing saxophone. The crowd was merely transfixed to watch Sambol tuning his Telecaster in a meticulous manner before he even played a note. Words cannot describe, only inadequate frames of reference can merely approximate the energy and dizzying dirt kicking from those Boys. Before plodding into "Be Brave," Ryan gave a dedication to Sean Paul Presley's mom who was in attendance that evening. "This song goes out to Ms. Presley." (The dedication was also special being that Ms. Presley's other son Tim from Darker My Love also plays guitar on their new album of the song's namesake.) If the crowd was already stirred up from Nodzzz and Ty Segall, they went even more ballistic for the Strange Boys. A microphone was handed out to a group who helped out Ryan and company with "Should Have Shot Paul," only fanning the flames of an audience that was becoming more aggressive and knocking over any wall flower who happened to be casually enjoying themselves. Damn near had an indoor Altamont.

Finally the great Ian Svenonius took the stage with his most recent outfit, Chain and the Gang. Despite the man's penchant for humor, biting satire and loud banter, over a quarter of the audience had left after the energy of the Strange Boys’ set that made it hard for even veterans of the rock n’ roll game to beat. Svenonious sounded like Las Vegas-fat-Elvis era inside of a soul studded Baptist revival tent. It was an invigorated upstart of universal redemption from the chains that bound Svenonius’s audience. Chain and the Gang was a jubilee of smart schlocky soul and some good hand clappin’ fun, but the week of extensive Noise Pop coverage had me exhausted. I need to go home and watch some Soft Focus with Mr. Svenonius’ interviews to lull me to sleep.