Slough Feg @ Spaceland

The show goes exactly how a show should go: a few bands, each better than the last.

Green & Wood are first. They like Sabbath and Lizzy. They have Green and Orange amps. You haven’t heard them, but you know what they sound like. That’s OK. They’re a good time. Give them a few more shows, and they’ll own the stage. Tonight they’re renting it. The members are in separate places, doing their thing. But those things are good. Singer/guitarist Ethan has a beautiful finger vibrato. The bassist has that “skinny stoner hunched over a P-Bass” thing down cold. Guitarist Magda needs to wrassle her axe more, show it who’s boss. She’s a decent William Tell with a beer can, though.

Professor make a rare appearance. It’s rare because they’ve got another band called Huntress, which takes up most of their time. (I wrote about Huntress here and here.) Huntress is Professor plus a hot blonde singer, and honestly has a much better chance of “making it”. But if the world were just, Professor would “make it”, too. The sound is strictly old metal, with lots of key modulations. These help the band stay unpredictable. Sometimes the attack is sharp, with heads-down riffing. Other times it’s heady, with twin-axe harmonies fit for a ’50s sci-fi movie . You can download Professor’s two EP’s for free here and here.

Bible of the Devil: wow! I wouldn’t buy their record – they haven’t an original bone in their bodies – but they’re the best bar band I’ve ever seen. They’re tight. They own the stage. Sometimes I hear Motörhead. Sometimes I hear Accept. Sometimes I hear good, old-fashioned hard rock. Hair is flying, fists are pumping, and beer is disappearing down gullets. The lead axeman is having the time of his life. Middle-aged, shredding hot licks on a one-pickup Flying V: if I’m half as cool at that age, I’m set.

Slough Feg take a few songs to warm up. The temperature gradually rises until the room is in a lather. It’s a motley crew up there: a J Mascis-looking dude on lead guitar, a tiny bassist in a leopard-print top, a clean-shaven drummer who looks like he should be playing Britpop. Then there’s Mike Scalzi. He slings around a Les Paul like it’s made of air, swoops around the stage seemingly with a jet pack, and somehow makes “vest on bare chest” a viable fashion choice. At one point, he takes off his axe and serenades the crowd a capella – and it’s just as intense as the metal. Who knows how many Celtic lassies he’s landed with that bit?  The City of Devils hasn’t had enough.  The Bay Area buccaneers come ’round again on June 2 with The Gates of Slumber and Huntress. It’ll be epic.

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A damn good interview with Mike Scalzi
A damn good set of photos from the night

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