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I half expected to hate The Drags. This is probably related to Richie Hoss having once said to me, "You'd hate us." As it turns out, The Drags are a solid, basic rock band and a rollicking good time. It's true that Richie's sandpaper voice--and this is no 20-grit, either; we're talking extra-coarse--doesn't really emphasize the melodies in these songs. But the bass is mixed way high and has a clear, strong tone, and he often shadows the melody in the bass line. Between that and the backing vocals, it sounds pretty good. There's also a whole lot of serious riffage going on, and a great drummer. Oh, and a song called "Detox Bitch"! You can't not love that.
The Spoilers are a punk band. They play very fast and very simple. They shout, "Oi! Oi! Oi!" They are cheerful and snarling and kind of sloppy. They obviously love what they do, and that, combined with their hooky, oddly upbeat songs, makes for a dumb fun experience. One song even asserts, "We're punker than you. Fuck you!" I'm not arguing the point.
Last shows are always sad. Either sad in a Ramones-farewell-tour-"That's-just-sad." kind of way, or (when a band goes out at the top of their game) sad because they inspire a band to take risks and pull out all the stops, and draw a large and affectionate crowd that pull yet more energy from the band, and you're left thinking, "This is so great; why are they breaking up?" The last Mercury Charm Offensive show is the latter kind of sad. The songs are good, poppy rock songs with astounding two-, three-, and four-part harmonies. Everybody plays really well tonight, and the mix is great. I can actually hear what the keyboard is adding to several of these songs, and it's good. The set starts out really high-energy, then shifts to a bunch of slower songs. After a while, I wonder if they're really going to end it all on such a relatively quiet note, but they close the set with "Back Door Betty," a fierce bass-and-guitar-and-screaming extravaganza. It's sad, but it's a good sad.
Not a lot of people stick around for Gatsby. I have to figure that they're inconsolable over the loss of MCO, but still, they miss a good set. Gatsby songs range from fast to very, very fast, with intense, driving 4/4 drum lines, but they all have a weirdly calm quality to them. There's an immersive wash of jangly guitar that's very rich, but simultaneously sharp, like lemon meringue pie. I suppose the sweet topping would then be the lovely, passionate vocal melodies, but there's such a thing as stretching a crappy analogy too far. Besides which, there's nothing flaky about the bass. (I'm sorry.)
