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Delayed at work, I fail to make it for the beginning of The Stereobirds' set, but I'm told I missed only the first minute of the first song. They are rocking out as I arrive. Their sound is a bit more country than I usually like, and they sing with a distinct twang, (I mean, come on; Rhode Island is not THAT far south!) but Heather Rose has a stage presence that transcends genre. She can sing sweetly or lustily and scream righteously, and she draws the audience in. The bassist is singing more tonight, and while their vocals levels aren't always well-balanced (when they're not both wailing), it's overall a good thing, as they harmonize beautifully. There are a couple of great wah-wah guitar solos, but I still want more lead guitar. They close with a new one that segues into part of "Baba O'Riley", and Heather kicks out every imaginable jamb.
Polyethylene start out with a mild, strummy, soft rock number sung, not too well, by the guitarist. The bassist is quite good, but she doesn't have balls enough for the entire band all by herself. I hope maybe they've made an odd decision to start with the slow one, but the next one's even slower and mellower. And the guitarist's held notes are painful. Then the third song improves in almost every possible way: the bassist sings, and she's MUCH better; the guitar part gets more interesting; and an extended bridge with a shifting pattern of odd-time rhythms really gets my attention. It proves to be the high point of the set for me, and they mostly settle back into long, slow, gently strummed, and, well, boring songs. The drummer seems hesitant to actually hit his drums; he doesn't need to pound like crazy, but if he hit a little bit harder he might be more precise.
Next are DIN, who preface their set with the very odd announcement that, while this first song will be kind of heavy, they're very eclectic and we shouldn't leave if we don't like the first song. Which seems like trying too hard, but when the guitar starts it does have a very metal sound. They're playing in five, though, and I love that. The next few songs bear out their promise of eclecticism, veering milder and more melodic, then heavier and more metallic. The bassist switches to keyboard and sings for a few songs: one whole song elapses with no sound at all from the keyboard, but I like her voice, and I like her playing once the technical issues are worked out. The later parts of their set become a little more heavy and same-sounding, and frankly I'm getting awfully tired by this time.
I stick it out to check out 23 Skeedoo. I'm confused; I could have sworn Living Color were four black men, but tonight they seem to be three white men. It's no mean thing to be able to wail like Corey Glover, or crank out virtuoso metal guitar wankery like Vernon Reid, or to maintain those machine-gun rhythms, and they even write harmonies like them. It just all sounds weirdly familiar, and I'm tired, so I take off after about four songs.
