The Stork Club May 15, 2006 Review by Jake Thomas This was going to be an infamous two-fer day for me, an afternoon show and evening show on the same date, and even in two different towns. It started off with a brief jaunt down the street to the Stork to see the touring punk band The Rat Traps, coming all the way from Henderson, Tennessee (which is a little east of Memphis). They were a constant onslaught, two guitars and a drummer with everyone singing and very little let-up. Stylistically the best comparison my feeble mind can come up with is the A-Frames, but the Rat Traps were rougher around the edges and played much faster. Both their songs and their set was short and sweet – I’d be surprised if any of their songs were over 2 minutes long, and I wanted to buy their 7 inch to verify this but they were all sold out…guess the tour is going well for them. Thee Mothballs followed. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this band over the last year but it’s been a damn shit ton of times, and I always enjoy it. They played a few new tracks (at least new to me), hit a couple of the classics, and were their usually funny selves with the between song banter. The organ player from Harold Ray: Live in Concert joined the band as a 2nd guitar player for the entire set, and I have no idea if he even knew how to play the songs but it was close enough for government work and their music is so shambolic anyways it’s not like anyone would notice (and is ultimately the number one thing that makes this band so lovable to me). Anyways, yadda yadda yadda they were great as usual and I took off over the bridge to see the Fall…but not before getting one of the can cozies that the Mothballs had made, which state “this train ain’t gonna wreck itself!”. No truer words have been spoken. ---Check out our previous Thee Mothballs reviews: October 29, 2005 @ The Ivy Room January 21, 2005 @ Thee Parkside June 9, 2005 @ The Rickshaw Stop ©2006 playinginfog.com |