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Great American Music Hall October 3, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas My unbridled excitement for the Hot Snakes was approaching a fever pitch by the time I reached the Great American Music Hall. But before I could get a chance to see them, there was a matter of at least half a set by The Husbands until they would take the stage. I was under the impression that this group was all girls, thus making the name of the band funny in the same way that knowing that The Girls, The Clorox Girls, and The Mystery Girls are all boys (that is to say, not funny at all really); but when I glanced on the stage there was certainly a dude back-up singer on the stage. Well, so much for my sources, they apparently don’t know anything. The group itself is very straight forward, simple, dirty garage rock, making me think of the bastard spawn of The Cramps and Thee Headcoatees. Some songs were pretty good, some were just so-so… I would have been much more patient with them had I not been about to piss my pants with anticipation for the Hot Snakes. And finally, after a lengthy wait, they finally took the stage. Apparently, the show wasn’t sold out, but it certainly felt that way with the crowd all pressed up to the front like teenagers at an R Kelly concert. The band was touring in support of their new record “Audit in Progress”, but given the length of their songs, they were able to play plenty of tracks from all three of their releases. Except “Mystery Boy” of course, my very favorite song…seriously, they played pretty much all of “Automatic Midnight” except for that one song. I was a little bummed, but everything else they played was so rad that it is only a small blip on an otherwise unblemished show. It should also be noted that the band has a new badass drummer, Mario Rubalcaba (known for his work in Black Heart Procession and Clikatat Ikatowi, and pretty much every other band from San Diego it seems…along with being a pro skateboarder for many years) who replaced the Delta 72’s Jason Kourkounis. The crowd was electric – one of the most energetic displays I’ve seen in a long time, plenty of good-natured bouncing around, fist pumping, singing along, and general merriment, and I was right in the thick of it. There just aren’t enough bands around anymore making music like this – the public seem to want twee-pop and 80’s revival tunes – which makes the Hot Snakes more important than ever. Even if they have to it single-handedly, they’re keeping this brand of pounding rock alive and well, and I thank them for it. --- Read our previous Hot Snakes review: August 31, 2002 @ Slim's ©2004 playinginfog.com |