Bottom of the Hill
November 9, 2002
Review by Jake Thomas
Let me start this off by saying that garage rock stuff like this isn't really my bag, but I had a free ticket, nothing else going on this night, and figured what the hell, might as well see what it's all about. So if anyone who really follows this type of music is going to read this, just be forewarned that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. As opposed to the other reviews I write, where I don't know what I'm talking about but like to pretend that I do.
Got there just before Holly Golightly came on. Apparently she was in Thee Headcoatees, who I have a mix by and enjoy putting on every once in a while. Lots of dirty songs on that mix though - good thing I'm not religious or give a shit about that sort of thing, or I might be offended! I couldn't make out that any of Holly's stuff was following the dirty song style, but they did fall in the general mold of garage rock. Leaning a lot more to the really clean sounding stuff, as opposed to the heavier, distorted rock sound of someone like The Greenhornes, who we'll get to later. She has a pretty rad voice, with that great gruff-yet-sweet tone that only girls can pull off. The real treat for me though was the drummer, a very animated and bad ass player who reminded me of a cartoon character or something. I think the best part of the show was all the slightly large, buxom women around me who were dancing up a storm and giving the whole place the feel of what it must have been like to be an extra on the set of a Russ Meyer film in the 60's or 70's. Actually, it was only 2 or 3 of these girls, but that was still a lot of people to be dancing at the Bottom of the Hill.
Then The Greenhornes were on. I think I expected them to be a little older, but they were just kids! Or maybe their looks are just deceiving and they are really old after all. They were very rocking and distorted, with a sound that sounded to me like a nice hybrid between old Rolling Stones and the typical garage rock sound that I was expecting. The other sound that came to my mind on some of their songs was George Thorogood - for some reason the singer's voice really had a similar quality to it. The place was pretty packed, and everyone seemed to be digging it pretty well. I can't say that it was my favorite show or even close, but it was a decent time and these guys definitely brought the rock. I'm sure if I heard the right bands and they caught me at the right time, I could get into this stuff. Don't expect I'll be getting one of those greaser haircuts anytime soon though.
Holly Golightly
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The Greenhornes
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