Café du Nord October 11, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas Holy mother of donkeys and mangroves, what is this that I have just witnessed, and how could I have possibly slept on them for so long? In this town, it can sometimes be easy to dismiss your friend’s bands, put off seeing them, or whatever, especially considering that pretty much every person I know is in a band. I’d heard the Parchman Farm MP3 on the Jackpine Social Club website, and while it was quite good it never quite motivated me out of the house and to a show. But since Eric Shea and company were opening for the Eagles of Death Metal, I decided to stop being an ass and get the venue in enough time to finally see his band. And so I did, and let me say it was one of the best ideas I’ve had since I invented the wheel. I think Parchman Farm is one of the finest purveyors of “floor tom rock” that I’ve ever heard; if you enjoy Blue Oyster Cult, Black Oak Arkansas, or really any three-word named bands that start with the letter “B” and sound like they belong on the “Dazed and Confused” soundtrack. Every single musician in the band had my jaw on the floor, they were so damn talented – but the bassist especially held my attention. The band has an EP coming out soon on the previously mentioned Jackpine label, and I’m just itching with anticipation to get a copy. After the P-Farm, some of my enthusiasm for the Eagles of Death Metal had waned. How could they possibly top the amazing show I just saw? And to be quite honest, they didn’t; but it still was damn entertaining all the same. One thing (that for some reason had never previously occurred to me while listening to their record) was how much EoDM sound like Devo from time to time, but with a heavy “boogie rock” vibe. The crowd was quite animated and dancing plenty to the music, and the band seemed to be feeding off of that and having a grand time. The band itself was missing two of the three key members, which would usually be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that the EoDM come from that Queens of the Stone Age/Desert Sessions extended family and you can’t throw a rock without hitting an extremely talented replacement. On this evening the two replacements happened to be the guy who drummed for the last QotSA tour, and Jesus did he hit the shit out of the drums; and a really rippin’ guitarist, who looks a lot like Sloth from The Goonies and I believe has also played with QotSA in the past. Since they only have one record, and it’s not even very long, they ended up playing all of those songs plus a handful of covers, notably including Steelers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You”. I wish all Sunday nights rocked like this one; it sure makes Monday seem a lot less dreadful. ©2004 playinginfog.com |