The ascendancy of rock acts to multi-platinum superstardom in the 1980s must have taken bands like Journey, Loverboy and Night Ranger by surprise. After all, those acts filled arenas and stadiums across the United States practically overnight. However, Night Ranger was an anomaly. Not only could the band’s drummer, Kelly Keagy, carry a tune, but also the other members—including Brad Gillis, Jeff Watson and Jack Blades—knew their way around a fret board and could sing their asses off. These days, we can enjoy the great hair explosion of the ’80s for what it was: a damned good party. Unfortunately, the descent of these acts in mainstream popularity has created smaller, less-appropriate venues for their music. It’s now 2005, and Night Ranger is headlining this year’s Sacramento Art & Wine Festival, alongside myriad food and wine vendors and children’s activities. The gig in Boston must have been canceled. It’s not a big college town anyway, right? Night Ranger plays Stage 1 on the Capitol Mall (between Third and Seventh streets) on Saturday at 5 p.m. The show is free and open to all ages. Visit www.metrochamber.org/artandwine for details. (SN&R)
Abominable Iron Sloth specializes in slow-paced mayhem
No calculated bed-head hairstyles for these lads.
9 p.m. Friday, August 19; with Supermodel Suicide and Bright Light Fever; $7. Blue Lamp, 1400 Alhambra Boulevard.
There are more than a few reasons not to like today’s metal scene. Just ask Cayle Hunter, founding member of Sacramento (via Chico) band Abominable Iron Sloth. “Every band insists on looking half-ass and glammed-out, wearing their girls’ jeans and youth-large T-shirts, wearing makeup with their absolutely ridiculous scene haircuts that they will never admit they had two years from now,” said the disgusted guitarist. “It seems like music is dead last on a lot of these bands’ minds.”
Upon further inspection, Hunter’s analysis appears to be dead on. While most bands around these parts barely dare to tune below D (a nauseating frequency sure to cause irrational fits, abnormal rashes and dizzying spells of sickness) to push boundaries, Abominable Iron Sloth insists on smashing the mold entirely. The band’s sound, a cross between early doom-metal fare and Bloodlet colliding with Today Is The Day, is anything but pretty.
Abominable Iron Sloth evokes behavior that could come only from such a hideous beast. While the band gets more attention than most due to its ridiculous moniker, there’s a greater story lurking in the shadows. “The band is basically a soundtrack for this character the Abominable Iron Sloth’s life,” Hunter explained. “The music sounds exactly like a giant sloth that goes around killing everything in its sight because that’s what it was born to do and can’t do anything else.”
Although the band’s current formation (Hunter, Jeff Irwin and Justin Godfrey on guitar; Mitch Wheeler on drums; and Mike Martin on bass) has been playing together for about six months, Abominable Iron Sloth is actually about two years old. “Justin and I were in a band called Oddman together,” Hunter said, recalling the band’s origins. “After that band broke up, Justin had been writing these super-heavy riffs, and I thought they needed to be recorded. We put some songs together and recorded them.”
Eventually, the two musicians found themselves in demand in Chico, the Bay Area and the Sacramento Valley region—much to Hunter’s surprise. “[The recordings] turned out so well, however, that people wanted us to start playing shows, which we wanted to do, but we didn’t have any other members,” Hunter explained. “We said, ‘Fuck it. We’ll play as a two-piece.’ Justin played guitar and sang, while I played drums. We must have played 50 or 60 shows together.”
Although two-piece bands work for the obvious reasons—fewer people to pay, fewer people to recruit for regular practice sessions and fewer squabbles—Hunter and Godfrey decided to add members of the (sadly) defunct Will Haven, who already were playing with Hunter in a project dubbed Ghostride.
“From the first practice, with the three guitars and the tones, it sounded immense,” Hunter recalled. “We’ve been doing the full band ever since and just finished re-recording the old songs and recording five new ones. It’s being mixed now, and we will probably put it out on our own Distruktor Records label, unless somebody else steps up between now and then.”
Unfortunately, an overseas tour is harder to finance alone. “Since we are totally DIY, traveling abroad seems a little unrealistic,” Hunter admitted. “Ghostride was lucky enough to be able to go to the U.K. for a while this year, but we had a label over there that was helping us. Unless another band or another label was willing to finance us, I don’t see it happening in the immediate future.”
Abominable Iron Sloth might currently be without outside label support, but the boys are anything but sedentary in their touring schedule. “As far as our upcoming U.S. dates, they are all shows that Justin got just by networking with other people that happen to like the band and were willing to put in some work to get us to their town. It’s very nice, very flattering and very low-budget. But, I guarantee it will be a great time,” Hunter said.
Visit www.myspace.com/theironsloth for a list of upcoming shows or catch the Sloth this Friday at the Blue Lamp.
Playing the fair circuit seems like the kiss of death. After all, 4-H events and carnival attractions don’t make the most apropos setting for live music. This year, however, the California State Fair has made great strides to bring the best in live entertainment. From comedians like Paul Rodriguez and Bill Engvall to today’s and yesterday’s pop sensations, 2005’s concert schedule is reason enough to fork over the $10 fair-admission charge. Alan Parsons, producer extraordinaire (Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon) and leader of his namesake project, is one of the fair’s most intriguing and perplexing choices. His earlier albums, such as 1977’s I Robot and 1979’s Eve, were arguably some of the most forward-thinking releases of the era. Today, he’s touring in support of his latest release, A Valid Path, which not-so-coincidentally features Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. The Alan Parsons Project plays at the Golden 1 Stage at Cal Expo on Wednesday at 8 p.m. The show is free with fair admission, or $10 for Golden Circle reserved seats. Visit www.bigfun.org for info.
Harold Ray Live in Concert has got soul and is super-bad.
One listen of Harold Ray Live in Concert’s self-titled debut on Alternative Tentacles (recorded live, of course) should be enough to coerce fans of old-school R&B and soul back into the clubs again. Although the band does covers, chances are you won’t recognize any of their songs by name alone. For the audiophile who combs the record bins weekly at Amoeba Music and Rasputin’s in search of early ’60s soul, Harold Ray Live is a godsend. Vocalist Jason Morgan (a.k.a. Harold Ray) knows how to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and the band has been lauded for its spectacular live shows in and around the greater Bay Area. Harold Ray Live in Concert plays Old Ironsides, located at 1901 10th Street, at 9 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is $7. Th’ Losin Streaks and the Jay and Joel Show are also on the bill. (SN&R)
Deke Dickerson first was known for his combo featuring the multitalented Dave Stuckey, but his solo material has taken on a life of its own. His forthcoming new album, the aptly titled The Melody, is his sixth and possibly best to date. From the 1960s-style tom-tom-driven beats of “Broken Heart” to the harmony-laden “Safely In Love,” there’s little room for improvement. “I wanted to put out an album of songs that had such strong melodies that they simply wouldn’t leave your head,” Dickerson said about his current release. Since Dickerson and his band, the Ecco-Fonics, tour quite regularly abroad and in the United States, this stop at the Palms Playhouse comes as no great surprise. If you’re a fan of early American country, swing and rockabilly, this Friday’s 8:30 p.m. show is a must. Admission is $15 at the Palms, located at 13 Main Street in Winters. Visit www.dekedickerson.com for more information. (SN&R)
Eddie
