22 Sept 10

...good morning, welcome to the rock show...
Strange Young Things


Hey, blogspot readers, welcome to the 100th show for this On The Town review! Tonight, SouthSide celebrated this momentous feat (second year hitting 100 shows) with her very first and last (tiny) shot of whiskey before heading downstairs to see Strange Young Things (from AZ) rockin' the stage. However, she highly recommends checking out the eclectic rock-n-roll style of The Love Shots. Though recently reviewing this band as headliner at Subterranean, SouthSide enjoyed once again their vibrant mix of the old (think 50s/early rock-n-roll) and the new (punk/rock) together. She suggests listening to her favorite song, Husband Undercover, Banshee and Good Girl Gone Insane. Also at The Shots' live performances, listen out for their rockin' renditions of Pearl Jam's cover of Ricky Nelson's Last Kiss and The Ronettes' Be My Baby. For more information, visit http://www.theloveshots.com or http://www.myspace.com/theloveshots.

Who are Strange Young Things? They're not strange ...hardly, but they do love to rock down a stage with an eclectic rock sound that's all over the map, blogspot readers. This quartet from Arizona exploded (literally) with a LOUD bang of energy and momentum ...vibrant guitar riffs and thundering percussion rhythms which this reviewer has a devil of a time writing and observing the action in front of her at the same time. There was so much happening on stage before slowing things down in the middle SouthSide had to stop writing for a minute. And this was just the opening song! Now simply imagine the rest of the set being like this and you'll have the type of performance Strange Young Things had at Elbo Room. This band pumped LOTS of rock music ranging from Americana to Country/Bluegrass ...even some R&B/Soul groove to funkified the audience. SouthSide was thoroughly wowed by the twittering riffs/chords in her ear to the toe-tappin' music vibe as well as the deep raspy vocals by Corey (front man on guitar). There's no way a band like Strange doesn't instantly grab your attention. And, ladies, you too will be melting from the sexy charismatic charm and stage presence when Corey's not behind the guitar. He did that and more while blowin' some sweet harmonics rhythms in the microphone to give one particular song its Americana/rock groove. Strange was on fire tonight, blogspot readers ...everyone on stage was feeling that rock vibe especially during songs Not That Kind and The Spoils Of War (look for that to be the title track of their next album). Off Strange's current CD, Look What They've Done To My Champagne Music, SouthSide suggests listening to track 1, Lonely Hearts Are Wild (the live version was a rousing set closer), track 3, Get Your Fire For Free (two words - smokin' hot), and the delightfully amusing track 9, You've Tripped On My Words For The Last Time (Don't It Hurt). The rest of the CD has plenty of toe-tappin' songs for you to groove while admiring the cover art ...and do follow Strange's advice printed behind the CD - play this album LOUD! SouthSide highly recommends fans in Arizona to head to Prescott where Strange Young Things will be rockin' the stage there. For more information, visit http://www.strangeyoungthings.com or http://www.myspace.com/strangeyoungthings.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide