SXSW 2006

3/16/06
8:00 pm-2:00 am
Small Stone Showcase @ Red Eyed Fly
Due to my unexpected medical problem from the night before, I didn't get home until 5:30 in the morning, thus sleeping through the daytime showcase for Swedish artists put on by the Woody West jeans company. It kills me to have missed the great Mattias Hellberg, who I was dying to see, but that's the way shit goes sometimes. So I was ready to rock by the evening, and the Small Stone showcase is always good for that. The label's power rock roster is always the best-kept secret of the Festival, with far fewer badges than at most events around town. The hipsters' loss, I guess.

First up was Novadriver, hailing from Small Stone's hometown of Detroit Rock City. On record the band has a somewhat spacy vibe, like Hawkwind with a steroid problem. Here, however, the quintet eschewed most of its cosmic side for a program of eardrum-busting riff rock. Concentrating mainly on its latest record Deeper High and with a new guitarist augmenting the lineup (and may I just say that there's nothing sexier than a dark-haired vixen with a Les Paul Goldtop), Novadriver pushed a huge sound into the stratosphere with "Rocket Superstar" and "You Want Yours, You Want Mine." Pretty friggin' impressive.

Novadriver was followed by new Small Stone signee Antler, Boston's most authentic Southern rock band. What decade are we in again? Boasting a tapestry at the front of the stage depicting a deer scene, the sextet sometimes pushed its good ol' boy redneck image into silliness between songs. But when it played music, its mastery of songwriting, texture and dynamics made it clear that Antler is no joke. Tunes like "Blood On the Moon" and "A Little Goes a Long Way" (from its brand-new record Nothing That a Bullet Couldn't Cure) rock hard, but not out of control. Singer Craig Riggs has the most soulful voice on the SS roster, which is why this band can get away with an actual ballad ("Behind the Key"). This is what Cameron Crowe wanted Stillwater to sound like in Almost Famous.

At 10:00 came the mighty Dixie Witch, without whom no Small Stone showcase would be complete. I've seen the Witch several times over the years, and I never get tired of it. Also fronting a new record called Smoke & Mirrors, the Austin trio made more noise than any three people should be capable of making, but never lost hold of the memorable melodies on songs like "Shoot the Moon" and "Out in the Cold." And it's always a pleasure to watch drummer Trinidad Leal go full throttle in both his playing and his singing. It makes me want to go buy a drum kit so I can have as much fun as he's obviously having.

Next up was one of my most anticipated shows this year: Five Horse Johnson. The Toledo boogie rock beast has several solid rock & roll records in its catalog, but its latest The Mystery Spot is a real breakthrough in its writing and performing, and the addition of a new drummer (formerly of the Afghan Whigs in its final, soul-influenced phase) gave the band a funky, light-on-its-feet edge. Guitarist Brad Coffin kept the pickers in the audience in awe, and the psychotic gleam in harmonica player Eric Oblander's eye also pushed the band beyond mere blues rock orthodoxy. It was the combination of all of the above that put new songs "I Can't Shake It," "Feed That Train" and Keep Your Prize" into new territory. Which isn't to say that the set-closing oldie "Mississippi King" didn't keep us satisfied.

It's been a while since Sasquatch put out anything new, but the L.A. band has just finished recording its new joint, out later this year. In the meantime, the band previewed new tunes like "Medicine" and a long, set-closing epic the name of which I didn't catch, as well as bashing through oldies like "Cracks in the Pavement." Sasquatch hasn't really developed in a progressive sense, but it doesn't need to: it just refines its sound to the point where it's become the ultimate power trio. The new record should be a monster.

The night wrapped up with local favorite Honky. A big crowd of locals came out for this set, including a rather exuberant young lady who threatened to lose her clothes at any moment—a friend from the band's regular gig at the strip club the Crazy Lady, perhaps? At any rate, the trio celebrated its tenth anniversary and its latest album on Small Stone like ZZ Top gone metal, with a program that encompassed old ("Smokin' Weed With Helios Creed") and new ("Gittin' It," "Undertaker," "White Knuckle Pass"). All of the bands on SS seemed to have a good time doing their things, but Honky raised it to a new level, inviting a drunken trumpet player on stage for a few songs, letting Trinidad Leal join in the chorus for "Love to Smoke Your Weed" and generally laughing and grinning its way through the show with losing an inch of precision or power. It was a great, strangely relaxing way to close out a night of rock. My eardrums suffered, but my soul was satisfied.