Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > May > 23
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Roller’s debut album out nationally June 17
Austin doom-metal titans the Roller, who have been abusing our delicate eardrums since 2005, will release their self-titled full-length June 17 on Monofonus Press.
The album is the second installment of the IF Series, a collection of multimedia box sets. “Captioning for the Blind,” a story by author Rebecca Bengal will be included with the album.
The book is illustrated by painter Virginia Yount, who also painted the album cover.
The CD’s opening track, “Zugunruhe,” is based on Bengal’s story.
The CD release party is June 13 at the Compound. Oooh, scary!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Review: Foxboro Hot Tubs at Emo’s
In professional wrestling circles there’s a dramatic device called kayfabe — the suspension of disbelief needed for fans to invest emotionally in the feuds of heroes and villains.
It’s a quaint idea in the Internet age when the real scoop on everything is readily available all the time but somehow it survives, often with a wink and a nudge to the audience from the “sport’s” performers.
Which brings us to the Foxboro Hot Tubs, who, depending on your theatrical whims, are either the new, hot underground retro-garage rockers of the moment or punk rock vets Green Day having a little pseudonymous fun with fans who’ve waited almost four years for a new record.
The two realities stood uncomfortably side by side as the Hot Tubs/Green Day visited Emo’s Thursday night as part of a tour in support of the just released “Stop Drop and Roll!!!”
Starting off with the Hives-ish title track, the band — Green Day singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool, joined by three other musicians — got the cheering crowd of around 300 moving quickly.
A lot’s been made of the Hot Tubs’ ’60s revival sound on record, but in a live setting minus all echoes and production effects the hook-filled, upbeat songs like “Mother Mary” and “Ruby Room” sounded just like any of Green Day’s other material. The only exception to this was the haunting “Dark Side of Night,” complete with flute solos, that was a total departure in style.
In the midst of it all was a guitar-less Armstrong and company relishing the intimacy of a club their full-time band big farewell to more than a decade ago. The close environment let Armstrong crowd surf while singing and introduce his friend One-Eyed Jack — a taxidermied alligator head on a pole — before launching into the staccato rocker “Alligator.”
Back to kayfabe for a moment. As much fun as the crowd was having all night the unspoken question in the room was whether the Hot Tubs would shed their pretend skin and play at least a few Green Day hits, a thrilling prospect in a room that small. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as the 75-minute set stuck to pretty much all of the Hot Tubs record, a few covers including one by Green Day’s last guise Network, and a selection of beefy rockers that sound like they could be destined for the next Green Day album.
Spread throughout, of course, was Armstrong grinning and reminding “Hi, we’re the Foxboro Hot Tubs!” almost to the point of annoyance, going so far as to introduce Dirnt as “Senor Miguelito Gomez.”
Cute guys. I think from now on I’m going to go around town introducing myself to people as Hulk Hogan.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment Categories: Music, Reviews
