Song of the Day 4-13-19

Well it happened folks the showcase to end all showcases Song of the day is officially done and last night after much delay due to mother nature not being able to accept the fact of the matter I had the farewell show happen over at Minibar KC.

It was a hell of a showcasing of 3 exceptionally good acts starting with the Fiction Department finally coming out of hiding to rip through a well balanced host of what I feel could be the signs of the next great American emo band from the rip roaring "20 Minutes," to the debut of their exceptional "Nervous," these guy's really put forth a fantastic effort.

Following them in an incredibly timely and efficient matter was The UK's who fucking tore the god damn house down with a well crafted set of mostly newer jams that have really come into their own and become a whole other beast of their own from the fantastic cuts off their newest release American Way of Death to some newer cuts my favorite being Motor City Blackout which is this fucking fantastic rocker of a track that I'm sure will be a fucking banger when they release it sometime in the next century and a half be sure to be on the lookout for that when you can because it's fucking tight.

After that whirlwind of awesome you're wondering what could possibly come next well then we have the Saints of St. Joseph, the men, the myth's, THE LEGENDS OF MODERN DAY Scruffy and "THE MOTHER FUCKING!" Janitors who to put it bluntly brought this to the best kind of finish playing through a host of some of Modeling is Hard's best cuts as well as a new tune that fucking killed it these guy's proved just why they had to headline this bitch for sure.

This night was a weird experience for me because that's it I'm fucking done with this little website of mine and the whole concept of writing a song of the day and looking at this footage it's strange because ever since announcing this I've been asked by a host of people what is next and that I can't really answer for ya I got 9 years of post to use for a resume if I wanted to and maybe if I'd of played my cards a lot better I could be doing some part time work or something but in the process of setting up this show and figuring out how to end this blog I just kind of needed to step away from that and reconsider things and what I can do with my creative energy.

If there's one thing I really can say it's that this night humbled the ever loving fuck outta me because as I'm writing this I'm still having a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that this actually happened like I can watch the videos that I recorded and hear my awful singing along to all of these tracks but it's hard to really grasp the fact that it all happened just because I didn't want this bastard to just die the way as all pet projects with nothing more than a written farewell.

At this point I've said most that I needed to say in regards to the state of Sam's Song of the Day and I just wanted to do one last post to commemorate the end show thanks to everyone who read the years of post and to anyone wanting to know what's next give me a while and I'll be up to something all of the love I have gotten is more than I could honestly ever expect to be deserving of and from the folks at x105.1 shouting out the show twice, to the various bands expressing their appreciation for the nice words, to the bands who played all of the show's I've put together, and of course to all of the people who've ever read song of the day and thought, "You know that is a pretty good fucking song," I thank you all for making this worth it.

Scruffy and "THE MOTHER FUCKING!" Janitors

I remember a long time ago I was at a show at Minibar and I was talking to one of the local DJ's of the newest alternative music station here in Kansas City and I remember telling him my odd theory in regards to the most likely end result of modern music consumption habits within the next 50 years and him only ever referring to local music as “regional music,” and at the time I was sure it was something he'd been told by an A&R executive from one of the many nation wide studios he was apart of and in the process of trying to come up with something to write about the end of day's headliner that conversation still seems to be present for me and I'll expand upon that in a bit but first let's get to talking about Scruffy and the Janitors as a group.

Kind of like The UK's what we have here is a band that's an end product of the garage rock explosion of the early 00's and if I were to simplify these guy's I'd say they're a lot like Cage the Elephant in that they are this kind of dirty mix of blues and punk that's an unapologetic roughhousing track after track after track with their first Major EP Anglo being chocked full of them from the scorching opening track, "Ms. Crucio," and the popular, "Dirtleg," these guy's were a very no nonsense group of mother fuckers that made music that was very invested in it's roots and unwilling to compromise.

Now fast forward 4 years and a host of life changes then we get to Scruffy of today no longer willing to flesh out their set with Cage the Elephant covers they put those years of relentless touring to use and put out Modeling is Hard my favorite album of last year and what is it that made it that way for me?

Well let's go back to the idea of “Regional Music” for a second and kind of take that into consideration when talking about Scruffy because what they are at the end of the day are 3 guy's from St. Joseph Missouri all in their early to mid 20's trying to make it in a world that's unlike that which their parents lived in a town that I can describe as a city with a small town vibe to it's locals because if you ever see these guy's in their hometown you have a very communal experience of a lot of their closest acquaintances rocking out to a local act, singing along every word, and partying it up like it's their last night on earth because for them it's like a means to kind of escape their small town and partake in something larger than the sum of it's parts and it's that effort that kind of seeps through all of Modeling is Hard it's an album that is starting to move away from the more overt Cage the Elephant tones of a tune like, "Dirtleg," and instead you get a wide variety of sounds  from the angry punkish tunes like "The Spins," and "You got hit," the slower more melancholic "Carry Me home," the psychedelic combo of, "Feelings," and "Elephant," and of course the outstanding title track this album reeks of a bunch of guy's that are doing their thing to not only make their own but give a voice to their community of hard working individuals looking to make something out of nothing and this record really brings forth those feelings especially for someone like me that's spent a good chunk of time following these guy's around, talking with them, and kind of inching my way into their community even if I still feel like an outsider looking in.

I can't really overstate just how much this collection of tracks knocks it out of the fucking park people "Flesh and Bone," and "Modeling is Hard," are some of my most listened to tracks last year and they are just some outstanding rift filled rockers that leave me screaming along and banging my head and the combo of "Feelings," into "Elephant," is something to behold whenever they close a set with it just this intense acid trip of a pairing that is like that scene in Dumbo where the elephants are all trippy and cool before things get heavy and fucked up and you find yourself screaming, “FUCK FUCK FUCK,” at the top of your lungs it's quite a god damn hell of a time only to then start all over again depending on how you're listening to this album.

On a more personal note this record is one of those few I've heard in a long time that seemed to fit in a certain place for me that also oddly enough lined up with this story I'd been writing for quite some time as I listened to it I was able to imagine these host of made up characters having intense moments of confrontation to the various tracks of this album and when I hear those songs I just want to put them in motion in some sort of visual fashion so in helping me achieve a goal I've always wanted I can also showcase respect and perspective for a piece of work I find very near and dear and a group of people who I have a lot of respect for their addition to the craft, but alas all I really could do for this project is give it my #1 and 2 year end spots respectively and while that's something that garnered me a whole lot of views I'm not a hundred percent sure if it's even a fraction of a way to explain why you should feel the same way about this collection of tunes and group as I do.

I mean you can go see them on Saturday with me that's a thing that'd be appreciated all around because trust me it'll be a thing for sure and just the way to go out.

Thanks for reading about the 3 chosen acts for my farewell to this blog they're 3 groups of hardworking individuals that I expect to go somewhere in due time and you should come and appreciate them with me because if I'd waited any longer then I wouldn't of been able to have the ability to book them because big things are going to come I can guarantee that for sure.

Oh and on one last note stay tuned for this Valentines day for the last big piece of this website and if a few non-writing related things can fall in place for me I should have something special for after the show but until then have a wonderful day and listen to all these fucking bands!

The UK's

So The Uk's are a band I've covered quite a bit on here and actually had play at my house 2 times for my own little birthday bash so to get them on this bill was a no brainer if I'm going to be honest with you guy's although in all these years I don't exactly know if I've given them the credit they deserve to explain why they are in such an important spot in the ending day's of Sam's Song of the Day so let's take a second to just kind of look at this band.

If I were to describe this band in a very simple way I'd say they're a product of the post 2000's garage rock explosion that occurred considering they're about the first wave of young musicians that you can clearly hear the influences of bands like The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, and most prominently The White Stripes this group uses a lot of low end recording qualities to pump out these blues fueled rockers of tunes that take you in a time machine of sorts but with enough modern sensibilities to keep things up to date and relevant for the modern listener which is good because there's a reason those influential acts were such although somethings occurred for these guy's that I've been trying to properly articulate in the build up to this final showcasing for SOTD and it's sitting here playing Tetris Effects listening to their entire currently available discography on Spotify  that things become a bit more clear for me.

Waxwings, Losing teeth, and Bad Seed you listen to these tracks and the Jack White influences are strong as fuck these strong kind of throwback rockers of tracks that are just these bombastic shots of energy and rock that showcase a bunch of hungry musicians that plug their shit in for a reason they rock and that's the point but you can't help but hear them and rock out but there's a certain sense of they got a way's to go and I remember feeling that for a while until their most recent project American Way Of Death came out.

Why Don't You go it's yet another rocker of a track but there's something different in it that you can clearly hear in comparison to all of Bad Seed in that the band had some lineup changes and went on a pretty extensive series of tours to then go back into the studio and pump out a project on their own and the fact that the EP this song is on is about half the tracks shows that they've now decided to take things in a less bombastic direction and it shows because this song is a slower paced cut that has a lot of the familiar elements you'd expect from these guy's but they're presented in a slower paced cut that feels a bit more substantial in a way.

That's the EP as a whole really yes Wake Up and Poison Squad do still showcase a very Jack White approach to Rock and Roll but then you hear AWOD....and yeah these guy's are a fucking thing.

I've explained to one Noah Bartelt but this may in fact be the best god damn song they've ever made because I don't know what got into him to record an almost pop punk tune but god damn does it sound fucking fantastic this song is a surefire standout of a track that has every great element of a song it's a catchy tune with lyrics that are easy to sing along with that also present a sense of reliability when he exclaims that he's a damaged man, a fantastic chorus, a rhythm that has the frantic rock and roll energy that you've come to expect but with a faster pace and kind of punk influence that gives it a sense of personality that's very unlike their earlier material, and of course one bitching fucking guitar solo in the middle of the song this is a sign of things to come in a way from my observation because a lot of their live only tracks at the moment also seem to be going into this kind of amalgamation of tones that they seem to have here where they're clearly garage rock but with a kind of pop punk fuel that I can most certainly get behind.

These guy's got a shit ton of upward trajectory and I very much advise you pay attention especially to the stuff they got to show at this show I'm throwing because I'm pretty sure that they'll sell you just as much as they've sold me and I'm sure the Jack White comparisons will be a thing of the past if they keep going where they are.

 

Sam's Best of 2017

Jonestown-Scruffy and the Janitors

The year end post for this song and my initial impression of it were the most viewed post on this blog.

That say's a lot and 2017 was a year where I seemed to try the whole journalist approach and it was interesting if not inconsistent beyond comprehension....I also was a fucking drunken mess of a person that was dealing with a host of isolation and drinking problems that I don't and haven't really told anyone about and while I've so severely cut down on my booze consumption to a point where I could be considered sober to some regard this year was my last ditch effort of things to be and yeah looking back the bands I covered went on to some really great places and I did some pretty fucking cool ass stuff that year that made the depression easier to hide.

I made some good friends in this community Scruffy in question being among many musicians that have showcased a lot of love for my kind words about them so much so to a point where I've convinced them to do some show's for me in my personal endeavors which is something I have a hard time truly expressing just how good that makes me feel I'm sure I'll come up with something come February but yeah this song it's special in a weird way because re-listening to it as I'm typing up all of these nostalgia post and looking at the post I made those years I'm brought back to seeing them at the tank room along with Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type and Momma's Boy in what was maybe one of the best bill's I'd seen in a long time and I remember the performance of this song and the venue just kind of not doing it justice because it was too clean sounding in there you didn't quite feel just how real this song really was and I remember not thinking much of it and the eventual snowballing of momentum it'd build and it's crazy just how it went from that to this and even now the rare times they play it I can't help but still be blown away.

Well that was the various best songs of the years now I'll probably keep getting more and more personal with a host of random songs that all mean something to me here and there so stay tuned.

Sam's Top 5 of 2018 #2

#2

Modeling is Hard-Scruffy & The Janitors

You know we almost had a repeat of last year not gonna lie it was really fucking hard to not have any of the songs from 2018's hands down best album be number one but I'll get to that later because right now I have to talk about St. Joseph Missouri's finest Scruffy and the MOTHER FUCKING Janitors and this exceptional piece of music they released.

I've seen these guy's so many times in the past 2+ years that I got put in this album's liner notes which was absolutely insane but what's really crazy is how since this album dropped back in February I haven't stopped listening to it and in all seriousness it's maybe one of the best god damn albums I've heard in a long ass time every single song from beginning to end has been refined beyond perfection with a fine tooth comb and back after 4 long years of relentless touring, blood, sweat, tears, bottles of booze, and being the most hard working sons of bitches around you got 14 impossibly great tracks that showcase a band looking to truly showcase that they've grown exponentially in terms of their abilities as a group of musicians looking to spread the message of life through rock and roll and this song just barely stood above the rest in my book to do that.

From it's opening bass line, to the soaring wall of guitars and echo's of, “AH,”(Yes I know it's simple but fuck you it rules) you have a song that crawls into your head and demands you take notice of how fucking awesome it really is and the delivery of, “The more you talk about it, The More it Lingers on, I'm trying not to follow but you're coming in strong, now I'm Hanging out the Window, and reaching for the words that you said, and I can't figure out your head,” just hit's you in a way that you can't help but scream along to Steven Foster's voice just reaches a point in this track that's anything and everything you could ever really want in a 4 ½ minute rock song.

This band took all the momentum they had off Jonestown and delivered times infinity and this song is really something outstanding if you're hearing it out of your car, on your phone, in a shitty little dive bar, basement, or high end venue being played live this song fucking rules and it's something I think everybody needs to experience for the sake of all that's good in this world do it.

Sam's Top 5 of 2018 #4

#4

Other Team-The UK's

OK mother fuckers I have been waiting since...hold on let me check the poster on my wall real quick....April 23rd, 2016 the release show of their first album which they ironically ended up not headlining due to shenanigans we don't need to get too into at this very moment in time since they ended their set with that song I've been patiently waiting for them to record and release this god damn song and finally 2 years later and countless shows later they finally got around to self financing and recording a release for this song and NOW I CAN FINALLY FUCKING TALK ABOUT IT MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!

So if I'm going to be honest there's a juvenile quality to this track about the struggles of falling in love with a lesbian but you know what when you're heartbroken pettiness comes with the territory and when you manage to at the very least channel that into a very old school rocker of a tune with an insanely catchy hook and some pretty air guitar ready rifts you can't help but get hooked on that and it also kind of doesn't help that I was in a very salty place in my life when I first heard this song but we don't need to get too into that my overly self reflective posting day's aren't really a thing hardly anymore with the increased presence of online trolling and the ever decreasing mental conditioning of your average millenal we need healthy means of coping with our pent up aggression and if this blog was ever any indication of the fact that music has generally been mine then I don't honestly know what to say to all of you.

Yeah like time eventually great things come to ya and this song most certainly is an example of that because while this is a late release in the year it's something I've know was gonna be high on my list the second it's time came this song is an incredibly satisfying piece of aggression that doesn't come off as so petty it hurts but rather a bombastically aggressive and rocking cut for the lonley hearts club with a chorus that's both ready to sing and scream along with and some of this bands most aggressive instrumentals yet and I just love how they do this choir thing near the end of the song before just ending it in one giant bang.

This song is the UK's really finding a means of making something that lives up to the label of garage rock from it's bare boned production, simple but effective lyrics, and most importantly that pure unfiltered rocking instrumental to give a tune that after all these years still makes me scream YEAAAAAAH!

Also I may or may not have yelled, “It's about fucking time,” at the release show I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Picture below may or may not be from that show but I can garuntee it wasn't during this song...

Sam's Top 10 of 2017 #5

5.Be Good Boy-Momma's Boy

I can not lie I am pretty sure this may very well be my most listened to track of the whole year hands down no questions asked and the fact that I spent most of last year seeing them play it live over and over again obviously didn't play any part in that at all.........OK we all know that's a fucking lie but STILL this band may very well be the best in KC because to say they've improved in 12 months is the understatement of a century.

Top to bottom, track to track, show after show this band took all the momentum last year gave them and maybe a certain number 1 listing to heart and managed to crank out an EP that's just so fucking good, but all of those praises are irrelevant because we're talking about Be Good Boy here and before I get into explaining why this song is great I kind of feel like retelling you guy's a little story as to why this song has stuck with me so much.

So be me some time last year somewhere in the middle of Kansas in this house at maybe the coolest fucking thing ever in the form of this annual house show this band threw called Manor Fest watching them shred through a set so awesome that their guitarist Shaun Crowley's replacement guitars kept fucking up on him to a point where he got so pissed off that he went back to his original guitar to finish the song and in to light a cigarette to help calm down his aggression and as he stood there with a cigarette hanging from his mouth he sang the line, “I see you smoking a cigarette,” which to me was the most fucking bad ass thing ever if not the most random way to remember a track and as they performed it show after show I kept getting that line stuck in my head to a point where I got other folks stuck singing that line with me because I'm a dick and kept repeating it over and over again kind of like once this song finally got released I listened to the unholy fuck out of it and that's were we are today with it's placement on this list.

What we got here is this swirling bit of surf rock bad assery that's insainly catchy, blisteringly played, and just loaded with moments of utter awesomeness that you can't help but be captivated by it's pounding nature and the midpoint of the song where we get this awesome bass solo and these dueling guitar parts before a moment of silence that makes me want to just yell YEAH every time it comes up before getting blasted with an outro of everyone jumping into the pool at once you have something that sticks with you and leaves everyone dancing jumping around and wanting more and more and more.

God damn it momma's boy fucking rule.

 

The KC Showcase: Drugs & Attics

(Image courtesy of Bandcamp)

Drugs and Attics are a local punk rock act that make music that can be described as brash punk rock with a nice blend of doo-wop and minor tints of surf rock thrown in to keep things a little bit more musical at points and I've been following them around since about last year and they recently just released their debut EP after getting signed to independent label Creep it Real and I recently acquired a copy and figure I'd let you guy's know just what you're getting into when listening to this little group of punks.

So this album is short....like real short all in all it's 4 songs and about 8 minutes of your day to listen to this record back to front and somehow in all of 4 songs they managed to express a wide variety of sounds from the decidedly punkish, “I Got a Bong,” the kind of 50's rock and roll of, “The Parties Over,” to the Indie jangle rock of, “Don't You See,” and of course the distortion heavy slow churner of a track, “The High Life,” you get a surprisingly large amount of variety in something so short which is actually kind of cool because it seems like these guy's are very actively trying to be something more than just a sloppy group of punks making loud music.

Mr. Billy Williams has a voice that's equal parts rough and gravely as it is surprisingly soulful and his delivery all throughout this little EP fleshes each of these songs and shows the largest amount of passion in, “High Life,” which just carries along quite wonderfully while also making up about half of the whole EP's run time and is this hugely full sounding track that really stands out in every great way.

This really is a cleanly produced selection of tracks that use a variety of interesting instrumentals from the horns in, “The Parties Over,” and even a bong in, “I got a Bong,” there's a variety of well put together tunes that leave you with the feeling that this record is fucking great.

This EP is an all out assault of killer cuts that really just kind of leave you wanting to hear more and trust me this band is well worth hearing more from and if you get the chance their live show is just spectacular and full of all sorts of other awesomely bad ass tunes that will leave you wondering why they didn't put them out but that said this collection of tunes is just the right blend of tracks they could have put out with each song being the best examples of the sounds they're looking to achieve and performances given that are just flawless and will only continue to feel so listen after listen if you find it at your local record shop FUCKING BUY IT NOW!

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5/5

Best: Hight Life

Worst: I Got a Bong   

Sam's Show Recap: 2/25/17

So I've had the flu all week and in the process of continuing to be poor as fuck I realized I'd only really get to have one show for probably the next 2 maybe 3 weeks and boy oh fucking boy did I make a good show pick.

Momma's Boy just had their EP release show at the Tank Room with Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type and Scruffy and the Janitors acting as the supporting bands and it was like Manor Fest all over again one great big pile of AH THE FUCK YEAH people so let's not bullshit a whole lot and with a series of bad photos let's get to telling you how fucking bad ass this show was.

Rachel Mallin and company

So yeah I didn't get a pic of their set because....I really don't know why I just kind of didn't and I've written about them and Momma's Boy a lot on here so you know that I've been following these wonderful acts around for quite a while and tonight was a pretty good example as to why they're a consistently tight act that performs a very well structured set of excellently crafted songs with a lot of their soon to be released tunes seriously taking shape in the form of some heavier more rock oriented tracks that show a lot of girth and that's fucking dope as hell and I for one can't wait for them to finally put out their tune I Pick Winners because it seriously has the potential to be even bigger than White Girls.

(With Permission Video of The exceptional Razorback courtesy of Kansas City's best interviewer and radio media advisory bestliness himself Mr. McClain Johnson)

In a couple of words this band delivered tonight as they always do and even a sick Rachel still delivered on the vocal front very well and they played a very jammy kind of heavier rendition of Razorback for the first time since their EP release show and my heart literally skipped a beat so yeah they currently have a level of love I haven't felt in a minute.

Scruffy and the Janitors

Straight outta St. Joe is a group of raccous rockers that bring the pure unadulterated blues tinged kind of 70's inspired doomy rock and roll played at 11, with rifts that will make you bang your head and lyrics that are admittedly repetitive but destined to get stuck in your head for months on end you have a band that's almost legendary in a sense of the Tank room felt almost too sanitary for their kind of bad assery and this show like many of theirs I've had the pleasure of seeing was just dripping in awesome and a broken bass string that I may or may not have jinxed into happening I for one am taking no claims as to it happening it's just merely a coincidence I'm just saying.

Top to bottom they brought the fucking thunder and once Dirtleg stepped in bodies where bashing about and beer was getting spilled and everyone was reminded don't fuck with Scruffy. They have been working on an album for the past 2+ years and should be getting something released at some point this year so I definitely would advise you stay on the lookout because that album will kick some serious fucking ass I guarantee that.

Momma's Boy

If you look back all of a few post I wrote about how fucking phenomenal a set these guy's did at a midcoast takeover showcase well in a nut shell this set was that good and then about another twenty two and a quarter times more awesome this band filled out the Tank room and gave everyone there about a hundred dollars worth of excellent for 8 and since that's all that needs to be said in terms of how fucking phenomenally good their show was technical difficulties and all let's talk about Liquid Courage for a bit because you should just buy it like RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!

From the fast paced swirling psychedelics of Make Believe, the mildly depressing Sleepin', the utter gem of a track that is Sweet Girl, and of course the bad ass singles Cool Heat and Be Good Boy I've literally watched all of these tracks grow and this EP is the amalgamation of a year of being dedicated to this band and being rewarded in the best way possible what we have here is 6 songs of straight fire that live and on this album are just fucking awesome I couldn't of thrown my money at these guy's fast enough and those reading this need to run out and see these guy's live and download the fuck out of this album because this fucking show and EP are just validation of why I've dedicated so much blog space to these handsome fucking devils.

I've done good this year and seen some mind blowingly good shows and it's only FUCKING FEBRUARY GOD FUCKING DAMN IT PEOPLE!

Sam's Show Recap 1/13/17

So I went to a show Friday night at a bar here in Kansas City called Minibar for a birthday show that was for a guy who works at local record label called The Record Machine.

Just before I get into my coverage of this show I should note I couldn't stay for the whole show because of some terrible road conditions that were only continuing to get worse so for the sake of being safe I decided to leave before the headlining act which if I were to go into a bit of a tangent I'd have to say that January is an awful time of the year to try and see a show because winter, snow, and ice all suck and will do nothing more than act as a means of possibly canceling said show or making you not go because you're me and you live too damn far to be driving in these conditions for the sake of seeing some bad ass live music, but with that said I still managed to be safe and had no issues but for future reference FUCK WINTER!

OK now that the PBR I was asked to start chugging before writing this has set in let's talk about some bad ass fucking bands and show some rather piss poor photos to go along with these descriptions The Show in question was a birthday show that featured local acts: Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type, The Shameless Pursuit, Shadow Rabbits, and Momma's Boy which have all in some capacity have been featured on this little blog of mine with 3 of them making my year end best of list so with a line up like that FUCK YEAH I was going to this show although I had to leave before Rachel's set so I unfortunately can't tell you how bad ass they most likely did so sorry for the first showcasing of a show to be incomplete but hey mother nature does that so let's talk about the first act of the night....

Momma's Boy

So there's something oddly satisfying that the first live set I saw this year happen to be maybe my favorite band this city has to offer and the guy's who are responsible for my favorite song of 2016 which they kindly dedicated to me this show because they're nice like that.

They were added onto the bill at the last minute due to some circumstances I don't entirely remember and had to perform as a 3 piece this show because their bassist is out on vacation but even with that minor setback these guy's fucking rocked the god damn house right from the get go and with a very steadily paced and hard hitting set they showcased a series of quality cuts from their infectiously catchy Be a Good Boy, a very slowpaced garage rock number in Make Believe, a new track that was all sorts of awesomely energetic, and of course Cool Heat being all sorts of headbangingly awesome these guy's put on a furry of a show that will leave you with a shit load of songs stuck in your head that'll put you in a state of when a full length release is to come it'll be a fucking masterpiece but until then they plan on releasing an EP in February to tide us all by until then.

IF you get the chance SEE THIS FUCKING BAND ALREADY!

Shadow Rabbits

So after that swirling wave of awesome that was Momma's Boy Shadow Rabbits hit the stage and right from the opening chords of their wonderful newish cut The One that Got Away a steadily paced rocker with a very 60's rock and roll vibe lulled the fairly packed place in and got bodies a moving and with a string of very kind of post-punk toned set of tunes and those bodies weren't stopping especially for their wonderful kind of tongue and cheek lyrically amusing and bad ass Devils Point of View which was right in the middle of their set, which was interesting because all previous times I recall seeing them they use that track as a closer, but even with that in mind that song fucking pounded its' a kind of haunting little number that moves along wonderfully and showcases some great musicianship from all members of this band and will most certainly be something you'll remember.

This set unlike their recordings which have a very kind of clean and almost retro kind of do-whop tone to them that, on a side note are actually very well recorded that give these songs a feeling that you're listening to some long lost bad ass kind of blend between some old school rock and roll and soul record, in a live environment seem to completely change shape and instead morph into these kind of Post Punk rockers that are more Joy Division than they are Patsy Cline to some capacity and this is ever so present in the track they closed their energetic set with Truest Blue which sounded like an entirely different song all together what's normally this super groovy soul tinged spooky cut instead becomes a kind of goth tinged rocker and that's fucking awesome if you ask me.

The Shameless Pursuit

So I like the Minibar it's a super cool place that's very well kept, with good booze prices, and a friendly atmosphere and alright system of being able to have a show in one place and a bar in another but I can't bullshit you people the sound guy this night was having a host of mixing problems here and there and these guy's seemed to of unfortunately gotten the shaft because I couldn't hardly hear the guitar track and the feedback was pretty bad, but that said FUCK this band is good.

They started with my favorite song of theirs Doubt which admittedly was a bit pitchy at points and not being able to hear the guitar right was annoying as fuck but even so there was a raw aesthetic to the vocals that still fucking worked so god damn well and after a few songs when they went going damn this band was fucking into what they were doing and their singing is just so god damn good this group knows how to work off of one another and they're a bundle of energy that could cut through all the technical difficulties they dealt with and make you REALLY have some faith in this band because damn they're fucking good this set was all their more heavy numbers because they didn't have any acoustic guitars from what you can see in the image above with the exception of Fight and Flight being the one softer cut they played which even that one managed to rock the fucking house this night.

These guy's did a great job working through the bullshit and just seemed to have a hell of a time.

Overall this was a fucking damn great booked show that just had all killer performances that even equipment failure couldn't take away from and even though I didn't get to see the whole show I'm just going to imagine that Rachel and Company gave a 10 out of 10 show that was so good that it could make Chuck Norris shed a lone cancer curing tear of joy and if these bands are within driving distance from you GO FUCKING SEE THEM! Seriously all killer no filler and a fucking wonderful way to start my year of shows here's to hopefully less shitty weather to come.

Also if you didn't already tell there's links to all the bands bandcamp and facebook pages all throughout this article.

Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #18

18.Psychic Heat-Stranger

So if I were to ever describe this band I'd have to say that they sound like Piper at the Gates of Dawn Era Pink Floyd played out of a basement with a shit load of swirling psychedelic guitar work and heavy garage rock tones this band puts on a live show so god damn spectacular that most of their recorded catalog seems to just feel hallow because it's incredibly difficult to capture the captivating nature of this bands live aura which will hook you from the first note and instantly sell you right there on the spot.

Although that statement about them not being able to quite capture the live aura is kind of wrong because near the later end of this year these guy's decided to put out this little 7 inch record with a song that managed to do the impossible be as awesome on recording as it is live and that's where today's pick comes to play.

Stranger is a swirling little garage rock number that gives off these very 60's rock and roll vibes and high pitched vocals that lead it to have a kind of Sgt Peppers era Beatles feel which translates perfectly among their more jammy numbers as a fast paced breath of fresh are to give you something to jump around and rock the fuck out to.

This song is so god damn good that it almost makes you forget that there's another side to that awesome record if you can BUY IT NOW! And if this band comes to your neck of the woods SEE THEM! Trust me it'll be the best choice you've made in quite some time.

Song of the Day 6/3/16

Cool Heat-Momma's Boy

So I saw these guy's back in April at this local music showcase and remember them having one bad ass fucking live show and after their show they gave away links to download this song so of course with that in mind I'm a leave the link to their bandcamp at the end of this post along with a good reason to download it besides it being free.

Momma's boy are a kind of garage/surf rock band from right here in Kansas City and this song in particular is one groovy little tune that has this awesome kind of old school semi-psychedelic tone to it that helps it's kind of jangly bouncy guitar work really shine before you get into some vocals that sound straight out of the best parts of the indie rock scene.

This song is an addictive and catchy number that kind of crawls into the most awesome part of your brain and decides to go, "you know what I think I like it here," and it'll be stuck on constant repeat along with all your other current rotations but in this instance it leaves the listener just wanting more from this bad ass mother fucking band.

Momma's boy if you're reading this...tour closer to KCMO maybe at the riot room or something preferably on the weekend because I'm a need a good dose of your bad ass selves, and to anyone else download the fuck out of this because this is one of the best song's I've honestly heard this year.

Download the song here