O Brother, what hath thou wrought? There
is a sticker on the cover of The
Supersuckers’ latest album which contains a quote by Steve “I am the voice of insurgent
country” Earle. It reads, “The Supersuckers understand that great rock
and great country are, at least on a spiritual level, the same thing.”
Well, Steve-o, I love you, but I’ve got to call that bullshit. Listen to
some early recordings by a hillbilly singer named Elvis Presley and tell
me that “spirit” isn’t the very thing that sets the two forms apart.
But with the Americana market booming in the wake of a certain
movie soundtrack’s success, everybody wants to be a little bit country.
And to be fair, with their Arizona roots and their love of the cowboy
hat, the Supersuckers (famous in indie circles for their sweaty,
devil-worshiping mix of classic punk and metal) can claim more
country roots than most. But no matter how much pedal steel you put
behind Eddie Spaghetti & Co., the end result is still raunchy
rock-and-roll with predictable alt-posturing, boilerplate profanity,
and obsessive shout-outs to cocaine. And, hey, there’s nothing
wrong with that. As fake country goes, it’s neither as transgressive as
Jon Wayne nor as aggressive as the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash.
The Supersuckers’ twang is closest in spirit to the Stones’ “Dead
Flowers.” To cut to the chase, let’s all cross our fingers and hope this
is just a phase this fantastic live band is going through and that
they’ll get back to their metal roots before they play the Young
Avenue Deli on Friday, May 24th, with Jessie
Dayton. — Chris Davis
Well, outside of all the Handy Week activity,
the highest-profile gig in town this week is probably piano
chanteuse Diana Krall, that pretty young blonde who sings jazz
standards and such, at The Orpheum on Friday, May 24th. And
I have no quarrel with that. But if you want to hear the
same thing done about a thousand times better for a far cheaper
cover price (i.e., free) then you might as well wait until Sunday
afternoon and catch Di Anne Price & Her
Boyfriends at Huey’s Downtown. The incomparable Ms. Price is a local treasure who makes
similar-sounding celebrity upstarts such as Krall and Harry Connick
Jr. sound like little kids playing dress-up. In a better world, she’d
be the one filling the big theater this weekend.
Indie-rockers have at least a couple of promising shows to look
forward to in this blues-drenched week. On Friday, May 24th,
Brooklyn’s guitar-noise faves Oneida make one of their semiregular local
appearances, hitting the Hi-Tone Café with like-minded locals
Blueshammer er I mean The Lost Sounds, in what is sure to be the loudest
show of the week. And on Thursday, May 23rd, Texas indie rockers
Secret Machines will join The Family
Ghost at the Map Room. The Machines who evoke Brian Eno and the Velvet Underground in
their best moments are stopping over on their way home to hook up
with regional colleagues And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead for
a tour. — Chris Herrington