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| While the other members of The Good continue to rock, vocalist He Who Shall Not Be Named is apparently off to hunt for a copy of Who Put the Bomp. Photo by Val Dunne/Barkloud Productions |
Val
and I spent the vast majority of Record Store Day in Spiral Scratch, mostly its
basement, listening to cool bands, and we caught a really good three-band show,
namely The Good, Michelle Weber and the Word Girls July 20.
The
Good headlined the show and provided a fun, hard rocking, sometimes 1960s
flavored sound in a slightly smaller format; guitarist Biff Henrich was not
present, so guitarist Scott Michaels and Bob Kozak (who normally plays keyboard
and guitar) made up for the change with some crunching and melodic riffs. He
Who Shall Not Be Named added his usual high-energy, excitable vocals and worked
the crowd a bit more than usual, including some mugging for the still and video
cameras. Bassist Russ Steinberg continued providing bad jokes and support,
while drummer Roger Nicol remained quiet between songs and powerful during
them.
Along
with classic Good songs such as “Walk Around the World,” “Message From My
Heart,” “Judy” and “Clouds,” it was great to hear the band reach back into the
archives and play one of my favorites, “My Time to Leave.” HWSNBN also
dedicated a song to Mary Moser, wife of Buffalo Music Hall of Fame member Bruce
Moser, who is recovering from a serious medical situation.
Michelle
Weber opened the show and played both older and newer songs, including a few
tunes from her classic “Cripple Head” cassette. The standout older tune was
“Cut Them Off,” where Weber not only shows how far she will go to maintain a
relationship but also demonstrates how far women are too often expected to
sacrifice for others. Her guitar playing is still crisp and direct, blending
melody and rhythm, and her voice shows signs of getting older/maturity in good
ways, so that she doesn’t have to virtually scream or yowl in certain places to
still make her point. One new song was a poignant piece on how she is
processing the death of her father and the interesting situations that are
generating memories.
The
Word Girls (for whom Anchovies plays bass), led by songwriter extraordinaire
and guitarist Bill Nehill (also a Spiral Scratch employee), performed a
startlingly good set, at times combining influences such as Jonathan Richman,
Johnny Dowd and Nick Cave with battered but fascinating arrangements. The songs
often focus on love and relationships sought, barely held onto and lost, and
Nehill’s vocal delivery is mostly direct and dripping with emotions from happy
to desperate and depressed. He has the uncanny knack of pulling you into a
song, regardless how scary or hopeless it may sound, and his lyrics are
powerful statements of someone trying to not only make sense of his world but trying
to justify its, and his, existence in it. It had been too long since I caught
Nehill live on stage, and I hope it isn’t so long until the next time.