We Were Promised Jetpacks - Prism Tats -- Jammin Java - Jul 2 2016

Prism Tats - We begin the holiday weekend festivities amid a big crowd with an LA trio that I am guessing many have not heard of. I hadn't, so it started a little slow for me, but their sound was very curious. They combined smooth pop melodic moves with a wide vocal range and some vocal/synth effects on top of a grinding and simple rhythm section. The guitarist invokes some alternate pop moves or joins in with a menacing attack. Yet the vocals never attack. It is like Kirk Brandon playing with Hawkwind's rhythm section, covering some Nerves songs. This really gets quite good by set's end and I sense the crowd is experiencing it like I am, taking a bit to get used to the style and really enjoying what these guys come up with. It is always a pleasure hearing such familiar and catchy sounds integrated in unique ways.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - This Scottish band has a strong fanbase here due no doubt to all the classic reasons, writing really good songs, releasing albums regularly, and touring hard. The room is stoked even after a bit too long a delay (for me anyway) and the crowd is excited with every song and just about every move. The band does its usual subtle shifting around between pop, rock, postpunk, and shoegaze with a firm hand at the wheel to keep everything sounding rather majestic. These guys have that knack for making big sounds sound intimate, with dynamic shifts from loud to quiet that seem completely within nature. This is about the third maybe fourth time I have seen them, which is about the time I feel I have had enough of a band. But their fresh approach and strong songwriting has not tired me the slightest and I will quite possibly see them again on their next visit across the Atlantic.

Quote of the Night: Actually, a week ago or more, rather stating the obvious:

James Williamson - "Everybody's dead except for Iggy and I, so it would be sort of ludicrous... with only one Stooge in the band"