Gunslingers - The Flying Eyes -- The Red & the Black - March 31 2010

The Flying Eyes - From Baltimore comes this two guitar four piece which looks like they are going to kick into some old school psyche. Yes, the spirit of Dickie Peterson has invaded the club as we have Blue Cheer on steroids here. Powerful blues rock with psyche guitar leads, better than average vocals and some more modern pace at times. This was good stuff where the delivery overwhelmed the songs for me on the first listen, but with the decent singing and playing, I would like to see them again and see what they can do for an encore.

Gunslingers - While it seems appropriate that this band comes all the way from France to play at a club named after a Stendahl novel, I would have been happier seeing them in a bigger club that had more than 9 paid attendees (give or take a couple, I didn't ask). I will never understand this business. But I do understand good music and this power trio delivered. Good freak-out psychedelic guitar leads with a strong fast steady rhythm section, not unlike Wooden Shjips, but a little faster. The guitarist sang with the first song sounding like Plastic Bertrand doing Papa Oom Mow in a restrained setting. That should be clear to all. The songs were good and I really thought the guitar leads were excellent. Everything was tight with pace and packed a strong whallop. This band deserved better, but between the crowd and the opening band, all attendees had a great time.

Complaint of the Night: I really don't want to spend a whole lot of time complaining, since my small cult audience will just say I am preaching to the converted, but... I really would like to see these smaller shows attended by another dozen people or so. Two of the last three shows cost me $14 (price of a CD, not much more than a download LP) and I saw six bands, one from another continent, and another three from out of town. Not one band was the slightest bit dull and some were absolutely excellent. There is good to excellent music out there. Make a vow to just go see a show of someone you have never heard of once in a while. Be adventurous, it's a spirit that is far too easy to forget about in this century.