The Blackberry Belles - Ugly - Spoonboy & the Papas -- Black Cat - July 29 2011

Spoonboy & the Papas - I had intended to be at the Red Palace tonight with a late run to the Black Cat. However, insane Friday night traffic forced me into Plan B. So it was off to the Black Cat a little early tonight. Unfortunately, it was a little late of the opening set which started right on time. I was able to catch the last three songs by this band and liked what I heard. They did sort of a sea shanty combined with melodic punk on one song. The other two were nice melodic pop-punk songs. A good sound, pretty tight, and a band I will try to see again when I can.


Ugly - Hmmmm... The first song reminds me of the pop of April Wine mixed with the heaviness of Moxy with an occasional twist of Max Webster. There, that's a reference to three 1970s Canadian bands that few people have heard of. Fortunately (or not), this band quickly moved into other sonic territory forcing me to open my mind further. They had a nice mixture of light and heavy that was more extreme than other times I may say that. And after a 41-minute set, this was a bit too much actually. What happened for me was that the louder moments promised a lot. But by set's end, the quieter moments were winning out and it did not quite work as well--perhaps considering this Friday night show. I did like some of the keyboards work and the Crazy Horse style rock that snuck in on a song or two. While I did not sense a cohesive vision at work tonight, there are some cool things going on. These guys are on my list of bands to monitor for future growth.

The Blackberry Belles - This is the CD release show. I have already favorably reviewed the CD as well as favorably reviewed the band's live show and gave space for an interview with two of the three members of this local band. So at the risk of overkill, here's another review of the Blackberry Belles. The band did yet another fine job of presented their modern take on 60s garage/pop/soul rock'n'roll. I enjoyed seeing them on the big stage at the Black Cat and the Friday night summer crowd was big enough to justify having this all-local show up here. The sound was great right from the first note and stayed that way throughout. Everything blended together well and the band had its usual energy bringing out an extra pop in their songs. So it was a good show tonight by a band you should and will be hearing from for some time around here I think.

Girls’ Rock Camp (ATL)

Quote of the Night: "Ladies and Gentlemen, girls rock" from our headliners as they featured their wildly talented female drummer. I wanted to point this out as tonight was also a benefit for Girls Rock, a good looking organization that hopefully will continue to prosper.