Drowners - Bully -- Rock'n'Roll Hotel - Oct 21 2014

Bully - Up first tonight is a twin guitar rock quartet with a female vocalist adding rhythm guitar. Her vocal work is attractive but tough enough to almost live up to their name. It has to have a little toughness as the band cooks up some stirring hard rock with plenty of pace and a cutting edge. The lead guitar swirls around, sometimes underneath the verses, which is a jarring and effective move when done well. No real new ground here, but this band knows its territory and works it well. There is a young crowd that is enthusiastic yet eerily polite tonight and they seemed to enjoy this set.

Drowners - And to finish the night is another twin guitar quartet from NYC ready to rock the house down. By set's end, they did just that as a good solid rocking set built to a powerful finish through their crafting a fine set list. The early material showcased warm music with some jangle in the guitar and strong focused singing. The rhythm section seemed to push things forward with strength and a smooth style, which left plenty of room for thoughtful guitar moves. The songs were all pretty solid, but a gutsy cover of Gun Club's 'Sex Beat' really ramped things up. Fortunately they had a few originals equal to the pace and power of this song to follow. The last cuts seem to come more from that LA punk scene that Gun Club grew out of and brought out the inner punk rocker in me that is never to far away with a band that has the right energy. Drowners are a band that is attracting a young crowd and they have a lot to offer them and even some of us old timers as well.

The 'clean out the parents' medicine cabinet photo of the day. This product was available at Revco once upon a time for twenty-nine cents...