The Dandy Warhols - Seratones -- 9:30 Club - Apr 17 2016

Seratones - This is unique--a band from Louisiana sounding like they are from Los Angeles. The swamp rock sound is bit more muted with this band, which makes sense as they are from Shreveport, but they still sound like a tougher Gun Club merged with the Alleycats and the Bags. They are a four piece with a strong rhythm section, a tough and interesting lead guitarist, and a powerhouse female vocalist who adds plenty of rhythm guitar. She reminds me a bit of Dorris Henderson taking a gutsy voice that could easily move into blues, lounge jazz, or folk depending how she plays it. She goes for power here with plenty of control of the emotional swagger in these songs. This flat out rocks with pace. Finally, when singer AJ Haynes puts down the guitar for the last song and takes her mic into the crowd to sing and dance on the closing number, the gathering crowd whoops it up and is clearly stoked about being out for a night of rock'n'roll.

The Dandy Warhols - Time flies... this venerable band has been around 22 years now and this is just the first time I have taken in a show. Their sound shifts from the strong rock opening into that easy going psychedelic pop rock that they have been doing pretty much all of this time. With a firm grasp of a melody, they engage in a relaxed but highly thoughtful way of creating an atmosphere that makes their set every bit as powerful. There are harder psyche bands, as well as those that go deeper into popsike. The Dandies keep it in between, invoking some droning/jamming moves, but retaining the clarity of their individual songs. They mix it up well early on, with Courtney Taylor-Taylor even taking a solo turn with 'Every Day Should be a Holiday' getting the crowd to sing along. The second half of the set slowed a bit making me wonder if they should have mixed up their set list a bit. But they quickly picked it up with some strong finishing songs including a wild psychedelic outing with trippy chanting greatness. This band is a solid unit that knows what they want to do and I hope they want to continue to create their music for another couple of decades. I can't see there fans drifting away, when they continue to play this well.

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