The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.myspace.com/deluxerestaurant

How many times have I seen the Supersuckers in the last couple of years?  Too many to count.  Heck, I've seen them twice in the past four months alone, but that's a bit of an oddity.  They played Bloomington at the tail end of their last tour and apparently four months later St. Louis winds up somewhere at the beginning of their new tour.  This time they were playing at The Deluxe in Maplewood, not the usual Pops in Sauget.
For those of you that haven't been to The Deluxe, I highly recommend it.  If you are an out of towner, I know that Maplewood isn't one of the usual destinations.  Unless, of course you are a spice junkie and know about Penzeys.  While The Deluxe bills themselves as a fine food and spirits establishment, the food is not fine in the traditional dining sense.  You probably could have gathered that if the Supersuckers are playing a venue there won't be a lot of foie gras on the menu.  What The Deluxe does offer is damn fine bar food.   There isn't anything earth shatteringly different on the menu that you couldn't get in any other bar & grill in America, but for some reason it has a little bit of extra tastiness.  All I can say is that there's just something about the vibe at The Deluxe.
Normally we'd never show up for opening bands, but because the food is so good it just  made sense for us to eat there.  And, of course, get our drink on.  Reviewing the damage on the credit card receipts today (2 days later)  I can say unequivocably that we got our drink on.  In most cases that would help pass the time for the opening bands.  In the case of these bands, alcohol came in second place.

The Haddonfields

We were sitting at the bar when two young guys came into the bar wheeling amps and guitars.  They sidled up to the bar, ordered Stag tall boys, and lit up smokes.  The following conversation occurs:

Nancy: Are you guys the opening band?
2Dudes: Yeah.
Nancy: What kind of music do you play?
2Dudes: Uhh ... sorta punk.

I just remember thinking to myself, any band with a fat guy has to be pretty good.   It's one of those rules that help you identify good bands from bad ones. Must play old equipment, no two members can dress the same, and counts a fat guy as one of its members. I mean they don't call BTO Bachman Turner Overweight for nothing, right?   Sure enough, this fundamental rule turned out to be true again.   They took the stage and immediately cranked into some of the most straight ahead punk rock that I've heard in awhile.  Nothing fancy at all, just loud and sweaty and in your face.   Two songs into it Nancy turns to me and says, "I like these guys".  So did I.  After their set I got to talk to their guitar player mainly to find out what kind of guitar he was playing.  (it's a Dipinto Mach IV).  I told him I liked their set and that he reminded me a little of D Boon the way he looked on stage.  I was disappointed to find out he had no idea who that was, but be that as it may the band rocked.  They were passing out their new 7" at the show. (Record of punk, not what you were thinking you dirty perverts.)  Nancy got a copy and later managed to get all of them to sign the jacket.
Here's a YouTube taste of The Haddonfields and despite the fact that the description says they live in Columbia, TN, The Haddonfields are a St. Louis band.

The Last Vegas

First things first.  The Last Vegas has to be one of the worst band names I've ever heard.  You don't have to have a great band name like Tastes Like Chicken or The Well Hungarians for me to like you, but when you call yourself The Last Vegas you've already started to go down a road you don't want to.  Nothing screams corporate and admitting you are trying too hard than to give yourself a really bad play on words.  Plus, when you associate yourself to a place like Vegas the expectations are very, very high.   Make a play on something less daunting like Sheboygan or something; I mean it has the phrase 'She-boy' built right in. And they are right next to each other for christ sake.  Geez.  I gotta stop giving you guys all the great ideas.
I was probably relieving myself of Guiness or Makers Mark when Nancy asked a couple of the members of The Last Vegas what kind of music they play.  Their response was, "kind of like AC/DC".  Nancy countered them with, "Have you ever heard of Airbourne".   It turns out they've actually toured with Airbourne.  The following conversation occurred when I returned from the bathroom:

Nancy: These guys played with Airbourne and they sound like AC/DC.
Me: Oh yeah?
TLV Dudes: Yeah, plus our frontman is kind of crazy.
Me: Sweet.

When they finally took the stage it turns out they are more of a cross between AC/DC and Guns 'n Roses.  They rock the whole mid 80's hair band vibe and their front man is just a little bit crazy.  He's not as crazy as say the front man for The Chesterfields, but he is a good personality for fronting a band.  By the end of the set you could really say that The Last Vegas are a very solid rock and roll band, despite their awful name.
Yes, that really is Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx in the video below.  He's one of the producers of their new CD.

Supersuckers

While Eddie was manning the merch table, Nancy wrote something on a piece of paper and took it to him.  He looked at it with a strange look on his face as if to say, wtf.  Nancy wouldn't tell me what it said, but a few minutes later we decided to ask Eddie for a picture.  When we asked him, Nancy told him that I was Drew, which I assume had something to do with the piece of paper she gave him.   He seemed to care less, which is typical for most people who meet me, much less the guy who is the face of the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the world.   Lisa, a friend of mine from the old SMS college days who showed up in the middle of The Last Vegas set tried to take the pic with my iPhone.  Unfortunately my camera wouldn't work and all we got was a solid black exposure.   As much as it would have been cool to have photographic proof of my 15 seconds of rubbing elbows with Eddie Spaghetti, I felt bad asking him to pose for us.  He must get tons of requests for that kind of crap, but ever the nice guy he said no problem. Eddie is one of the few really cool musicians who really gets out and meets the fans.  Great guy.
Shortly before the Supersuckers took the stage (without a bunch of fiddle-farting around like The Last Vegas did), Nancy told me that Rontrose Heathman wasn't touring with the band this go around.   She didn't know why but if you read the front page of the Supersuckers web site all they say is that Ron has quit the band.  Sad.  Ron is a great guitar player, but when we saw him in Bloomington earlier this year I will admit that he looked really, really rough.  It seemed pretty clear that he was either fighting a demon, burned out on rock and roll, or possibly both.  Replacing Ron was Marty Chandler, who incidentally, replaced Ron the last time he left the band.  Marty is a good guitar player, but he's no Rontrose Heathman.
Instead of the more rocking show that you get with Rontrose manning lead axe, the Supersuckers dialed it back a notch and played more of the country side of their country tinged catalog.  There was no crowd pleaser like Rock Your Ass but we did get Seventeen Poles instead.  So, we had that going for us.  They did the normal country set (sans Creepy Jackalope Eye) with the obligatory cha-cha-cha, and overall they played for more than an hour with what consisted largely of the big show with some changes.  As you can guess with any band with a song proclaiming that they are in league with Satan, they rocked the house.  When I left I was significantly lighter in the wallet, reeking of cigarette smoke, and I couldn't hear shit.  Isn't that exactly what a rock and roll show is supposed to be?   I think so.  Best $15 show I've ever seen, hands down.
Here's Rock Your Ass with Rontrose on lead.  I hope that I didn't see the last show with him back in June.