Please don’t stop the music…

March 9, 2009 1:21 pm Published by

As it happened, the last time I took a road trip to Toledo, OH, I found myself at a bar called Mickey Finn’s. It’s a nice bar in one room, and in the next it’s got a stage, kinda like something you’d find at a bar in Wrigleyville where small bands can rock your Friday or Saturday nights. I liked the atmosphere (lots of punk-esque, undergrounders and hippies and other liberal music enthusiasts), and was digging on a band I knew nothing about. Turns out it was Johnnie Walker and a back-up band. The guys that played before him were pretty good, too – lots of modern blues/rock. So it was only natural for me to want to return to Finn’s this Friday when my friends picked me up from the train station. It was late, so I only got to catch the last band, a kind of Appalachian twangy folk group called the Rumpke Mountain Boys. Maybe I’m a sucker for banjos and harmonicas, but I really enjoyed kicking back and tappin’ my toes to their shit.

The next day, while we were driving back from lunch, I asked my buddy Eric who Andrew W.K. was. He immediately put in the album, “I Get Wet.” Maybe I was just out of the loop for the last years, but this metal / scene / rock is the kind of thing that would have made every frat party in college the party to be at. The lyrics are repetitive, sure, but sheer energy that pulses from their sound makes me want to see them live should they tour again. It’s a beer chuggin’ head bashin’ good time.

Finally came Sunday, and after a long conversation about The Darkness at the bar on Saturday night, Eric burned me a copy of their second album, “One Way Ticket to Hell…And Back.” I remember Kevin telling me that after “Permission to Land” came out he had seen them at Summerfest and that they played some songs not yet released, but I had never known they put out a second album, because well, I guess I just never did the research. Either way, the “One Way” is pretty good, though it’s no “Permission.” I guess in my opinion the songs are all the B-sides that would have been on “Permission” had there been enough room. Too bad Justin Hawkins had to depart. I feel like they were on to something.

So there’s my weekend music-discovering recap. Check out the Rumpke Mountain Boys and Andrew W.K., two styles of music from opposite ends of the spectrum, but both are pretty enjoyable…at least I think so.

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This post was written by Matt

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