The Willowz, Chautauqua

The Willowz. I figured that any band popping up on the Eternal Sunshine soundtrack was worth a listen. Top that off with a turn-of-the-century American controversy for a title, and it gets even better.

The Willowz started out with one of those revolving-door line-ups, taking anyone that could keep them playing shows. This lasted for several years, and they made some waves with their debut record in their native California. For the third album, this mess currently spinning in my stereo, they married a solid guitarist and drummer and brought it together. So far, the marriage is successful and lasting.

Musically, the Willowz follow roughly in the — this kills me to say — “garage rock revival” that has been perpetuated by The White Stripes, The Hives, The Von Bondies, and the every-other-bands that employ fuzz and nastiness. Not to say this is bad; I will binge on nasty fuzz over radio rock any day. The ‘Lowz, however, gnaw on a classic rock pie as well. Kind of like if Jet wasn’t the worst band to ever try to play down-n-dirty rock n’ roll.

For example, Jet’s slide-guitar attempt at Southern tinge resulted in a too-played cheesy bit of shlop aptly titled “Move On.” The ‘Lowz do the same thing, except they don’t bomb it. They don’t moan about heartache and the falling of the leaves, they make it relevant to themselves: young, nasty rock n’ rollers. It’s not that they are more intellectual than Jet; they just think more in terms of taking inspiration from their forebears, not simply re-hashing them.

There’s a lot of fuzzy guitar, bounding drums, and rattling bass, backed by yelping vocals from both boy and girl throats. (Note: Miss Jessica plays bass. Like Tina Weymouth. Like Kim Deal. Like the girls in bands that don’t suck.) In between this nastiness, however, there are honest folk ballads with scratchy acoustic guitars and legitimate Southern drawls. There are also moments of psych-rock bliss.

Basically, these kids have learned the one thing a lot of popular rock n’ roll revivalists forget: the art of songwriting. For them it’s not about partypartypartyrocknrollcrazytimes. Think about it: the brief description of this new record on their Myspace touches only on the opinions of respected writers and artists, in contrast to the opinions of popular politicians of the time, regarding the Chautauqua movement that swept America up in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This is what they are about. Think. Think a lot. But think with an attitude.

Only downside? I’ve lost this record three times since getting it in for review. I believe it is now gone forever. Shame. I’ll have to pick up another. Now, go and research for yourself about what what this unpronouncable Chautauqua actually was.