Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: American Fangs + Dax Riggs + Scott Biram + Texas Metal + More

Day 2 of this weekend today, Saturday, January 23rd, and again, it’s a pretty damn good one — tonight’s another tough-to-choose type of evening. Which is a very cool thing, if you ask me… Anyway, here’re my picks:

American Fangs/Project H/Meriwether/ Paul Pelc/Carmeci @ Fitzgerald’s
Have I mentioned lately how much I freaking love American Fangs? No? Well, let me go there again: AF is really, truly one of the best, most promising bands in town right now, a band that could (whether you’re hoping for that sort of thing or not) put H-town on the map, at least alterna-rock-wise. They’re not punk, definitely not metal, and not particularly indie — just straight-ahead, smart, attitude-heavy rock like, say, the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, or about half of the bands in the whole grunge thing. And they’re good, most importantly. See ’em live before they venture out to tour the East Coast…

They’ve got a “preview” of a new track up on the Myspace right now, btw, “Gimme’ Gimme'”, and it’s pretty enticing — hopefully the band’s eventual full-length will blow the doors off even more than their debut EP did. As for the other bands playing, I dunno most of ’em, but I’ve heard good things about Project H, so there you go.

Dax Riggs/Roky Moon and Bolt/Benjamin Wesley @ Rudyard’s
Yep, tonight is the weekend’s second Roky Moon and Bolt visitation, but trust me, they won’t wear out their welcome. Besides, there’s opener Benjamin Wesley, with his mind-blowing one-man-band Mike Doughty-gone-Afropop sound, and headliner Dax Riggs, who drags “Southern metal” into the hillbilly backwoods by its hair and forcefeeds it moonshine and lots of Soundgarden and Crooked Fingers records. “Demon Tied to a Chair in my Brain” is a fucking BAD. ASS. song.

Scott H. Biram/Sean Reefer & The Resin Valley Boys/Grizzly @ The Continental Club
Still need to see both Sean Reefer & The Resin Valley Boys and Grizzly, although I like what I’ve heard from both; the latter, in particular, are cool in a nicely Lucero-ish, raw-throated kinda way. Never seen Bloodshot Recs punk-country Scott H. Biram, either, actually, but I’m a bit more familiar with his recorded stuff, at least — he comes off like a leaner, meaner Steve Earle with the raw edginess of, say, Tim Barry.

Fat Tony/Guerilla Foco Clan/Krylon/Simple Success @ Mango’s
Dunno most of these folks, I’m afraid, but it’s worth going for Fat Tony alone; the guy’s one of the best MCs in town, with smart-as-hell lyrics, nicely subversive beats, and a smooth flow. Go check him out, seriously. “Invasion” was one of the best tracks I heard last year.

J. Cole/The Nice Guys/Mr. Rogers @ Warehouse Live
I’ll be honest, here — I dunno J. Cole, not at all. That said, SCR scribe Daniel Yuan really likes the guy’s latest release, even labeling it one of the best of last year, and that’s nothing to sneeze at…

Everclear/Clayton Senne @ House of Blues
The hell? I didn’t even realize Everclear was still around, much less putting out new music & touring. I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to a damn thing they’ve done since So Much for the Afterglow, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for these guys. There’re days when I’d trade any alt-rock band on the radio today for a half-dozen Everclears, seriously.

Texas Metal Fest 2010, featuring Lillian Axe, Vital Remains, Rated E The Band, Pinhed (CD release), Lycophile, Consumned, Insidious Decrepancy, Sever The Silence, Bound in Flesh, Uncleansed, Lao Tzu, Anguish in Exile, Zone of Inhibition, Convicted of Treason, Sculpting Atrocity, Krankshaft, Burnt Face Jack, Ninth Kingdom, Sadistic Butchering, & 28th Street @ The Meridian
A bit of confusion regarding this festival, apparently — at one point, this show was listed at both the Warehouse Live and The Meridian, with some slight differences in lineup. Then there’s the poster over there, which seems to say two of the headliners are at the Meridian while the other’s at the Warehouse. And now the Meridian’s site says they’ll honor all Warehouse Live tickets, but the last I checked, the show was listed over at WH, too. Weird. Dueling venues? Double-booking? Hell, who knows…

At any rate, this promises to be a festival of full-on MëTäL, with rejuvenated, New Orleans-dwelling ’80s metal dudes Lillian Axe and Rhode Islanders Vital Remains and local heroes Pinhed (for whom this is also a CD release). The full schedule (which, again, appears to be all Meridian) is over here.

Runners-Up:
The Wildbills/Keiko/Legacy Fails/Flight to Athena @ Fitzdown
Dead Frail Honesty/Steel Hook Prosthesis/Endless Blinding Sunshine/Violence and Metaphysics/Dead Skeleton @ Super Happy Fun Land
Beans Barton & The Bi-Peds/Tribal Lilies Belly Dance Troupe @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar