Tonight: Roky Moon & Bolt (Tour Kickoff!) + Grandfather Child + the last place you look + Streetcar Scandal + More

Yet another busy Friday night (March 5th, for completeness’ sake), and plenty to do. Here’s what I’d do, were I not likely to be rocking a sick kid to sleep this evening; there’s some good stuff, but honestly, two shows really stand out, so I’m going to pretty much just talk about them. Good? Good. Here goes:

Roky Moon & Bolt (tour kickoff)/Grandfather Child/Weird Party/Future Feature @ The Mink ($7/$10)
They haven’t been around long, no, but in H-town scene terms, a year’s pretty much a lifetime, and Roky Moon & Bolt (changed from just “Bolt” so as to more closely resemble Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars was my guess as to why, although apparently the real deal was more broad than that…) have packed quite a bit into that time. Their self-released EP last year was pretty stunning, an out-of-time slab of meaty, sweaty, don’t-give-a-fuck bluesy glam-rawk that hit Rocky Horror, Bowie, & the New York Dolls all in one fell swoop.

Sadly, that’s about all they’ve got out right now, but the band followed it up with a series of awesome shows — at least, the ones I’ve seen have been awesome — adding a new piano player along the way and cranking down the tightness to ridiculous levels. Tonight they’re headed out on their first-ever tour as a band, bidding Houston adieu for a few weeks and swinging back through for (duh) SXSW up in Austin. This’ll be your last chance to see ’em here ’til May, it looks like; don’t miss out. They’re really, really, really good, and the nicest, sweetest folks, besides. Check out Marc from Houstonist‘s excellent interview with the band, by the by; it’s good stuff.

Plus, they’ve got some damn fine openers, particularly Grandfather Child, who’re way up near the top of my Bands I Need to Talk About Even More Than I Already Do List (as are RM&B, I should note). Watching Lucas Gorham howl and bellow while abusing the heck out of the pedal steel and the rest of the band stomped and grinned along behind was one of the highlights of last year’s Summerfest, pretty much beating out the bulk of the “big-name” bands in attendance.

Then there’s Weird Party, who don’t have a Website I can find but who sound damned promising, combining the talents/powers of members/ex-members of the Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Muhammad Ali, & Welfare Mothers into a scraping, slashing bundle of razorwire and punk sneering. For my money, they sound more like Steel Pole Bathtub than anybody else, but that’s only based on hearing one measly song, “Sarah Palin” — check out the, er, “video” for it right here:

And yes, this is the band’s first show; I predict that they’ll follow the example of their headlining brethren and suddenly find themselves adored by half the damn scene…

Houston Lights, featuring the last place you look, Nothingmore, From Guts to Glory, Streetcar Scandal, Another Run, & Dreaming of June @ Warehouse Live
Just in case I haven’t made it clear before now, I really, really love the last place you look. Turn your nose up at ’em if you want, but they’re honestly the best of the handful of excellent post-emo rock bands going in town right now (esp. since I hear Stadium broke up; damn). I dig the high, desperate/low, growly duet vocals (courtesy of bassist Kevin & frontman Nava, respectively), the roaring, crushing guitars, and the surprisingly thoughtful, emo-ish lyrics, the whole deal.

See the Light Inside You made my top-ten list for 2009 for a reason, and thankfully, the band delivers live, too. Seeing them, you can’t help but forget that yeah, the band lives right here in our very own city — they play like they own the fucking stage and have been doing it for decades now. Here’s some video evidence, if you’re curious:

TLPYS is playing with a bunch of bands tonight, but the one I’m most interested in is The Streetcar Scandal, who’ve got one measly song up on the Myspace so far (hrm…feeling a trend here…), “Your Crippled Tongue”. Thankfully, that one song’s fairly impressive, reminding me in a big way of late-’90s bands like The Jealous Sound or Longwave; I’m seriously looking forward to hearing what else these guys can do…

Runners-Up:
Dawes/Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons/Jason Boesel @ Rudyard’s
Frode Halti/Trygve Seim & Maja Ratke @ Norway House (3410 W. Dallas; 8PM)
Limb/Eat Grapes/CJ Boyd @ Mango’s
Trashed, featuring Car Stereo Wars, Best Legs, & GRRRL Parts @ Boondocks
Rodeo Houston, featuring Mary J. Blige @ Reliant Stadium
Commotion, featuring Young $quaddy & Danimal @ The Mink (front bar)