A bit of a surprise show tonight -- I'd pretty much assumed garage-punks The Monocles were permanent denizens of Ye Olde Band Graveyard, what with frontman Pope Jon PPPP going off and focusing most of his time on Guitars and then, er, moving off to some podunk town in North Carolina to rock out. (And Jeoaf moving off to rock out behind the drum kit with Roky Moon & Bolt, to boot.) That sort of thing tends to put nails in the coffin of your "old" band, in my experience.

Which sucks/sucked, because I really like/liked the band -- I enjoyed the heck out of their self-titled 7" from back in 2007, especially the Sonics-esque facepunch of "Out of Your Mind". It was raw, wild, and yet tighter than it really had any right to be. I'd looked forward eagerly to news of a promised full-length...and then the band just sorta shrugged and stopped playing shows. They were toast.

And yet, it appears my assumption was premature. Jon's back in town, it seems, although for how long's apparently up in the air. While he's here, though, he's busy -- the band will finally put out that long-awaited full-length, tonight (yes, Wed., March 3rd), up at The Mink. And although I have yet to hear the full-length myself, it promises to be pretty badass.

The Monocles are headlining, but the openers are damn good in their own right. I was bowled over by Ghost Town Electric at the Lost In Space deal, with their thick, Kyuss-gone-Houston sludge-metal, and I've heard good stuff about quirky, freewheeling Darwin's Finches (who I think provided the flyer). Gonna be good, y'all.

Here's some added fun -- the video for "Out of Your Mind," courtesy of the Monocles Myspace:

Alternately...
And hey, if you're not into the garage-y stuff, South Houston-dwelling metalheads and/or people with cars are in luck, 'cause The Scout Bar down in Clear Lake has a pretty mindblowing show tonight. Sepultura side project Soulfly headlines, but for my money the reason to drive southward is because fucking Prong is playing.

That band defined that weird period of my college life where I was shifting allegiances from full-on "real" metal over to indie-rock and weirdball pseudo-metal like Barkmarket or Cop Shoot Cop; Prong, at least in their proto-industrial-metal phase, bridged the gap quite nicely. I still get a grin on my face when I hear "Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck" or "Prove You Wrong"...

Anyway, they're playing with Incite & Rotting Corpse, plus local boys Machina, none of whom I know but whom I think are all thrash bands. I've heard a wee bit of Machina, and it's not bad... But still: fuckin' Prong, man! Wow.

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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