Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: The Sword + A Creeper’s Birthday + Left Of The Dial + Bazile + AThousandColours + Uncaged Festival + More

Well into Saturday, May 25th, now, and there’s quite a bit that’s either happening tonight or already going on — take a look below & then get on out into it. Here goes:

Clutch/The Sword/Dixie Witch @ House of Blues
It’s a tough call, putting this show first, but dammit, I utterly love The Sword and don’t give a damn who knows it. After 2008’s stellar, Robert E. Howard-worshipping Gods of the Earth, I was somewhat disappointed with the aimless spacey fixation of 2010’s Warp Riders, but this past year they came back to form (to my ears, anyway) Apocryphon, which I was wary of at first but am liking more & more with each listen. Lyrically, it’s a far cry from the band’s previous stuff, focusing less on epic fantasy yarns and more on, well, the guys in the band themselves, but that’s no bad thing from where I sit.

Plus, there’s Clutch, who pretty much dragged stoner-rock towards its current near-mainstream status (paving the way for the Queens of the Stone Age to hit it big) as far back at the early ’90s with Transnational Speedway League, and Dixie Witch, who I’ve been hearing good things about for a long damn time now…

A Creeper’s Dirty __ Birthday Party, featuring Holder/Chemistry/Valens (as Jimmy Eat World, Texas Is The Reason, & Knapsack), Valens (as The Promise Ring), O’Doyle Rules/listenlisten/Hollywood Black (as Green Day, The Impossibles, & NOFX), Acidpussy (mem. of Hot Pants, Abraxas, The Western Civilization, & Another Run; as Rainer Maria), Killing Clover (as Screeching Weasel), Paris Falls (as Rancid), & DJ Dapper Dan @ Houston House of Creeps (807 Williams)
And here’s the runner-up in the close race for #1 Show to Check Out. The Houston House of Creeps is having a badass-sounding party tonight to celebrate the birthdays of Creepers Josh & Jacob by pulling together a crap-ton of Houston’s most awesome bands and having them play covers of various classic punk/indie/emo bands.

The lineup’s mutated somewhat since I first heard about this, but it still looks really freaking cool. Expat H-towners {Paris Falls} are playing a set of Rancid covers, which promises to be pretty great, and then the guys in {Killing Clover} will be doing covers of old-school pop-punks Screeching Weasel. A new(?) band called Acidpussy that includes folks from Hot Pants, Abraxas, {The Western Civilization}, & {Another Run} and will play Rainer Maria covers.

Then longtime scenesters O’Doyle Rules are banding together with members of {listenlisten} & {Hollywood Black} (and yeah, that’s quite a combo, right there) to play songs by Green Day, The Impossibles, & NOFX, followed by cool, cool newcomers {Valens}, who are playing Promise Ring songs. And finally, members of {Holder}, {Chemistry}, and {Valens} (all of whom are excellent) will be doing covers of emo icons Jimmy Eat World, Texas Is The Reason, & Knapsack. phew. ’90s punk/hardcore heads, rejoice and get sloshed with the HHOC crew…

Celebrating The Omni, Agora Ballroom, & The Island, featuring DJ LP, Solid Waste Division, Bevatron, Beatless, Mydolls, Mary McGee (Wildbores), & Gary Yokie (The Ruse) @ Walter’s
Part 2 of the weekend’s festivities surrounding David Ensminger‘s latest book, Left Of The Dial — punk rock scribe Ensminger has gathered up a bunch of long-ago scene bands & musicians to celebrate the memory of a bunch of this city’s clubs from way, way, waaaay back in the Golden Age of Houston Punk Rock. I didn’t live here then, sadly, but I’ve head the stories for the past few decades, and it sounds like it was a hell of a fun time to be around this city. Go and reminisce while rocking the hell out.

Comicpalooza Geek Music Showcase, featuring King Pheenix, DJ Robo Rob, MadHatter, Soup or Villainz, Maros, 2 Mello, StarF, Descendants of Erdrick, Professor Elemental, ArcAttack, & more @ George R. Brown Convention Center (5PM)
I won’t go into this one too much, because writer Levi Rieken already talked about it over here. But if you’re into Nerdcore, hip-hop, electronic music, weirdness, of geeky/nerdy shit (and/or if you already happen to be at Comicpalooza), well, this is the show for you. Nowhere else in town tonight are you going to hear songs about playing God of War, steampunk, or losing your car keys, I freaking guarantee you.

Bazile/Andy McWilliams/We Scare Coyotes/Ruiners @ Rudyard’s
Nice, nice, nice. A great lineup at Rudz tonight, featuring not only two of my favorite new bands in town, the ’90s indie-rock-channeling {Ruiners} (who have a new EP out, btw) and the spacey, orchestral-instro-rock band {We Scare Coyotes}, but also {Andy McWilliams}, who once upon a time fronted gone-too-soon baroque indie-pop band The Scattered PAGES (who I’ve always kinda-sorta hoped would come back together, I must admit, unlikely though that looks now).

There’s also one-man-band {Bazile}, who I hadn’t heard ’til recently but whose spacey, drifting psychedelic folk (he calls it “space-folk,” which definitely works as a descriptor) pulls in elements of both ’60s jangle-folk and more trippy, electrified ’00s rock and makes it work pretty damn well. He’s got an album out now, The Sojourn of Professor Narducci, which I think I need to make time to check out sometime real soon.

Check out his song “Employment,” at the link below:

Bazile – “Employment”

Recovery Room/AThousandColours/The Blackout Heist/The Pub Affair/Catch Fever @ Fitzgerald’s
Speaking of albums, I’m psyched as hell to report that truly cool post-emo rockers {AThousandColours} have finally, finally released their debut EP, The Come Around EP. I’ve been looking forward to it since first hearing the band’s “Your Crippled Tongue” and “make your amends” (retitled just “Amends” here) a couple of years ago now, and it makes me ridiculously happy to be able to get my hands on more of the band’s melodic, just-rough-enough, emo-tinged, sweet-voiced rock. I seriously don’t get how this band isn’t turning more heads locally — they really, really need to be heard by as many people as humanly possible.

The Uncaged Festival: Benefit For The Humane Farming Association, featuring The Minx Delilah, Small Dog Syndrome, Delicious Fuzz, Days N’ Daze, Me The Hero?, Marissa, Threadbelly, Hoffle Stoff Awaffogus, & Sevastra @ Super Happy Fun Land (1PM-12AM)
Last but not least, this is kind of a neat show; it’s a benefit for something called The Humane Farming Association, which is a cause I can really, truly get behind, because factory farms are fucking terrifying. To raise awareness/funds for the Association, the organizers have pulled in some very cool people, like {Hoffle Stoff Awaffogus} and protest-folk-punks Days N’ Daze, and hey, it’s going on right damn now, so you can head over to Super Happy Fun Land & join in…

Runners-Up:
The True Believers/The Footnotes @ Warehouse Live (Studio)
The Tyburn Jig/The Escatones/Darwin’s Finches/Super Robot Party @ Big Star Bar
Daryl Hall & John Oates @ Arena Theater
American Sharks @ House of Blues
Eddie Spaghetti/Whiskey Boat/Grizzly @ The Continental Club
Brutal BBQ, featuring Dethkultur BBQ, Born From Ruins, Mike Terror, The Filthy Dead, Spastic Fit, 8eTribe, & AGRO Sideshow @ Numbers
Milind Date/Raja Banga/Erich Avinger/James Metcalfe @ Jones Hall (Univ. of St. Thomas campus; 5:30PM)
Beach Bash 2013, featuring the last place you look, Who is BC, and Lost Element @ East Beach (Galveston)
Almost Kings/Downfall 2012/Adamantium/Brothers Grymn @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Music Night on The Strand, featuring Journey Agents @ Saengerfest Park (Galveston; 6-9PM)
Nightlife, featuring Ceeplus Bad Knives, Mr. Castillo, Ms. Body Music, & Shari Mari @ Clutch City Squire (410 Main)