Catch Cool-Ass United Waves Live, Tonight at Walter’s (and Hey, a Video!)

One of the things I love best about the scene here (and yes, I’m well aware that lots of other cities have music scenes that are similar in this respect) is that after a while, you start to see a lot of the same characters roaming in and around, joining up in different configurations and doing stuff that they’ve maybe never tried before.

Sure, people do leave, and it’s a bummer when that happens, but if you look at a lot of the coolest, most interesting bands in H-town, they’re made up of people who’ve made their bones in probably a half-dozen other bands each. There’s a lot of cross-pollination that goes on, in part because Houston’s musical realm isn’t, say, NYC or L.A. or Austin — gripe if you want about not being in a “real” music city (and I will laugh at you), but I think there’s something freeing about not having the pressure to be super-duper commercially successful.

Okay, better focus now, before my goddamn laptop reboots itself. The reason I’m rambling about this right now is because of a band called United Waves. You may not yet know the name, but if you see the people in the band, and you’ve paid any attention to H-town music for the past decade, you’re sure to recognize ’em. The guys in the band boast a varied pedigree that includes {Deep Cuts}, American Sharks, {Cool Piss}, The Monocles, and a dozen more bands I’m currently blanking on, plus several others I probably didn’t ever heard about.

And following on from what I was saying above about doing new stuff, United Waves is a far, far cry from any of those previous outfits. There’s not a lot available to hear/see from ’em just yet, but the couple of tracks I’ve been able to check out, “It’s Been So Hard” and “I Just Want to Lose It”, lean heavily towards the classic rock side of the spectrum, while thankfully not falling into the trap of sounding exactly like Band X or Band Y or Band Whatever.

There’re parts that make me think of the Rolling Stones, parts that make me think of Guided By Voices, parts that make me think of Bowie, parts that make me think of the Grifters, parts that make me think of the Jesus & Mary Chain, and parts that make me think of fellow Houstonians Jody Seabody and the Whirls, all rolled into one (er, two) balls of fuzzed-out, laid-back, low-key rock. And yeah, I’m liking it a whole heck of a lot. You can grab a free live version of “I Just Want to Lose It” over on the band’s Website, and I’d recommend it highly.

The quartet is playing tonight, Wednesday, September 23rd, up at Walter’s, opening up for Yonatan Gat with Tele Novella & Ak’chamel, and I think it’ll be their second-ever show, so get on up there & check ’em out.

Before you do, though, I should also point out that the show is also the release for their debut 7-inch, with the aforementioned “It’s Been So Hard” as the A-side (not sure what’s on the flipside). And lo and behold, there’s a video for it, a slow-motion deal that depicts frontman Jon Patrick melting down in what appears to be a soul-crushing office environment and trashing his computer. Enjoy: