Tonight: The Western Civilization + REZZ + Satanic Overlords of Rock n Roll + Blackgrass Gospel + More

Yes, friends, is Thanksgiving Eve — or so I’m told; I’d never actually heard that term ’til this month — Wednesday, November 21st, and while it’s not as crazy as the weekends have been recently, there’s still a decent-sized pile of cool shows happening tonight. Here’re a few I wanted to not slip by without a mention:

The Western Civilization/Whit/Forever Miles @ White Oak Music Hall
I’ve talked pretty recently about this band, but I have to reiterate just how damn much I love The Western Civilization. Got to see them a couple of months ago now at the sadly-departed Spruce Goose Social Flyers Club, and they were just as phenomenal as they were a decade ago; co-founders Reggie O’Farrell and Rachel Hansbro they haven’t missed a step since then, not one.

If anything, the music felt more confident, more assured than it did back in The Good Old Days, with O’Farrell and Hansbro and their new bandmates (the recent of the original Civ having moved on to other things) sounding older and wiser and more aware of their respective abilities. And damn, those songs. Pretty much everything they played came from 2007’s Letters of Resignation, and it all hit me just like it did back then; the interplay of voices and guitars is just something else.

The band is gentle and folky while still being bitter and determined and strong, sarcastic and sincere right where they need to be, and addictive as hell. As an added bonus, they’re playing with two bands I’ve been seriously wanting to check out more closely, namely Whit and Forever Miles. So get on up to White Oak Music Hall early to catch all three…
 

REZZ/Boogie T/Golf Clap @ Revention Music Center
This one’s a little bittersweet, given the recent news about Day for Night being sold and more than likely never happening again, because REZZ was one of the artists The Kid was most excited to see/hear at last year’s DFN.

So when she came on, we fought our way near to the front of the stage — something I tend to not do when it comes to EDM, just because that’s not really my scene — and honestly, her set was one of the best musical things I witnessed all weekend. The bass made my chest hurt after just a track or two, but I was still hypnotized; she managed to do some things that surprised the hell out of me, even in this age of paint-by-numbers, here-comes-the-drop electronic music, where I can damn near tell you exactly where every song is going to go, just by instinct alone.

Plus, it was awesome to see my kid looking up at the stage and seeing somebody who looked like her up there, somebody who’s young and female, who just wears T-shirts and jeans and makes music for people to dance to. The Kid loves her Ableton setup and has made some cool stuff with it, but she tends to get disillusioned easily because that world seems like something that only exists somewhere else and for other people, most of whom are dudes; REZZ made her realize it was something she could do.

Sadly, we probably won’t make it out to Revention Music Center tonight, just because of other things going on (coughmaybewesterncivshowcough), but out of the many, many, many EDM artists I’ve heard over the past few years, this one sits up near the top of the pile.

Bill Fool’s Thanksgiving Eve Show, featuring The Satanic Overlords of Rock n Roll, Killer Hearts, Hell’s Engine, Blackgrass Gospel, & CBG and the 18 Wheelers @ Rudyard’s
And last — but not least — in the list, we bring it back closer to home, to Rudyard’s, to be precise, which will soon be one of the few venerable old-school places left from when I first got introduced to music in this city. I’m sad to see Fitzgerald’s go, yeah, but if Rudz ever goes…well, that probably means it’s time for me to finally get the fuck out of Houston.

Anyway, it does my soul good to see the place keep going. And for Thanksgiving this year, scene veteran Bill Fool has put together a damn fine bill over there of straight-up rock & roll, with a fair dose of punk and roots-rock on the side. Fool’s own Satanic Overlords of Rock n Roll are headlining, and they do an awesomely raw, heavy, dirty, boozy brand of metal/rock that won’t sound alien to fans of early Judas Priest or Sabbath.

I really like Killer Hearts, as well — the band’s pedigree is impressive as hell, with members of Electric Frankenstein, The Wrong Ones, & The Down & Dirties, among others — and I’ve heard good things about Hell’s Engine, too.

The name lower down on the bill that’s really got me intrigued, though, is Blackgrass Gospel, who bill themselves as “Outlaw bluegrass” and hail from freaking Alvin, of all places. Sadly, I haven’t actually heard any of their music — I can’t find it anywhere online — but it sounds really damn promising…

Runners-Up:
Trophy Eyes/Seaway/Can’t Swim/Hot Mulligan @ Warehouse Live (Studio)
Party Favor @ Stereo Live
Good Times with Friends: A Pre-Thanksgiving Bash, featuring The Broken Spokes @ Goode Company Armadillo Palace (8-11PM)