Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tuesday, April 21, 2009  [Link to this | Blog home]

Tonight's Neon Machine rehearsal was cancelled - and the Bob Hund gig had been moved to Store Vega (thus no longer being sold out), so with short notice, I spent another evening in the company of some of my favourite Swedes.
The support band was the much-hyped Snake & Jet's Amazing Bullit Band. After hearing a couple of songs, I was actually surprised to learn that these guys are Danish. And that happens to be very high praise in my book: I didn't imagine that the mindlessly traditional Danish music scene could ever give birth to a beast like this - which is in reality a keyboard/drums duo! That - together with their attitude and pure energy - puts them in the international league. If anyone had told me these guys were the next big thing from NYC, I'd have believed it.
That said, their particular brand of loud easy listening rock - endless Vox Organ twiddling and funky drum beats - isn't really to my taste. The kitsch factor is too high, and somehow requires you to be in on the joke (which apparently goes something like "Link Wray meets The Pizzicato Five"). But I wish these guys all the success in the world - they sure as hell deserve it.
Bob Hund delivered more pure energy with their unique blend of rock'n'roll noise, indie quirkyness and a charming sense of humour - the latter not least due to the breakneck shenanigans of frontman Thomas Öberg.
These guys are so entertaining that I keep breaking my general rule about not seeing the same band again. So it's probably impressive that only now, after seeing several shows over many years, I begin to wonder: Are the songs from the new album as good as the classics? Is Thomas' voice getting too trained - not as raw as it used to be? And is his Skåne accent fading?
Anyway, these are all minor quibbles - and a great evening was had by all...