Mob Action

Mob Action

Driving up to Kix Club Saturday was like driving up to a small music club in a much bigger town. People were out in the parking lot and spilling out of the front door, and all seemed to be having a good time.

DEATH FOLK
I missed their set but heard great things about their performance. Their bass player came up to me and said they don’t play many shows, but they will be playing more now that the weather is nicer, stating “we have a seasonal singer” and he does not play much when it is colder. Stay tuned for more shows.

MOB ACTION
These guys are the nicest psuedo punk rock band in the business. This was great and a little funny since some of the basis of punk is anarchy and angst. Either way, they still rocked out with their self-proclaimed new vocalists.

The guys say they have had some member changes and just recently started using their current vocal lineup. The rockabilly tunes are where the guys shined, especially when they brought out their set list standard Johnny Cash song. Instrumentally, the band did a really good job with the punk songs and after some more time singing together, I can definitely see their harmonies gelling.

When preparing to check these guys out, think less punk standards (i.e. Black Flag and The Misfits) and more current punk (i.e. Green Day and Dead To Me). I would not classify these guys with the pop punk on the radio, however, because they definitely play the fast pumping music that is great, but have the higher, less angry vocals of Dead To Me.

THE TEXAS FUNERALS
I have seen these guys before, but in a much larger venue. A smaller, more intimate club like Kix works much better for listening to the surf/western tunes.

Once the trombone player got going, he was a great addition and definitely made the band unique for the area. The lead vocalist has really nice tone, which has a bluesy quality that was great over the fast rhythms.

The only unfortunate thing was from very early on there was complaining from the band about microphone and light issues. Sound is usually the number one thing I will tear apart, but it sounded great.

Every time, during the other bands, that I would start to think the sound could use a tweak, the techs would adjust it and it would be good again. I was surprised by how good it did sound, considering Kix Club is essentially in a narrow stone-walled basement and I assumed the sound would bounce off weird — but it didn’t.

The band complaining somewhat threw off the feel of the show for a bit, but once things were worked out, the show grooved on with the crowd dancing along.

The amount of people who came out was impressive. I can’t wait to see everybody at the next show!

Jessica Martin
jmartin@whig.com