| RubberSideDown Indie 103 Check One, Two Showcase The Viper Room March 13, 2006 By Victoria Joyce Photos by Victoria Joyce SugarBuzz Magazine |
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| Our friends from San Francisco came south to play the Sunset Strip. Last year, RubberSideDown self-released a fine CD, “Zero Fighter” (reviewed here) and we loved that.
They got the opening slot at Indie’s new music showcase on this Monday night at the Viper. RSD has played LA before but never here. They were pretty excited. “This is the place we’ve wanted to play,” says lead singer and guitar Kevin Casey. It’s a little ironic, them playing here. Kevin tells us more, “When we play in the Bay Area, we come off stage and people say ‘so, you’re from LA?’ They do. Very. The Hollywood thing. |
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A short set of seven songs included some of the cuts that have been picked up by some of the hip TV shows; “Joan of Arcadia,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Felicity.” RubberSideDown is doing alright. Power chords with a sweet pop twang makes their stuff very radio-ready. Small wonder the first comparison that comes up is Velvet Revolver. We heard some California surf, the Pretenders and a little Ramones too. All from that gorgeous Garage of Rock. But this is the West Coast, so maybe it’s more of a Parking Structure. All the same, RubberSideDown is very driven. The band’s name is motor cycle jargon for keeping it close to the road. Good one. The first three songs came bam, bam, bam, no breaks or between-song banter. That’s the way we like it. “Electric,” “Get Real” (still our favorite) and “Slip Away” came slick fast. Lyrics are easy and true, sounding like conversation or argument. Sassy |
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| and smart. Kevin’s singing is delivered with a light touch, almost thrown away and a haunting gentle texture. We liked “Morphine,” and “Give it Back” could pass for Scott Weiland’s band if you squint with your ears. | ||||||||||
| “My Next Life,” was the odd song in the set. Kinda folk rock, with a jangly, psychedelic guitar; sounding a little like Jerry Garcia. The small crowd at the Viper didn’t love it like the rest. “Funny, that song is goes over big in San Francisco!” from Mike Scott, bass man. Well not in Hollywood, my man. Too dreamy and wistful for this bunch.
They won them back with the big closer “Say Please,” another gorgeous rocker. We stuck around for the rest of the night. There was supposed to be a Super Secret Set at midnight. All the rumors about the Sex Pistols turned out to be false. “We got over thirty calls,” said the evening’s |
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| host, Indie’s Music Director, Mark Sovel, shaking his head. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was the other hot lead. But another dead end.
After Red Lighting, Linda Strawberry and Once from England, it was clear, the best band of the night played first. |
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