Local CD roundup: The Evening Rig, Greycoats
The Evening Rig
The Evening Rig, Is Doin’ Stuff
(Heart Of A Champion)
Nostalgia remains one of the most powerful forces in rock—a fact The Evening Rig uses to its advantage throughout the band's second album, Is Doin’ Stuff. On this set of heartland reminiscences, The Evening Rig take the throat-searing intensity of Jason Miller’s prior band, local pop-punkers The Crush, and set it atop vastly different sonic terrain: a pleasing mix of 'Mats-styled rumble and acoustic bar-room weepers. Whether going full-throttle or humming along in a lower gear, Miller’s songs stick to what he knows—bar rooms, broken hearts, and nights of teenage debauchery gone by. It’s a formula The Hold Steady have ridden to massive success, and although Miller’s not quite the equal of Craig Finn as a wordsmith (who is?), his band possesses equally meaty hooks.
Decider Grade: A
Upcoming show: March 27, 7th Street Entry
Greycoats, Setting Fire To The Great Unknown
(Self-released)
One thing about Greycoats: This is not a band with slight ambitions. Even the title of their debut, Setting Fire To The Great Unknown, is grandiose. The expansive, cinematic sound aims for U2-style gravitas, and, most impressively, succeeds more often than it fails. Frontman Jon Reine’s got the perfect set of pipes for Greycoat’s sonic theatrics: a soaring tenor with seemingly limitless range. When all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, as on the stirring mid-tempo number “Goodbye, Sweet Youth, Goodbye," it’s easy to envision Greycoats as the world-beaters they’re clearly angling to be. Slower numbers drag a bit under the weight of the epic arrangements, but any band should be forgiven for a few strikeouts when it's clearly swinging for the fences on every track.
Decider Grade: B+
Upcoming show: April 2, The Whole Music Club
(Heart Of A Champion)
Nostalgia remains one of the most powerful forces in rock—a fact The Evening Rig uses to its advantage throughout the band's second album, Is Doin’ Stuff. On this set of heartland reminiscences, The Evening Rig take the throat-searing intensity of Jason Miller’s prior band, local pop-punkers The Crush, and set it atop vastly different sonic terrain: a pleasing mix of 'Mats-styled rumble and acoustic bar-room weepers. Whether going full-throttle or humming along in a lower gear, Miller’s songs stick to what he knows—bar rooms, broken hearts, and nights of teenage debauchery gone by. It’s a formula The Hold Steady have ridden to massive success, and although Miller’s not quite the equal of Craig Finn as a wordsmith (who is?), his band possesses equally meaty hooks.Decider Grade: A
Upcoming show: March 27, 7th Street Entry
Greycoats, Setting Fire To The Great Unknown
(Self-released)
One thing about Greycoats: This is not a band with slight ambitions. Even the title of their debut, Setting Fire To The Great Unknown, is grandiose. The expansive, cinematic sound aims for U2-style gravitas, and, most impressively, succeeds more often than it fails. Frontman Jon Reine’s got the perfect set of pipes for Greycoat’s sonic theatrics: a soaring tenor with seemingly limitless range. When all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, as on the stirring mid-tempo number “Goodbye, Sweet Youth, Goodbye," it’s easy to envision Greycoats as the world-beaters they’re clearly angling to be. Slower numbers drag a bit under the weight of the epic arrangements, but any band should be forgiven for a few strikeouts when it's clearly swinging for the fences on every track.Decider Grade: B+
Upcoming show: April 2, The Whole Music Club
Greycoats, "Goodbye, Sweet Youth, Goodbye":
