Last Week Around the -ISTs
Schieffer's Out of Gov Race
![True Stories Can Be Stranger Than Fiction [Extra Extra ]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/01/nightskyline-thumb-110x110-53663.jpg)
True Stories Can Be Stranger Than Fiction [Extra Extra ]
What’s the Deal: This is a star-studded tour if you’re into gritty, gravely punk. It’s Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Tim Barry of Avail and Ben Nichols of Lucero all playing solo sets, but it usually ends up with the guys all playing on the stage backing one another. All three of these bands have toured extensively with one another, so there’s going to be a great sense of family there, the kind of family that was present during the good old days of punk rock. Hot Water Music was an influential punk group in '90s and early 2000s, characterized by throaty yells, bass-heavy songs and rock-solid, sing along choruses. Avail is a name you should remember as well. If not, check out frontman Barry to get a taste of their hardcore punk tunes. And, Lucero’s dirty cowpunk twang will be represented by singer/guitarist Nichols. Hopefully, seeing these guys will inspire many of you who don’t already own any of the groups’ records to go out and buy a bundle.
Hot Water Music’s “Trusty Chords”, Avail’s “Diamond State Heartbreak” and Lucero’s “Sweet Little Thing” are all good introductory tracks from each group.
Something Interesting: For some reason, Against Me!’s Tom Gabel is on all of the other dates, but they’re not playing Fun Fun Fun. Does he have an aversion to awesome?
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: Any of the above.
What’s the Deal: When the players of Austin’s Grupo Fantasma have time off (which isn’t all that often) or when they are playing a festival, they have time to regroup as the Latin soulful funk group Brownout! But when they do take time to play events like the SPI Music Fest on South Padre Island and Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin’s backyard, it’s a largely instrumental groove full of horn blasts, funky guitars and congas. And, they must have done something right to receive such a great slot in Fun Fun Fun lineup sandwiched between Yacht and Dan Deacon. Brownout!’s debut album, Homenaje, came out in the beginning of 2008 and was well received by critics.
“Brown Wind and Fire” has a more mellow feel than a lot of the Grupo stuff. It’s full of cascading guitar riffs that flow right along with a very chilled-out percussion section. The horns really come into view on certain songs like “Barretta” with a very Latin beat and some deep saxophone moans.
Something Interesting: Their impressive horn section has performed with everyone from Spoon to Prince.
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “Homenaje” and “Laredo 77”
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