Brian Hoeflich & the All-Nighters/Thee Pistol Whips/Boombarian/Electric Banana @ Pearl 7.31.08

...racing back to Daytonia afer our appearance on WOXY's Local Lixx program last evening, we said goodbye to July with a great night of music at Pearl, courtesy of Fab Gear. Opening the evening were Troy's Electric Banana with their patented brand of dancefloor-filling guitar-slashing anthems. As the duo's backing tracks oozed big, sensual beats that got the kids moving, the guitar army of two fired off big riffs and dual guitar solos that elevated the whole mess to an absolute frenzy. If you haven't caught Electric Banana yet, you need to make it a point to do so...



...next up we had the primal punk of BoomBarian. Armed with a refreshing sense of humor and an unabashed love of what they're doing, the trio recalled female punk pioneers The Slits, as well as the riot grrrl bands coming from the American northwest. Even their cover of the Stones' "Mother's Little Helper" was draped in the sounds that can only come from Boombarian. Really, how can you not love a band with a girl drummer that stands up and puts baking pans over top of her cymbals?



...although we weren't sold on Thee Pistol Whips in previous reviews, on this night the band opened up a fury that we simply cannot deny. Gone were the organ and apparently two of the go-go singers and instead we found a band that leaving behind its garage tendencies in favor a much more muscular, guitar-driven sound. Laced with tinges of surf and favoring the sounds of vintage Detroit, we're looking for this band to improve even more in the coming months...



...closing out the evening, Brian Hoeflich & the All-Nighters served up a giant slab of vintage surf/garage that filled the dancefloor. Pulling songs from rock n' roll's earliest days (including a rollicking cover of Eddie Cochran's "Something Else"), by the end of the evening the club could very easily have been mistaken for Delta House to any passerby...




For more pics from the evening, go here.