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Review:
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Another weekend, another night at Lenny's. Over the summer of 2006, Lenny's bar in Atlanta has consistently had the most interesting shows and line-ups around. That's probably not surprising, when you consider the changing club scene around town. When it comes to small-ish local bands and labels, Lenny's is the place where you play. So, on a night when it is extremely steamy outside, and almost as hot indoors, we wandered off to see another 7" release show by Rob's
House Records.
Liverhearts vocalist playing, singing, and standing in the
crowd.
Opening were The Liverhearts, an Atlanta band who's been around for a quite a while, and have gone through several significant live-up changes. The last couple of times I've seen them, however, they've had the same three piece line-up, and this is a good thing. Their music works well in an angular, semi-punk way, with the driving drumbeat acting against the bass and guitar. Over it all, the lead singer seems to have finally found his voice, as he echoes over the combined sound. It's a lot of fun, and it seems to me that it all would record quite well. Either way, I've recently become all about The
Liverhearts, and they're one of my new crop of favorite Atlanta bands.
Thee Crucials with a cryptic message for the crowd.
Next up were Thee Crucials: another local-ish band (I actually think they're
from Milledgeville), who I had never seen before. I'm not sure what I was expecting,
but as they set up, looking somewhat retro-60s, I was encouraged. And when
they began to play, both they and the club around me came alive with people
dancing, shaking, and generally having a grand old time to Thee Crucials. This
five piece remind me a bit of The Woggles, with their raucous take on 60s garage
music. However, they still have a little bit of an edge, so that the songs
feel a little more punky and a little less surfy. Call them proto-punk, if
you will. Either way, for a relatively young band, they seem to have their
act together, and know how to put on a really fun set. I definitely want to
see them again, and they acted as a perfect opener for the headliner.
Thee Crucials = nice left-handed guitar.
Thee Crucials = another nice guitar.
Then, finally, The Selmanaires began to set up. At this point, Lenny's was way crowded and way warm. I was doing alright, as I was standing next to a big fan that kept the warm air swirling so that the temperature wasn't too unbearable. But then, as The
Selmanaires got ready to play, the staff moved the fans so that the audience was standing in a sweltering state. And I was really really hot (and some of the folks around me were particularly stinky). Ugh.
The Selmanaires were selling 7" records.
The Selmanaires' drummer looked about to die in the heat.
Selmanaire Tommy Chung dressed for the warm weather.
But The Selmanaires almost made up for these
environmental issues. They played a straight up set, consisting mainly of songs
from their album, Here
Come The Selmanaires. Despite the heat, this three piece played
hard and well, showing that they are easily one of the best bands Atlanta has
to offer. In particular, they pulled off a rousing version of In the Direction
of Yes, which had PostLibyan telling me, "I really like this song."
As for me, I had forgotten how much I liked all of their music, and I really
appreciated the languid but driving nature of Images.
And when they were done, despite the heat and the steam and my dehydration, I wanted them to continue playing. Heck, I felt that way about all three bands. Just another song from each would have made me happy. And it's been a long long time since I would have been so hard pressed to say which of the three bands were the best. Each played exceedingly well, and each band seems to have a promising future in front of them.
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