May 10, 2006

Tautology

The first time the Tight Bros From Way Back When rocked me was through the courtesy of “Joltin’ Lowell” Abellon. Seems some band from Olympia, Washington was touring through L.A. and Mr. Indie Rock had heard all sorts of favorable buzz using scattershot terms like “MC5” & “AC/DC” and even though those are two of the laziest references in the rock critics’ dictionary, we figured it would be worth going down to the Smell and checking ‘em out.

They blew the crowd away. The Tight Bros had perfected that raveup get-the-kids-on-their-feet transcendental rock ‘n’ roll vibe that nearly everyone in a band hopes to find. (Unfortunately for wannabe stars, such skills are fucking rare.) The songs have catchy hooks and flashy guitars and crashy drums. Vocalist Jared’s airy, high-register screech made dirty fists pump the sky and had sweaty people shouting along without words. In between songs, they were regular, low-key, comical dudes – saving up their stage powers for the next blast of rock. Months later when they played Al’s Bar, the same thing happened. That’s how I knew it wasn’t a fluke.

Read the reviews of the Tight Bros’ output and you come upon a lot of laughably clueless reviews totally missing the point by labeling them a typical gang of hardass violent sound hooligans. Gimme a break. Even if this were true, it would just suck all the poetry out of their loud, stinky group catharsis ritual. The Bros are/were a gang of partying punk nerds – that’s what made them cool, not their willingness to beat you up or lacerate your eardrums. They lasted ‘til 2003, but their first album Runnin’ Thru My Bones is my favorite, a hi-energy classic in the vein of High Time or Pure Mania.

Later Jared formed the band Big Business where he does his falsetto growl thing and plays big-ass bass with another guy banging drums. They’re “heavy” in a sort of Melvins/Godflesh kinda way, but fun, and I like them. Big Business has an album called Head For the Shallow. Guitarist Quitty is now in a band called The Light Year that seems to have an early-1970s prog-pop-psyche thing happening (sorry, dudes – I’m terrible at describing music).

The band apparently got their name from a conversation on this underground tape (scroll down the page to the King Diamond cover). The best band ever on the Kill Rock Stars label, the Tight Bros left behind a debut single (and a split 7” with the Champs), two LPs, a hilarious fan Q & A and a few lighthearted interviews. Plus a trail of satisfied partygoers, spirits raised up just a cunt-hair higher than before.
————————————————————————————From the LP Runnin’ Thru My Bones:
Tight Bros From Way Back When – “Rip It Up”
Tight Bros From Way Back When – “Gimme Luv”
Tight Bros From Way Back When – “So Sneaky”
Tight Bros From Way Back When – “That’s a Promise”

From the second LP Lend You a Hand:
Tight Bros From Way Back When – “Make It a Habit”
Tight Bros From Way Back When – “Lend You a Hand”

Rick at 11:06 pm

Comments (2)

2 CommentsÈ

holy shit, they rock

Comment by michelle Ñ May 11, 2006 @ 11:26 am
Hey! A nice surprise. Thanks for the kind words. Julian Cope wrote an “album of the month” thing for Running Through My Bones a couple of months ago. Is our ship finally coming in?

The Julian Cope thing is here:
http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/1516/

There is a Tight Bros myspace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/tightbrosfromwaybackwhen

take care!
Q

Comment by Quitty Ñ June 7, 2006 @ 7:45 pm