Music with Jameson & Lonestar: Deadbolt, Trianwoodburns (Friday) and Speeding Motorcycle (Sunday)

Now I'm gonna fess up and say that my interest in Friday's show was somewhat nominal. I had gone up to Rudyard's to go meet some friends and spent most of Deadbolt's set engaged in drunken chatter by the bar instead of dutiful rocking. So, you probably could have dropped a bomb in that room and I wouldn't have noticed. That being said Trian Woodburns opened with good set of garagey Rock and Roll. While I can't say I was particularly swayed one way or the other by the electric guitar stuff, it was quite a different matter when the guitarist played songs on an acoustic with his slide; they went from mildly pleasant to engaging. Deadbolt followed with it's vodoobilly thing. Powertools, sparks, a high concept look, and straight up well played evil sounding surf inspired garage. Good stuff but then, after the second song, I went to get a beer, ran into my friends, and (like I mentioned) that was about it for my attention span. Before I knew it the band ended and it was 2am.

Sunday night at Rudyard's though was a different matter. The Austin cast of Speedy Motorcycle came down to see a play so why not book a musical review of the Speedy Motorcycle (which recently closed in Austin)? Sure. Joe Mathlete, Kathy McCarty, Members of Cat Scientist, Invincible Czars, and others ripped through a solid set of Johnston songs that was fun, loose , and laid back. Maybe it was just me but the upbeat songs like Speeding Motorcycle and Funeral Girl really we're much more fun and engaging than the slow numbers. Nevertheless, the thing was, if you left after the main set you missed out on the real fun which was the encore (or should I say encores) which seemed totally off-the-cuff and a blast. Whereas the main set had most people being quite stoic, the encores eventually led to some righteous dancing and whooping. The whole thing closed with a rip roaring version of Johnston's Rock this Town with everyone singing along to the chorus! Yeah, it was late and I'll be tired this afternoon at work but it was worth it.

Trian Woodburns