Music with Jameson & Lone Star: Born Liars, Guitars, Lazy Horse at Rudyard's 11/26/2008

You know one thing that is great about Houston right now is the explosion of local labels; AG82, Artstorm, Cutthroat, Ditchwater, Esotype, Mia Kat, Phonographic Arts, Psycho Wolf, Team Science and so on. It's part of the local indie boom that's been happening for the last few year. Well, while waiting for Shane Lauder to arrive and do sound at Rudz, I spoke with Jaime of Giant Princess and he mentioned in passing that he and some others were starting a label. I, of course, had to prod him about it - the more, the merrier I say. So here is the scoop. The label is called Paper Stamp Record Co. and much like CIA records it will run as a collective of sorts with these bands all contributing to the fund - pretty smart. The schedule for releases is pretty ambitious so here is a rundown of their '09 release schedule:

Feb '09 - Giant Princess/BLACKIE Split 7"
Mar '09 - Giant Princess LP
Mar/Apr '09 - BLACKIE LP
Apr '09 - Giant Princess/Sings Split 7"
Jul '09 - Sings LP
Aug '09 - La Femme Politico LP

You'll note that this is all on Vinyl? Awesome!!!! I love it! That seems to be a big trend among local labels. Thank goodness the CD, with the advent of decent Internet music services, has been recognized as the glorified coaster it truly is. (Well, except for boxed sets which, when well annotated, are the one true point where CDs shine.) So good luck Jaime we'll be looking forward to all the releases in '09.

Oh and another thing I should mention about 2009 is that according to JD, even though JD and Stacey are moving, the Secret Saturday Shows at The Shady Tavern will still continue. If you have a free afternoon on a Saturday you should stop by.

By the way, while I'm rambling, I need to point out that Shane did show up and that, beyond from the excellent sound, he did something I've never seen at Rudyard's - he actually kicked up the lights. Geez, I always thought Rudyard's just had bad lighting but it turns out that when you use the lights it looks great. My reliance on flash was minimal as was my need to Photoshop the images. So, thanks Shane.

Lazy Horse started off the night. Unfortunately my notes are pretty illegible. "Sound like H????? meets a 60's teen party band." Hayden? Nope, Halford? Nope. Really, I don't know what the hell I wrote. But I will tell you one thing that I do remember and that was Charles' guitar work. Anytime he'd solo it was this wonderful loopy and loose J. Mascius tone that was fluid and expressive. One person in the audience even shouted "More solos!!" I had to concur.

Guitars followed with the lads dressed as Pilgrims, the ladies dressed as Indians, and JD dressed as the most frightening Turkey ever. (Stacey was quite proud of her seamstress skills on the Indian outfits). The music is a nice mish-mash of influences and the nice thing is that while the costumes were funny and cute they never overwhelmed the performance or the music - they added but they were never a distraction. It was energetic and fun stuff all around.

Born Liars closed the show and as usual brought the house down. No girl fights or broken bottles this year but still all the straight up rock and roll you'd expect from these guys and the typical audience reaction which was a lot of fists and drinks held in the air, shouting, dancing, and Christian of Hell City Kings unable to resist the urge to jump on stage and sing backing vocals. Kudos to new drummer (Josh is it?) of Homopolice who clearly is much more comfortable with the material than the last time I saw them.

ATTN: Lazy Horse "More Solos!"