Not Enough Saturday Nights

One Wednesday night, about eight years ago, I was at Detroit's now-defunct Gold Dollar to see Bantam Rooster and the New Bomb Turks. After Bantam Rooster was done, a lot of people started leaving. The New Bomb Turks were setting up their gear, and Eric the singer started berating them for leaving, calling them pussies and that just because they have class in the morning, it doesn't mean they have to leave. Once the band got started, he stood up there and said "I'd like to thank you for staying...I'm lookin' out there, and I can tell that for each and every one of you, EVERY night is Saturday night." Fuckin' a right. Back then was a time when I could go to the Magic Stick in Midtown and see the Hellacopters or the Supersuckers or the Dragons rock the fuck out. Since then, the Hellacopters have mellowed, the Supersuckers are barely still around, mostly playing country, and who knows what happened to the Dragons. Bantam Rooster is gone, and I lost track of the New Bomb Turks.

Don't get me wrong, the rock is still out there, it's just getting harder to find and more diverse. Now you have Wolfmother with their Deep Purple meets Blue Cheer goodness and the Backyard Babies are still glammin' it up. It's still there, it's just not like it was in that golden late '90s era.

Then a band like River City High comes around outta Richmond, VA. When I think of Richmond, I think of politically-charged hardcore punk bands like Avail and Strike Anywhere. It sounds like there's some rock 'n' roll goin' on there, too.

Full disclosure: River City High were first brought to my attention by my friend Deanna who happens to have just started managing them. But I get nothing out of this, it's good music, and I want you to hear it.

If you long for those days when the Hellacopters still wore their MC5 appreciation on their sleeve, when Tom Potter (Bantam Rooster) was the devil onstage, and the Supersuckers played "Born With a Tail" like they really fucking meant it, you're going to like River City High. In fact, if you ever liked the Dragons, this is totally your bag.

It's that slightly punk anthem, gravel-voiced, rockin' out sound. Infectious.

Click here to check out their website, and click here to check out their MySpace page where you can also listen to their music.

New record out on Takeover Records September 19th.