[Portland OR] SweetRambler
invited me to see his band. I was thinking it was brave, being that we have
different taste in music & I’m a harsh critic, until I realized he wasn’t
kidding when he uncharacteristically told me that maybe he really just is a
famous musician.
Outside of the two giddy dancing fools and the more hippy
than hipster crowd,
it wasn’t what I expected. SweetRambler, all graciousness, always, greeted me, visited
me at my seat. The lead singer, who I sort of gathered started the band with
SweetRambler in January, tossed his tousled curls and forgot me before he even
registered meeting me – fine, fine, he had a lot to accomplish in the next
couple hours. The band was SweetRambler on a super-complicated keyboard
(dials?), the lead singer on guitar, a backup singer on bass, and a drummer. SweetRambler’s
sort of a reluctant jam-bander. Even though they evoked scores of genres,
artists, I wouldn’t call them a jam band. There was coherence and distinction. Each an outstanding musician. My
first thought was southern boogie, although god knows it’s a short walk through
a dark alley from southern rock to prog rock to jam bands – but there were also
solid classic bones. Rolling Stones. Definitely the shamble of the Velvet
Underground. Lots of blues walkdowns. The lead singer’s stylistic singing cattywampused
it all into having a touch of Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen – although these artists
would be blinded by Lost Ox’s jubilance. SweetRambler described the band as
rockabilly and prog rock – I was skeptical but there was one song that verged
on rockabilly and then another that touched on western swing. The keyboard was
one of the more interesting aspects of their sound – even New Orleans sometimes.
The home-cookin’ song was very Those Darlins. They brought up a third guitarist
from a different band and it got realllly funky and proggy (even the lead
singer was giving the wrap-it-up finger-spin to bandmates) – it was probably my
favorite song. Ultimately I call them jubilant. It was endearing when the lead
singer totally flubbed the third song and had to wait out the chords to start
singing again. They’re recording next week. Shit, they’ve been on the local
news. What kind of jerk is 33? Also, I’ve been feeling the need to say, after
flying through LA, and growing up near LA, the people of LA have the looseness
of spirit & irony that feel like home.
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