Hicks with Sticks finally caught up with the Whisky Richards and Lady A and her Heel Draggers.
We first heard the Richards — who spell it “whisky” or “whiskey” depending on their mood — back in their 2008 start-up days when it was a challenge just to get through some songs. We waited as they tried different material and players until they found more traction in 2009. In 2010 we’re part of the buzz because they were rockin’ the house at Cafe Du Nord during the SF Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival. Chase Christie is up front on vocals and rhythm guitar, Katy Rexford (Misisipi Rider) sings and fiddles, Adam Roszkiewicz (A.J. Roach) plays lead guitar, Logan Barrier pounds the skins here and in our favorite Austrian-heavy punk band Arnocorps, and multi-instrumentalist Joe Kenny plays Fender bass. Catch them early on Friday, March 5th, 7PM with Axton Kincaid at the Makeout Room, 3225 22nd SF.
Lady A a
nd her Heel Draggers – and dontcha like the name(?) — turned out to be quite a surprise at the Parkside on the last Sunday in February, even without their fiddle player. They’ve got a few bugs to work out like those long what-do-we-play-next song transitions, but they are a mighty seven-piece with Ayelet Arbuckle who can do the big voice thing without over-playing it, Will Fourt who isn’t shy about sneaking in some jazz licks on guitar, Mitiya Matsuda who is the new secret weapon in the B-Stars on steel, Eric Chaves who got beat up more than anyone in high school for playing both accordion and clarinet, Danny Chaves on stand-up bass, Leif Karlstrom on fiddle and Mike Brilliot from the late, great Joe Buck on traps. They’ll open for Deke Dickerson with the Modern Sounds at the Hedley Club – Hotel De Anza, 233 W. Santa Clara, San Jose on 3/4.
Charlie Roman and the Teenage Werewolves are looking for a new guitar player. The Big Paisano wants someone who can play drivin’ rockabilly with a vintage guitar and amp and wants to be a teenage werewolf first and foremost. That narrows down the field, but there’s got to be one locked in his parents’ basement somewhere. Charlie’s bassist Jack Spade, also started a new band called the something-or-others. We might get around to learning its name, but don’t count on it. Happy Jack starts bands often and kills ‘em fast.
March 4th update: Happy Jack checked in to say his new band Sick Wolf now has members that do the little things like rehearsing and is destined for infinity and beyond. They’ve got the bookings to prove it. Follow the link and believe.
It appears that the Plain High Drifters are preparing for another run. They cover late ’60’s early ’70s country tunes and provide an outlet for Smelley Kelley to sing the songs that there just isn’t room for in his main band Red Meat. This will be the fourth incarnation of the PHDs who date back to the mid-’90s as the East Bay Drifters who, as they’ve evolved, tend to play for about three years then disappear for three years only to return again. Whatever else can be said about the band, they at least have a fine sense of symmetry.
Eric Embry has confirmed that the fire has gone out of the Burning Embers. Never the most focused of bands when it came to bookings, Embry is likely to resurface in a band where he gets to just show up and play. Tom Armstrong was one of the Burning Embers’ success stories when they pulled him out of retirement to play bass, but with two vocalists already in place, they never really got him into the mix as much as they could have. Meanwhile, the Ember’s fiddler and singer, Katy Rexford, has joined the Whiskey Richards who spent a good portion of ‘09 stabilizing their line-up and now appear poised to hit it and git it in 2010.
