It’s “Venues” rather than “Clubs” because clubs are only part of a story about where bands play. It’s a story that includes bars, clubs, restaurants like Speisekammer in Alameda, auditoriums like Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, and Amoeba, the music retailer in SF and Berkeley that presents free live shows.
The new Venues page can work together with the new Bands page for fans who find a band they don’t know playing at a place they don’t know. (more…)
Curious about a band on the HWS Calendar or written about in Hicks with Sticks News? The new and improved Bands page features short bios and links to Twang Americana Bay Area band sites, MySpace, videos, audio tracks and pictures. At the end of the page are links to Americana bands just beyond the Bay Area and links to bands in the Bay Area that may not fit the HWS profile, but are kindred spirits.
There are 67 bands listed representing western swing, honky-tonk, alt-country and rockabilly, and almost all are within the Sonoma, East Bay, Santa Cruz triangle. (more…)
King Cab’s strength is its ability to have fun with country without self-parody.
The 14-foot trailer, parked alone, unleveled and baking in the sun, is an apt metaphor for the band’s debut CD, Buses, Sharks and Streams. “Rock Lawn,” which jump-starts the CD, is a case in point. Why would anyone want to have a lawn when rocks are so much easier to maintain? D’oh! Other trailer park lullabies include “Beer Can Chicken,” “Queen of My Trailer Park,” “Drinkin’ & Cheatin’,” and “San Felipe,” a tune about packing seven people into a Mexican motel room and calling it a vacation.
The single surely has to be “Evel,” a homage to the late motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel who “Wouldn’t give a damn what you think.” The song is as rock & roll as the daredevil himself who could break half the bones in his body jumping a fountain at a Vegas hotel, or ride a rocket into the Snake River.
King Cab combines honky-tonk sentiments, songs about the simple pleasures and catchy guitar licks. They are the Ramones of Bay Area country.