by Lisa Ann Mahfouz
Daily Cougar StaffI bumped into Ezra Reynolds, Breedlove's young keysmeister, at Steamboat in Austin on the last night of South by Southwest and asked him when the band was going to release an album.
"We're taking it slow," Reynolds said. (It's funny now how we expect new, unsigned bands to produce their own album these days.)
Road shows are no exception for this novice touring band. Breedlove arrived late to the show Thursday night at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge, but as the saying goes, "Good things come to those who wait."
This grass-roots prodigy of a band opened for the Ugly Americans, Capricorn recording artists, to a conscientiously cool crowd.
Breedlove's soulful rock vibes lifted onlookers off barstools and onto the dance floor. Stylistically, the band's raw, live sound releases an upbeat energy crowds seem to eat up.
The combination of Dan Dyers' sultrified southern vocals, Tyrone Vaughn-Fullerton's electric funk guitar, Ezra Reynolds' heartfelt fingertips on the B-3 organ, the hard groovin' rhythm section of Chris White, and Josh Dawkins' bass bring back memories of R&B days, when music filled your soul.
A 1990s Ray Charles white-man band with words and rhythms worthy of the comparison by today's standards, Breedlove is a rough-cut diamond that will soon outshine the local band scene.
Enter the polished gemstones of the underground rock world, Ugly Americans. This tight and true rock band has faded on and off the road-show scene over the past years, but now they are back. Six heavy-hitting musicians: Bob Schneider, vocals; Bruce Hughes, rhythm guitar; Corey Mauser, C3 organ; Dave Robinson, drums; Max Evans, lead guitar and Sean McCarthy, bass, aesthetically please your ears. Consummate performers, the Ugly Americans ruled the stage and the audience. Songs like "Don't Give Me no Lip" sound as clean live as they do on the band's self-titled album.
Professional, profound, prolific -- three big words describing the unleashed talents of this modern-rock band. Ugly Americans have what it takes to be a success on disc and stage. This is a band we will look back on in a year or two after it has flooded radio airwaves and say, "I saw them when ... ."
(FYI: Rudy T. and friends dropped by after the Rockets game to let loose and enjoy the music of the evening.)
Another one of the Rockets' stomping grounds, the Velvet Elvis, brought Houston a new strain of lounge acts. Friday night, The Naughty Ones mesmerized the cigar-smokin', cognac-sniffin' crowd of the VE, as it is affectionately known by patrons.
A lead bongo-playing singer, a leopard-skin-dressed dancing girl, a slick trumpet player and jazzy rat-a-tat-tat rhythm section entertained the masses, both young and old. For those music connoisseurs who dig erotic jungle rock, this is the scene. If it's not your bag, then get with it!
After a week at SXSW and Thursday and Friday-night shows in Houston, I was too pooped to party Saturday night. E-mail me at The_Fouz@msn.com if I missed anything exciting. Until next time, let music make the difference.