Arts & Entertainment

'Backtones' a Texas psychobilly freakout

By Chris Goodier
The Daily Cougar

As a weekend chill cut through the heart of midtown, windswept locals sought refuge in the fiery antics of The Southern Backtones on The Continental Club stage. 

To satisfy a venueis audience reputed for supporting musicians that know their instruments, The Backtones upped expectations by infusing stage presence with (often derisive) crowd interaction. Members of the dual guitar band can spend all night describing a sound flavored by influences and hyphenated genre descripts, but through the speaker itis straight-up rockiniroll. With the inclusion of rockis timeless ingredients the outfit succeeds. The grit, groove and attitude are evident, but thereis variety. An early-set number of surf starkness propelled dancers into reverb-drenched melancholia. Trailing behind was a classic spaghetti western of airy delight stuttered by the sharp tremolo of a Fender Silverface. Dance partners adjusted to the languid drag in tormented tangos, the sound beckoning an absent mariachi trumpet.

A couple of songs spotlighted The Backtones' anthem rock tendencies. While the snare accented a bass heavy downbeat, relatively few lead licks could be found. The close of a few impending measures led the sustained howl from the gut of a Gretsch into an erupting chorus. 

By now the ladies were jamming as hard as the guys, while lead singer Hank Schyma asked, "Do you think you look better with all that makeup on?" 

Their style goes well with this working-class venue, volleying insults between stage and audience. 

Bassist/singer Myke Foster dished out most of the banter with a rock star sneer, mocking this attendeeis request of "Foreigner" as not being worth the $5 cover charge. I informed him that it would have to be a personal favor, seeing as he put me on the guest list. 

When I approached him after the show, Foster expressed the bandis evolution: "We incorporate everything. It started as punk-psychobilly-surf but my entrance brought more aggression." 

When asked of The Backtonesi direction after self-released second album The Formula, the bassist replied, "We have up and downs (in the music). Thatis what distinguishes us. Whatis cool to people now is very one-dimensional. We want to create boundary-less music. Now thereis a noir-soundtrack-esque theme, there is sharing in the studio but weire also entertainers."

Is there success in being free of such limits? "We do Texas, we do Oklahoma and even a Leviis commercial. But the odd thing is that people canit understand us. We have a hard time being billed with a one-band genre. Itis this misunderstanding that even got us jumped in Corpus Christi," Foster said. 

Maybe musical taste wasnit the only thing inciting violence. Regardless, it wonit be long before The Southern Backtones break from the corralled Houston local scene. Check out their Web site at www.geocities.com/backtones. Look for the upcoming P.B.S. broadcast as well.

The Southern Backtones

The Continental Club

The verdict: A must-see of local music; hear them at least once before forming your own opinion.

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