Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

On Again

Like rock 'n' roll itself, the Knoxville club scene is in a constant state of flux—and that's what makes it interesting. After a brief respite, the strip's famed den of iniquity, The Longbranch Saloon, is once again booking bands on weekends for its upstairs room. With the departure of the 'branch's colorful Cowboy a few months back, it looked like the days of rock were over.

"Basically, Cowboy left and I started tending bar upstairs," says self-described rock chick Cindy Douglas. "I thought it was a great room and there was already a PA system, so I wanted to do shows again. The Longbranch is a really cool place and I'm trying to find some good bands." Whatta gal!

With this scary endeavor, Cindy will surely find her hands full. She's also planning free film nights during the week. So if your band wants to get out of the garage and onto the stage at one of Knoxville's most legendary dives, call the Longbranch at 546-9914.

Local CD Review

Color Field
Three-Track Demos

Although Color Field employs your basic guitar, bass and drums on their recording, Three-track Demos, they manage to fill up quite a lot of space.

Their sound alters between delicate and a churning, driving rush. The band consists of Bob Leopold on bass, Phil Pollard on drums and Sevan Takvoryan on guitar and vocals.

It's part of a continuing line of jazz-influenced free-form drone rock that is so popular these days.

Some of it is extremely compelling. On "Shining Forth," Takvoryan softly plucks his guitar for a good 40 seconds, before the band gently chimes in in the background. Then, as though their amphetamines have suddenly kicked in, the band jarringly jumps into a driving churn of guitar noise, with Pollard thrashing away at the drums. Then Takvoryan sings in his nasal voice, "I spread my arms and watch the ocean swell and crash around us." It feels very much like the ocean is crashing around you.

Lyrically, Color Field evokes nature nearly at every turn, with a naval-gazing awe and wonder. Songs are titled "The Black Rainbow," "Pieces of the Sunset on the Waves," and "The View from Everest," and Takvoryan tosses off lines like, "I kick the ground and watch pebbles as they roll away across the soil."

But as is so often the case with new bands, Color Field creates an impressive sound, then fall short when it comes to writing actual songs. Their technique of altering between soft, pretty and fast, noisy creates a nice tension, but after a while it begins to sound formulaic, with not enough variation.

Their dronier moments could benefit from better rhythms, too. The Feelies, for instance, also used a droniness in their sound but they built their music on funkier, more developed beats that Color Field's music could benefit from.

Part of the problem could be that this music doesn't shine on low-fi recording. An elaborate production would help refine their sound. But that costs money and they likely don't have much of it at their disposal.

But, these are quibbling complaints, asking for perfection from a band that is still experimenting and feeling around for its own sound. Three-track Demos is a fine start on that discovery process.

The Ghosts
Revival (Disgraceland)

With their loopy lyrics, unfettered stage kitsch and rock-solid chops, the Ghosts have long been a favorite bar band in these parts, the perfect musical foil for a night o' suds sans the Buffet schtick and tired classic rawk covers. That's true, in large part, because the band's bluesy original concoctions have the same sort of catchy resonance as other, more familiar fodder, but with a twist: a wit and freshness wholly absent from standard cover-band fare.

But the Ghosts' main strength lies with vocalist and chief songwriter He Who Cannot Be Named, the wellspring of the band's corrupt wit, and a singer possessed of uncommonly rich, dark-chocolate pipes.

He Who channels seamlessly the vocal and spiritual essence of any number of rock and blues iconoclasts—Tom Waits, John Spencer, Dread Zeppelin's Tortelvis, to name but a few—without ever drawing too deeply from a single subversive well. On the Ghosts' latest CD, Revival (plied by Disgraceland Records, a tiny Nashville indie headed by former Knoxvillian David Jenkins), He Who is once again the Ghosts' central attraction; and once again, the "mysterious" figure who is perhaps the city's biggest rock 'n' roll smartass since Todd Steed rarely disappoints.

He Who succeeds in no small part, however, because he can flat out sing. Whether it be on unhinged Stray Cats trashabilly like "Rock the Joint," C&W camp ("The Way the World Is"), or a rare foray into straight-faced lament such as "Fool Around With Love," his vox are marked by a level of nuance and depth, a chameleonic richness that's rarely found in the realm of goof-rock. And his Waits impression on the bent blues rocker "Move It All Around" would probably be lawsuit fodder, save for the fact that the Raspy One likely assumed he had recorded the track himself in the foggy depths of some week-long bender.

But for all of Revival's goofy, good-rockin' pleasures, the platter's highlight lies with a lovely bit of balladry entitled "Our Love Is in a Dream," a floating reverie that's all sweet nothings and dreamy eyes. Its presence in the midst of such malign strangeness and rampant dementia would be downright unsettling, save for the fact that it's just so damned pretty.

Go.

Thursday: Nothin' Nice at Knoxville College. A play, which will be followed by a discussion of race and culture, produced by Carpetbag Theatre as part of Knoxville's ongoing celebration of Appalshop.

Friday: Lovejoi with the Thompson Brothers at Patrick Sullivan's. Rock. Big, meaty, wonderful rock.

Saturday: Knoxville Zoo Free Day. Check out the new bear exhibit and pet a goat—gratis.

Sunday: !!! and Lovelife at The Pilot Light. High-energy sounds from an unpronounceable band.

Monday: Begin your mental prep for the Thanksgiving Day onslaught of relatives.

Tuesday: Shells: Gems of the Sea at McClung Museum. Who knew such jewels lived underwater?:

Wednesday: Blues Jam at Sassy Ann's. Get blue.

—Emma "Will write for stuffing" Poptart