Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Tour Hazards

The nine Gran Torino guys got a lousy early Christmas gift in the form of a tour bus accident en route from Murfreesboro to Knoxville shortly before the holiday. All of the guys have been released from the hospital, but second drummer David Heyer will be off of the road for a few weeks while his fractured leg heals. The Torino show scheduled for Blue Cats on Friday, Jan. 25 will go on as planned, and the fellows should tear up the joint with their unique blend of rock and funk. And we sincerely hope that the road gods have no more surprises in store for these Knox-rockers.

Spreading the Disease

Exhiliratingly uncouth local rock/punk trio American Plague begin an ambitious "U.S. tour" Jan. 9 in Louisville, Ky. The Knoxville band which features singer/guitarist Jaw, bassist Dave Dammit and drummer B.J. Fontana currently has 29 dates scheduled across the Southeast and Midwest through March 2, with more promised. Several of the dates are scheduled for East Tennessee, including a Jan. 11 show at 7th Street Saloon, Jan. 12 at Johnson City's Safety Sheep House, Jan. 31 at Barefoot Bob's in Cookeville, and Feb. 21 at Chattanooga's Attic. Oh, and lest we forget, they'll also show up at Knoxville's own Pilot Light in the Old City come Feb. 15. For more info, check out the band's website at PlagueUSA.com.

Local CD Review I

Various Artists
Freedom Engine (Indy 500 Records)

The first release on Will Fletcher's new Indy 500 local record label, Freedom Engine will benefit the New York City fire engine fund, all of its proceeds having been pledged to that charitable effort. But it should also benefit Knoxville's undernourished music scene, chronicling as it does some occasionally uneven but often stellar work from local new names and old favorites alike.

Its dazzling opening track, the unreleased "California" from former Knoxville major label alterna-popsters the Judybats, is damned near worth the price of the disc alone. Equal parts modern power-pop sparkle and '80s college radio nostalgia, it ranks among the best songs the long-running but scarce-of-late quintet ever recorded.

Other highlights include Fletcher's own "little more," a Jay Ferrar-esque indie rocker with touches of J. Mascis-style guitar, and a chicken pickin' treat from Mustard entitled "Pontiac Cadillac." Not the Mustards' best effort, to be sure, but rockin' good fun all the same.

Freedom Engine drags in spots, with a couple of pedestrian pop-rock numbers; a hard-rock outing from local heavies Shape Cell that bespeaks a little too much nü metal; and a cut from Extreme Church that screams way too much Triumph. But Freedom closes with the affecting and sweet "How Do You" from Knox nightingale Jodie Manross, its lovely strains gently dissipating like the last wisps of a beautiful daydream.

Local CD Review II

Senryu
Senryu Demo

Aaargh! Knoxville's Senryu write catchy, intermittently ear-pleasing tunes in the retro '80s mode—all airy production, minimalist synth-sounds and ringing, effects-laden guitars. But the songs are so marred by the singer's effete, cloying vocals as to render all of them virtually unlistenable.

Deft, well-arranged guitar atmospherics, in the manner of the Cure's Robert Smith and Porl Thompson, exert an inexorably mystical pull at the beginning of tunes such as "If This Is Wrong" and "Clear." Then the offending vocal bleeds into the track, a dollop of vinegar sloshed into a snifter of good Brandy, and thoroughly sours the pleasing post-punk vibe.

I guess there's no one left to bla-ame the guilty crooner wails on track two, "Kitty," voice wavering between piteous and insufferable.

I'd have to agree.

Go.

Thursday: Celtic Music Night at Patrick Sullivan's. With the chill of winter finally nipping at our noses, come down and get a snootful of Irish sounds and whiskey.

Friday: RuPaul at Electric Ballroom. You know you want to.

Saturday: Sean McCullough at The Spot. Acoustic folk-rock from one of Knoxville's best purveyors of the form.

Sunday: Skeptic Book Club Meeting at Borders. Close out your weekend with a deep thought.

Monday: Open Mic at Spicy's in the Old City. Bring your own material or just watch others run through theirs.

Tuesday: Buffy, but of course.

Wednesday: Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band at Barley's. Sponsored and simulcast by WDVX 89.9.

—Emma "Stuffy Head" Poptart with Mike Gibson