I say “Grapevine,” you say … what exactly? Main Street, maybe? The only regularly bustling family-friendly retail strip in North Texas devoid of chain establishments? Or maybe the Gaylord Texan Resort? Or maybe ICE, the annual exhibit of ice sculptures that comes around every holiday season at the Gaylord. Whatever pops into your head, the first thing probably isn’t … progressive music.
Still, when you add up all of the bands mounted by delightfully deranged youngsters in Grapevine, a hotbed of progressive music is what you’ve got. In addition to the indie-carnival-on-legs Mount Righteous — a multiple nominee in this past year’s annual Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards — there’s also DISCO: HATE, The Family Circus, and, one of the stronger projects, Death! To The Doomriders. Made of equal parts Arthur Brown and nerdcore, plus a small dose of Sam & Dave (!), D!TTDR takes a loosey-goosey approach to performance. At some points, a guy with a nasally voice raps about nerdy stuff. Other times, a guy with an affected baritone kind of voice parodies Scott Stapp. In any case, the vocals are sometimes only barely tethered to the rhythms, which does nothing really but amp up the music’s fresh, unrehearsed feel. The drumming also is lovably forced. It’s live, but by shifting tempos ever so slightly (a little faster here, a little slower there), it sounds like a Casio keyboard beat set to “Rock.” Charming. Lyrically, the band seems to have a rusty ax to grind against technology. “Power down, America / Power down / Now!” is the cry of “Ugooglizer” (pronounced u-google-ize-er). At one point in the track, the nerdy guy says, “This is what the world would be like without technology,” followed by silence, over which the uber-masculine guy starts singing soulfully off-mic. In another song, the doomy “Windmills,” part of the refrain goes, “Ain’t nobody need no automobile.” Only funny, self-conscious lip service is paid to the fact that D!TTDR is a byproduct of the digital age. Listen for yourself at www.myspace.com/resistoroflove. Catch Mount Righteous and some other Grapevine crazies on Saturday at the Chat Room Pub (1263 W. Magnolia Ave., 817-716-8057). … Free tickets: To see Appleseed Cast, The Burning Hotels, and True Widow on Thursday at Lola’s Saloon Sixth (2736 W. 6th St., 817-877-0666) or Loney, Dear, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, and Sunnybrook on Wed., Feb. 11, at Hailey’s (122 Mulberry St., Denton, 940-323-1160), e-mail Weekly associated editor at anthony.mariani@fwweekly.com. First come, first served. Two tix per show. A valid driver’s license will be required to pick up the tickets, at the door. For more info on the two aforementioned shows or more, visit the company bringing you the shows, Spune Productions, at www.spune.com. (Employees of Spune and the Weekly are ineligible.)
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
