"Johnny Cash hadn't done that Ministry song yet," adds Stump.
Funny thing: Ward Hayden from Girls, Guns & Glory (kindred spirits to TDT) has gone on record as saying pretty much the same thing. Nowadays, instead of being forced into the honky-tonks, these outfits transform rock clubs into temporary honky-tonks. (That should be the case this Saturday, when GGG and TDT play Rodfest 7 at the Paradise.)
TDT's first European tour is chronicled on their fourth album (their first live): Lost in Belgium. The lack of overdubs creates the intended disheveled, candid ambiance. The problem is, it sounds a little too much like a live show. It's a bit of a cocktease unless you dim the lights in your living room, guzzle some Old Thompson, spin around till you're dizzy, and squint till the cat looks like Willie Nelson and the room looks like a dive bar.
Or a Belgian prison.
"Without all these laws [drugs, prostitution, etc.] we have in the US," says Byrnes, recalling TDT's prison gig, "I was wondering, 'What did these people do to get in here?' Apparently there were some real bad people. One guy yelled 'Osama bin Laden' at us, just to get a reaction. They were totally trying to knock us off our game. We thanked them for being a captive audience, made fun of the warden, started rocking out, and they were in the palm of our hands."
THREE DAY THRESHOLD + ROGUE HEROES + GIRLS, GUNS & GLORY + CASSAVETTES + MORE AT RODFEST 7 | Paradise, 969 Comm. Ave, Boston | January 31 at 8 pm | $15 advance/$20 doors | 617.562.8800 or thedise.com
