The final area show by Radar Eyes began like any other Friday night at P.A.’s Lounge. In the establishment’s left ventricle — the room with the bar — twentysomethings mingled, cheep beer and Keno cards flowed freely, and gray-haired regulars sipped whiskey in the corner, until muted bass and drums indicated it was time to move, en masse, to the room on the right side — the one with the instruments. Radar Eyes guitarist (and Sam Beam doppelgänger) Uriah Theriault played DJ on the P.A.’s jukebox, spinning Yardbirds, the Band, Hank Williams — hints of the influences that have altered the band’s sound over the past year. Formerly a quartet devoted to thunderous Sabbathy riff rock, the Eyes took the stage having trimmed a guitarist (Joe Ledbetter, who was nonetheless in the audience). They played a set of new and remarkably rootsy tunes, their signature Blue Cheer assault replaced with overtones of cool blues and finger-pickin’-good country swagger. As Theriault plucked away, he flashed secretive smiles and showcased his "wookie walk." (Instructions: shuffle forward, gain speed, retreat backward, repeat.) Bassist/singer Jason Gillis had tamed his garish growl to a storytelling rasp, and the band reworked many of their old tunes in their new style, dragging out throwback riff-raunch hellbound scorch on fan favorites like "Sweet Teeth" and "The Heavy Experience." In a matter of hours, Theriault was due to leave for Los Angeles, where he’d accepted a video job. Ashing a cigarette, Gillis explained he’d been playing music with Theriault since they were Mass Art buddies more than six years ago and said he plans on following his band mate out to the West Coast within the year. "It’s a welcome change," he said of the group’s new musical direction. "We got tired of being so loud all the time. It’s nice to have some melody in the songs. The music characterizes us a lot better."
Back inside, the guy with the shaggy brown hair tucked under a Jets ski cap who’d been working the PA all night, Brad Hyland, took a break to play a set with his veteran stoner-rock outfit Headband. Hyland and mates Don Lofthouse and Matt Byers all sing, and they switch off guitar, bass, and drums every couple of songs, which leads to a degree of welcome confusion and conflict. "Wait, what song are we playing?" Hyland asked in the middle of one tune. This mode means they’re ready for anything: Byers, taking his turn on drums, played two songs with the kit half-toppled over. The end result, though, wasn’t merely chaos: Headband zippered through catchy feel-good tunes, classic-rock melodies, Shaggs-style mental breakdown, psych-guitar freakout, and apish lyrical wisdom. "If there’s someone you hate," went one bon mot, "all you have to do is outlive them/And you can dance upon their grave!" Their anthem "Buzzard’s Rock" revealed their vision of a stoner’s paradise: "A really cool spot . . . where the stoners smoke the pot" and "they drink wine straight from the box" and "play really cool music in a leftover Buick." A utopia, to be sure, not much different from our own.
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On the Web:
Radar Eyes: //radareyes.com/
Headband: //myspace.com/headband
Email the author:
Tia Carioli: tiacarioli@yahoo.com
