At times, I think rock is a beast destined for extinction, killed mercilessly by indie bands with strong ‘80s dance pop fetishes and singers with somewhat misguided longings for Adam Sandler character vocalizations. There are a few Kansas City/Lawrence area bands that are putting in their due diligence to bring rock back to the surface. To draw it away from the dark corners of the basement, free from the shackles that fickle fans have thrown upon them, to let it roam among the living, ready to regain its rightful place upon the throne. Black on Black, The Sluts, and All Blood are putting all of themselves into the fire, trying to resurrect rock and it seems, for the time being, to be working.
One of the most interesting bands in the mix is Mr. and the Mrs. Their latest release, A Tale of Two Eyes, shows a band fully capable of kicking down the garage door with the tried and true guitarist/drummer 1-2-combo knockout punch. They stand as a band truly giving no shits about what people think, making the racket they want to make and at a ridiculous volume.
There is no pretense with A Tale of Two Eyes. They clearly do not care to be the coolest band in the land, have no interest in recycling Misfits’ riffs or snagging all the groupies. Mr. and the Mrs. released a four-song EP, cut to a limited vinyl run of 20 discs on a 1940s record lathe, not because it’s cool but because that’s what they wanted to do. Period.
A popular local spectacle, Mr. and the Mrs. have successful reproduced their live sound on Eyes. Coming on with the sound quality of a live show recorded to an Emerson boom box at a punk club in 1980, the tunes on Eyessound like The Cramps, Nirvana, Minor Threat and a garbage disposal having sex; a wild and reckless noise that shouldn’t, in theory, sound so good but it does. “Pink Eye” has a vaguely Detroit Cobras ass shakin’ vibe while “Dead Eye” sounds like a totally stoned out Sid Vicious manhandling the mic while covering The Vaselines’ “Molly’s Lips.”
Mr. and the Mrs. have taken the minimalist approach (guitar and drums) and stripped punk/alternative music down to molecular level, in the process touching on something that most certainly isn’t for everyone. However, for those of us who “get it”, it will be the saving grace, a music free of the “cool,” free of self-consciousness and a need to be accepted, replacing it with power and sincerity.
—Danny R. Phillips
Danny has been reporting on music of all types and covering the St. Joseph music scene for well over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the nationally circulated BLURT Magazine and his work has appeared in The Pitch, The Omaha Reader, Missouri Life, The Regular Joe, Skyscraper Magazine, Popshifter, Hybrid Magazine, the websites Vocals on Top and Tuning Fork TV, Perfect Sound Forever, The Fader, and many others.
Mr. and the Mrs. will be playing tonight, July 30 at The Bottleneck, along with Ex-Bombers and Something & the Whatevers. Show starts at 9 p.m.