What do you get when you take three hot chickadees, one dreamy bike kid, a bunch of instruments and a lot more PBR? Good times.
Nashville’s local four-piece, Heavy Cream, played alongside Shellshag, Cy Barkley and The Looking Glass (whom I foolishly missed, but apparently they ruled) Friday night at Lil Hammy.
Cy offered a bracing take on 3-chord punk, with his melody/guitar riff-driven gnashing, thrashing and (unintentional) audience singalongs. Most of the youngsters watching him play knew all the words to his songs, especially their fav – a song probably entitled something to the tune of, "We Don’t Give A Fuck." His Myspace page should be up and running soon, and when it is, give him a listen.
Brooklyn band Shellshag was a bit more mellow, lo-fi psychedelic rock, with some occasional up-tempo songs that (questionably) placed them in the punk genre. And while it could have just been a fleeting moment of unconsciousness, the part where they played punk songs seemed to be nonexistent. This is not a criticism, though, because the cool factor was compensated for by drummer/sing Jennifer Shagawat, who wore bells on her ankles, thus making her resemble the badass dude from Battle of Endor, as she beat away on three floor toms. She was joined by guitarist/singer Shell, and together they played some sludgy songs with catchy hooks that drew parallels from bands as varied as Weezer, Hole, really (really) old Liz Phair, or grungy AnHorse. An epic drum tower was hastily constructed, and once it came climactically tumbling down it was time for Heavy Cream to play.
As usual, their good looks only served to enhance their almost blues-chord-tinged punk-rock ‘n roll. The band seems to get better at playing their instruments with each and every show, as well as the growing audience sentiment of love for – well, again, damnit – singalongs. Friday’s set was no different, seeing how the crowd joined lead singer Jessica McFarland as she bounced, belted and squealed her way through every catchy Cream chorus. Her special helpers were Mimi Galbierz, who ripped and roared on the guitar (all the while with a sweet little smile on her face), Melissa Burnett, a gal on the go when it comes to tempo, and Daniel Severs, who handled the bass and balanced out the estrogen to testosterone ratio. "Stiff Lick" was a particular favorite, and makes for perfect background music while you get hyped up on whippets; listen to Shellshag when you’re coming down.
Heavy Cream plays again on April 3rd at Glen Danzig’s house, so be sure to make it out there. You’ll probably also see Cy there, so you can tell him that you dig his shit, and he should therefore make it available on The Internets for our constant listening pleasure. – Erin Manning