|
Pop
Hot Ticket
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 13, 2003
Rock of the Stone Age
It's so silly to call Queens of the Stone Age a "stoner rock" band. The act crafts bone-crushingly brilliant rock that sounds great on the radio. In other words, these guys -- core members singer-guitarist Josh Homme and bassist Nick Oliveri -- write big, fat hooks. So what if the songs are sometimes odes to pharmaceuticals; consider the chorus of The Feel Good Hit of the Summer, which goes, "Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, Ecstasy, and alcohol."
Last year's landmark Songs for The Deaf features a bevy of important guest musicians, including powerhouse drummer and Foo Fightin' man Dave Grohl, Dean Ween, and ex-Screaming Tree singer Mark Lanegan. The disc is more real-deal rock and roll, the kind you feel fine about throwing up the ol' three-fingered devil horn salute to, yet it's got song craft. Who could ask for anything more?
Queens of the Stone Age perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Twilight, 1507 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $16. (813) 247-4225.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
Black is back, and sounding Pixieish
Frank Black first made alt-rockers squeal with glee in the 1980s when he -- as Black Francis -- fronted the Pixies, one of Team Pop's favorite bands and a huge influence on Kurt Cobain. Next, Black went on to form Frank Black and the Catholics, releasing several albums of varying critical and commercial success. The sound was similar to the Pixies, kinda punky, kinda surf-rocky, with Black yelping and howling crazy lyrics about headaches, the Los Angeles municipal water system and sci-fi creatures.
Then, well, Black got kind of boring for a spell.
Fast forward to 2003 and Mr. Black's Dog In The Sand, which finds him again playing with former Pixie Joey Santiago and sounding fresher than he has in a long time. The tunes are spunky, with a few spaghetti-western-sounding numbers, some Stonesy riffs, some Doolittle-y wonderfulness and lots of weird wit. Pixies fans, rejoice!
Opener David Lovering was the drummer for the Pixies. Is he bringing along a band?
Frank Black and the Catholics perform with David Lovering at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $12 advance, $15 day of show. (727) 895-3045.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
