"They say I am a rapist and a sexual maniac!" "Honey honey honey honey honey, don't believe those lies!" The thing I'll miss the most about Budget Rock is most certainly Roy Loney and the Phantom Movers. I can't believe I had to miss them last year with Cyril Jordan. Oh well, this year was certainly a doozie. The little man with the big voice and swagger just tears the stage a new one every time! Maybe honey should believe those lies! But why these dudes don't sell out friggin' stadiums is beyond me. Well, I reckon most of what passes as popular music is a bit perplexing to me, and even though I'm a dude with a giant Stones tattoo on his elbow, I'd just as soon see Loney and the Boys than Mick and them any day.
Anyway, the whole show was quite a doozie, in fact. We got there just as S.L.A. was about to go on. I think I might have seen them before but didn't remember being all that into them. So when that first chord hit and the stage almost exploded I must say I was a bit surprised. Maybe it was all the lo-fi garage I'd been hearing for last few hours and day before, but Sonic Love Affair's pure adrenalin fueled MC5/Birdman rock attack was just what the doctor ordered. They had to be the biggest sleeper and one of my favorites of the whole weekend.
The all star lineup of the Dukes of Hamburg kept the energy high as well. Pure 100% rock and roll party. The budget rock King, Russell Quan (second only to the Queen, Tina Lucchesi) does it all! Not only drumming for several bands but also fronting the Dukes, and how! Manic madness of pure energy, blowing harp and smashing tambourines. They killed it.
I haven't seen the Subsonics in years and the last time I did, it had been years before that. Too bad to because they're amazing. Velvety, Crampy creepiness that is just too strange and good for me to properly describe. After I'd first seen them in the late 90s, I must have worn out the CD I'd bought, I listened to it so much. They certainly were all I remembered and more this time around. Yet another band I'm not sure why hasn't gotten bigger than they did.
Did I mention how much I loved Roy Loney and the Phantom Movers? "They say I switch hit babe, I even hit up the guys, up the guys...honey honey honey honey honey don't believe those lies!"
Yep.
I'd seen the Lyres many moons ago in my home town of Normal, IL and remember the whole place going completely apeshit crazy. It was certainly no different this night. The Bottom of the Hill was packed to the gills and The Lyres brought down the house. I left a bit early being quite tired and since PM were my personal fave I was feeling great and ready for some neat petite dreams.
