20 Years After

Posted on by dugtheship

Twenty years ago yesterday my last commissioned article as a freelance music journalist was published. I’d been doing it for more than 10 years at that point, had a 5-year old son, a daughter on the way, and other outlets I wanted to pursue.

I didn’t know it was going to be my last piece while I was doing it, but the subject matter was suitably auspicious: the Business Machines. The band members were Houstonian friends relocated to L.A. chasing the eternal dream. They’d also just recorded what is still one of my favorite albums ever, ‘Almost Automatic.’

A rock n’ roll mini-revival was underway at the time, led by the likes of the Hives, the Vines, the Donnas, and the Datsuns, and the Business Machines were poised to stake their claim. The rest of the story is available in scattered pieces across the internet. But what’s offered here is a fleeting snapshot of when everything was still possible.

dUNETX – ‘Icon’

Posted on by dugtheship

The eternal dream. Pursuing it looks naff. But it lurks inside. It guides. It prods. It doesn’t let you go. But it’s ephemeral enough that it can’t lead. Some let it overwhelm them. Some of them end up dead. Some who could achieve it never manage to harness its energy, choosing a path less perilous.

Spend some time watching dUNETX mainman Chris Sacco on stage and you know it’s in there. But what he does with this song is staddle that line between embracing it and observing it from a safe distance. Musically, it gets on a mid-tempo rail and rides. But the lyrics flip back and forth between the simultaneously personal and universal (rolling up on that special someone) and the more rarified air of megalomania (closing your eyes and coming undone)

dUNETX has always worn its influences on its sleeve and this particular number draws from the Smashing Pumpkins end of the band’s pool. Both guitars and vocals drone while rubbing your eardrums. But they also build with enough wiggle to move things forward, keeping the listener waiting for the next bend. Surely something has to give.

Guitar Solo One yields. Guitar Solo Two builds. And then reality breaks. Icon, that’s the way it has to be. You got your rock star type clothes on. Where’d you get those threads? You used to be Jimi Hendrix? Or was that the Doors?

Peace and The Chaos

Posted on by dugtheship

Peace and The Chaos released its second record May 11, celebrating with a show at Rockefellers in Houston sandwiched between The Sonnier Brothers Band and Louisiana Yard Dogs. PATC’s set was a triumph, the crowd singing at full enough throat to be audible onstage during ‘Life’ from the band’s self-titled debut.

For those not familiar, Peace and The Chaos is a Houston/Beaumont blues and soul-based rock band that blends a good-time attitude with stellar musicianship and songs that are both memorable and meaningful.

Blake “Billy Beaumont” Sticker is the guitarist/vocalist/frontman. His affable stage presence belies a guitar approach that is simultaneously frenzied and emotive and a strong, smooth voice as comfortable crooning as belting.

Sticker, drummer Kenneth Q. Turner and bassist Lenwood Sonnier formed Peace and The Chaos more than 4 years ago, woodshedding for a year and half perfecting the material before playing out for the first time. Guitarist Wally Farkas is the band’s newest member, his full-volume 70s classic-rock riffing and full-pimp stage presence gelling perfectly with Sticker.

The band has made videos for three of their best: ‘Enemy’ from the debut and ‘Ms. Jones’ and ‘Remembrance’ from ‘…Black Heart.’ Between the three you’ll get a great feel for what this band is about. I urge you to have a listen.

[Also, you can read about Lenwood and Wally’s adventures with Doug Pinnick in ‘What You Make It,’ available for Kindle pre-order NOW, hard copy released June 8]