Baboon, Rockland Eagles, The Disasters

When members of late '90s Dallas bands join forces, it's easy to expect a local supergroup. So it comes as a surprise that Sons of Sound's Chris Bonner (guitar, vocals) and Vibrolux's Kim Pendleton (vocals), older and wiser, have returned with a new band as average as The Disasters. The...

August 25, 2005

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When members of late '90s Dallas bands join forces, it's easy to expect a local supergroup. So it comes as a surprise that Sons of Sound's Chris Bonner (guitar, vocals) and Vibrolux's Kim Pendleton (vocals), older and wiser, have returned with a new band as average as The Disasters. The quartet trudged through a set of bluesy, classic rock, and if the connection to the MC5 wasn't obvious after a few songs, Bonner made it clear with a solid cover of "The American Ruse." But Pendleton's slinky vocals, even during slower ballads, didn't match well with the Disasters' dirty rock, and the band didn't deliver enough energy or grit to compensate for the formulaic material. The only exception was when the band got pissed at the small, unenthused crowd. "Anybody here hate country music?" Bonner asked, and then the Disasters ripped into "Big Deep Shame," a rootsier number that found the band's play, and Pendleton's vocals, in a much more comfortable and confident mode.

After Austin's Rockland Eagles pretended to be Buckcherry for 40 minutes, the men of Baboon destroyed the crowd's hearing. No, really--my eardrums take a beating on a regular basis, but the mid-range was set to an ungodly level in a set dominated by new material. The star of the night was former LCC member James Henderson, whose addition on second guitar not only peppered old hits like "Closer" with lovely texture but also turned new songs like "Circles" into body-wrenching dual-guitar blasts. The best new song by far was "Breaking Glass," whose Clash-loving drumbeat and synth-sounding guitars added dance elements without diluting the all-out rock of it. Hopes for the band's next LP are even higher after this show, and folks in search of a local supergroup didn't leave the Double Wide disappointed.

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