It's been a long time since I've wanted to go to an all-day, all-night rock festival in Deep Ellum or Exposition Park. I'm sorry to admit that a few awful lineups were all it took for me to develop something of an allergy to them.
The teenage me would have rolled his eyes at the grownup me for questioning the inherent awesomeness of such a ROCK-filled day. But the teenage me saw bands like rubberbullet, Baboon and Funland on these big festival lineups. The teenage me had never heard of Minority.
But Bar of Soap managed to put together a lineup strong enough to inspire the hope that standing in a Dallas bar/laundry listening to local rock bands for 10 hours might actually be fun.
At the top of the "Save the Bar of Soap" bill will be THe BAcksliders (capitalization eccentricity theirs), featuring former Vibrolux husky-voiced hottie Kim Pendleton. Frankly, their music—a very unthreatening blend of garage rock, power pop and soul—bores the shit out of me. But with such a wildly varied bill—ranging from the Norteño-influenced Western swing of Lonesome Losers to RTB2's soulful psychedelic folk rock—one dull act is certainly forgivable.
The show starts at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and will go all the way to 2 a.m. The lineup hadn't been decided at press time, but if you stick around long enough you're sure to catch some of the following recommended acts:
Dragna
I haven't seen these boys live yet, but I look forward to it. Every review you'll read says they make you want to drink. I can't disagree, but then again lots of things make me want to drink. That would include hard-driving riffs that combine everything menacing about psychobilly and blues-distorting Southern rock. It would also include songs like "Drunk," with the chorus "Let's get drunk! Drunk! Drunk! Yeah, drown in alcohol."
The Red Herrings
Judging by songs from their EP Eros Errors, these Fort Worth guys play throwback garage rock with a lot of heart. Don't get faked out by the fake ending on "Teetotaler." Those always crack me up.
Wo Fat
Playing sludgy metal riffs, sometimes accented with weird gurgling vocal effects, Wo Fat are the heaviest act on the bill. No matter what the guys look like or do in their spare time, their music creates a mental image of three dudes with bad teenage mustaches and greasy shaggy hair smoking cheap pot and huffing solvents, watching horror B-movies at a decrepit drive-in.
The Action Is
This Austin band plays old-fashioned, straightforward punk-influenced rock 'n' roll. Even the MP3s on their Web site crackle with energy, which makes me think they'll be 10 times better live.
The Me-Thinks
This very rough-around-the-edges power trio from Haltom City sounds something like Motörhead with a Rowdy Roddy Piper sound-alike singing about weed, beer and hydrocodone. Twenty, 30 or 40 years ago, who'd have thought that people would still be playing guitar solos on Les Pauls through tube amps in 2008? Or that it would still sound so good?
