One of the stranger stories in recent pop history hits the Meridian tonight in the form of Sublime tribute band Badfish. Tribute bands are nothing new, of course, and it’s been more than a decade since Sublime’s Paul Leary-produced 40 oz. to Freedom became the backbone of modern-rock radio – turn on the Buzz right now and you’ll hear “What I Got” or “Santeria” within a quarter hour – but this November 2007 Spin article details how, since Sublime frontman Brad Nowell overdosed before his band could tour behind 40 oz., the Rhode Island-spawned Badfish has essentially become Sublime in the eyes of the latter band’s spliff-happy fans.
In other action tonight, Buxton, La Porte’s answer to Okkervil River, plays Walter’s tonight with Wolf Explosion and Evangeline – and if the Buxton guys are reading this, please send the Press a copy of your new album A Family Light ASAP. (Just email me through the link at the end.) The excellently named Nashville gothabillies Zombie Bazooka Patrol visit Super Happy Fun Land with the Failed Attempt, Texas troubadour Shake Russell sits down at the Mucky Duck and Richmond’s DRI-loving Rats in the Attic (MySpace headline: “Shit on my face!!!”) celebrate the release of debut CD All Living Things with Unlikely Heroes, Deathbed Repentance and Molotov Compromise at Dead Baby Distro, 2502 Leeland. Cover is $4.
Saturday, friends of beloved late clubowner Rory Miggins are holding an Irish stew cookoff in Shepherd Plaza, the parking lot between McElroy’s and the Stag’s Head, from noon to 6 p.m. A stage near Cactus Records will host the Honkey Tonk Heroes, Godfrey’s Rangers, the Houston Celtic Chorus and troupes from the McTaggert and Cass Schools of Irish Dance. In semi-related news, Dan Electro’s is looking for bands to play a benefit weekend for their owner, Bob “Bobcat” Edwards, who recently fell off a ladder while changing the club’s marquee and requires extensive rehabilitation, on April 11 and 12. Email [email protected] for more details.
Elsewhere, as usual, several Austin acts pay their regular call on Houston: the Texas Sapphires honky-tonk the West Alabama Ice House, Patrice Pike wails at the Mucky Duck, psych weirdos Transmography pull in to Notsuoh and pop-punk siblings Cruiserweight top a bill at the Forum in La Porte with the People of Peru, Barely Blind, Stadium, the Jane Frequency and Science Monsters Galore! Houston’s own Dollyrockers do Rudyard’s right with Ne Plus Ultra and Toho Ehio, back for more after their scintillating Axiom reunion set.
Or try a dose of local heaviness at the Houston Band Coalition’s Winterfest at Meridian, with Deus Machina, Swinging Teresa, She Craves, The Fight Scene, Savage Evolution and Arride. Finally, former Houstonian Carolyn Wonderland brings her brand-new CD Miss Understood to town for not one but two shows – a free 3:30 p.m. Cactus in-store and later that night at Dan Electro’s with reigning Texas State Musician Shelley King.
Sunday, Kerrville Folk Festival instructor and Woodlands resident Connie Mims launches her latest CD, Go Deep, at the Mucky Duck, while Meridian bows to the symphonic Goth-metal of Norway’s Trail of Tears. Nothing like closing out the weekend with songs like “Joyless Trance of Winter,” “Poisonous Tongues” and “Decadence Becomes Me,” right? Hell no! – Chris Gray
