Now that the Great Garage Rock Revival is at an end, the next genre to resurge from the past seems to be ’70s-style hard rock and boogie, as Wolfmother, Rose Hill Drive and Black Stone Cherry discover their inner James Gang, Motörhead and Cactus. Surprisingly (or not), several other rising bong-friendly acts are based up the road in Austin. The Sword’s D&D/Conan thunder rock has already broken through nationally, and these two hirsute power trios are coming on strong. Elvis on Speed (Billy Leger Jr., guitar/vocals; Chris Gillis, bass; Shawn Alvear, drums) has a blistering, Southern sound given to frequent guitar freak-outs on the catchy, crunchy “I Was Rock and Roll” and “Stacked Deck,” while “Corn Fed Fred” is a stone-country picker. The Ortiz brothers of Amplified Heat (Jim, guitar/vocals; Chris, drums; Gian, bass) are harder and more frenetic, and they seem barely contained by speakers. The death of their father, Gian and Chris’s street-fight stabbings and a recording studio flood may have taken things down a notch, as the upcoming How Do You Like the Sound of That? (Arclight) is more grounded and groove-oriented than previous LP In for Sin. This more mature sound suits them, and the trio also has just rereleased 2003’s self-titled debut EP. All told, this is a great double bill, definitely influenced by the past but not chained to it. Whorehound opens.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2007.
