with Paint Fumes
Kings
4/11/2012
I had a ticket to Magnetic Fields for this same night, but when I saw Kings announce that Chain and the Gang were going to be playing on the same night, I was looking for a buyer for that ticket two seconds later. Why does Chain & the Gang get my dander up so much? Easy - Ian Svenonius, former front man for one of the greatest bands of all time, Nation of Ulysses, is also the man behind Chain & the Gang. I never got to see the Nation live (one of my great regrets in life); but I did get to see his next band The Make-Up a couple of times, and Chain was very much a continuation of that spectacle. I guess their music would be best described as garage punk, with a heaping helping of...sassiness. Ian struts around the stage like Mick Jagger after a three day bender, cocksure and televangelist-like in delivering his sermon, er, songs. The band plays along nicely, either very well rehearsed or quick at recognizing when Ian is going to deliver one of his monologues that leads into a song. I was a little surprised there weren't more people there, but it was clear that everyone who did show up were as big of fans as I was. After the gig I said to someone they sounded like the house band in a John Waters film, which is a huge compliment in my book.
Paint Fumes opened the show. It feels like this statement could be uttered many, many times over the past six months in Raleigh...these guys never stop playing. I realized this time they have a song that reminds me a ton of "Sonic Reducer", even though it had never occurred to me to think of them as sounding like the Dead Boys. They have a much poppier vibe than those classic Cleveland proto-punkers. And for a couple of songs, a Wooden Shjips/psyche rock vibe, complete with prolonged instrumental jam sessions that never quite crossed into hippie territory. I'm glad these kids are playing so much, because they are one of my new favorite locals on the scene.
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