Distillers Start North American Tour
While corporate music leaders are trying to convince the world that there's something to Nora Jones (chanteuse is French for gutless whiner it seems), Brody Dalle and her band, The Distillers, have started on a North American tour that proves there might be a few miles left in rock and roll after all.
Their second album, "Coral Fang" dropped back in October, and the video for "Drain the Blood" has been popular on Fuse.TV even if MTV has yet to pick up on it. The rhythm section (bassist Ryan Sinn and drummer Andy Granelli) is as tight as any in the business, and the guitar (Tony Bevilacque and Dalle) may rely on just three chords, but the ability to lay down melodic and simultaneously screaming solos is there, too.
The semi-literate rock press has spent far too much time analyzing Dalle's relationships with Josh Homme (Queen's of the Stone Age) and Tim Armstrong (Rancid) and comparing her to Janis Joplin, Joan Jett and Nina Hagen (yet not Poly Styrene or Pauline Murray ?). The column inches would have been better spent wondering why a band that feels like 1976 and sounds like tomorrow isn't bigger than it is. One would like to blame RIAA lawsuits, but the truth is a band like this isn't going to get the attention of the 40-somethings who run development at labels. It's hard to remember the teenage alienation, angst and raw power that drives this band when one has to make payments on a third Benz and a fourth wife.
On the other hand, seeing The Distillers at a stadium show would be heartbreaking. This is music for clubs and small arenas, where one can see the band as well as hear it. While the ever-challenging third album and all the grief that usually surrounds it lies ahead, the band has a second album of which to be very proud. There are worse ways of spending March and April than supporting work like this.
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