Alt-Nation: This Week’s Hot Shows

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club

In doing my column for the print edition, somehow I overlooked that Slim Cessna’s Auto Club were coming to The Met Café this Wednesday.  This promises to be easiest one of the best shows of the summer! Cessna and company roll into the town for the first time since 2011. Their shows are always barnburners featuring a mix of country, rock, folk and gospel. It’s really a band that’s impossible to pigeonhole. When I interviewed Cessna in 2011, I asked how he explains his band to people who don’t know them. He laughed and said, “I stick with rock music because it would take too long to understand the other stuff.”  Slim Cessna’s Auto Club started out in Colorado, but have since split to various areas of the country with Cessna taking up residence in Pittsburgh. Cessna did live for a couple of years in Cranston where he fronted a side project called The Blackstone Valley Sinner’s Club. That time in Rhode Island made its way into the Auto Club’s repertoire with tunes like “Cranston” and the ever show-stopping “He, Roger Williams.”  The Auto Club remind me of a traveling dustbowl troupe of musicians that mine the deep roots of all things American music. They are also one of the best live bands of the past 20 years. Don’t miss them!

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, The Sterling Sisters, and The ‘Mericans rock The Met Café on August 7.

Wheatus & Math The Band

Wheatus were one of those one-hit pop-punk wonders in the 90s that has managed to trudge on.  Everybody knows the hit “Teenage Dirtbag,” but few other catchy numbers off that debut album. Wheatus isn’t going to go all serious or pull a Flaming Lips where they have one novelty hit and turn into everyone’s critical darlings.  You’re pretty much going to get what you know as far as fun loud pop-punk with Wheatus.  Math The Band from Boston is also one hell of a time as far as fast indie dance pop ‘n’ roll that makes this a very attractive show.

Wheatus and Math The Band will rock AS220 on August 7.

The Evens

The Evens are an indie rock band composed of Ian MacKaye on baritone guitar and Amy Farina on drums with vocals duties shared. MacKaye is, of course, a legend from his time in the seminal DC hardcore band Minor Threat and later with Fugazi. A diehard believer in D.Y.I. ethos, MacKaye founded Dischord Records, which has since put out many brilliant records through the years. Moshers looking for something similar from The Evens aren’t going to find it. The Evens come off as more an acoustic indie rock outfit. Still I have faith; Mackaye is a talented mofo and an engaging performer.

The Evens return to AS220 on August 9. Please note this is an early show with doors at 7:30 pm and no opener. The Evens will be onstage by 8 pm.

Foo Fest

AS220’s annual takeover of Empire Street known as Foo Fest will once again happen on August 10. There will be live music all day and night, indoors and outdoors, as well as the usual assortment of games, vendors, records and food trucks. The lineup can be a little hit or miss from year to year, but this is one of the stronger ones in recent memory. Among the local bands, I recommend checking out the garage rocking Atlantic Thrills, 70s tinged Clyde Lawrence band, roots rocking Dylan Sevey & The Gentlemen, the headed for certain doom punk of Lolita Black, local punk legends Neutral Nation, Vudu Sister, VulGarrity, Whore Paint, and even a Saint Jude reunion. At this time there is no big national headliner, but it does say that more acts are likely to be added. I don’t think Foo Fest needs one given the quality of local acts already booked. Foo Fest is always a summer highlight!

As220’s Foo Fest will take over Empire Street on August 10. The event runs from 1 pm to 1 am. The current list of scheduled performers is as follows: 14 Foot 1, Atlantic Thrills, Black Pus, Cannibal Ramblers, Clyde Lawrence Band, Downtown Boys, Dylan Sevey & The Gentlemen, Father Finger, Littlefoot, Lolita Black, Lunchbagg, Medusah Black, Neutral Nation, Saint Jude, Timeghost, Unicorn Hard-on, Vudu Sister, VulGarrity, Whore Paint, and Zukrewe.

Odds & Sods

Chain and The Gang, Ravi Shavi, and Pixels are at The Columbus Theatre in Providence on August 7. Psychedelic Clown Car is winding up their time of a band with a few last shows, including this Thursday, August 8, at The Met Café with Soma Nova and Comic Book Keith. Psychedelic Clown Car had a good run releasing over 50 CDs(!) during their weekly residency at The Spot.  Singer/guitarist Matt Martin will be focusing his music efforts on his other bands, The Wippets and Lying Bitch & The Restraining Orders. The Nymphidels and Groundhawgs are at The Parlour on August 8. Sick Puppies, 10 Years, and Satellites Fall are at Fete on August 9. This is a big week for Satellites Fall as their new single, “Strange New Day,” is debuting on WBRU this week. Del The Funky Homosapien, Symmetry & Dox, Eddie Rap Life, and DJ Nook bring the hip-hop to The Met Café on Saturday August 10. Skinny Millionaires and Tall Tall Trees are at The Tavern on Broadway in Newport.  Against Me singer/guitarist Laura Jane Grace comes to Fete on August 13 in an event billed as the “Transgender Dysphoria Blues.”

Email music news to mclarkin33@gmail.com.