Sunday Ramblings and Considerations

In this edition… SPAZZ FEST 2 is coming to Greenville; The Black Rabbits show us how to play garage rock, and this week’s videos!

SPAZZ FEST 2 is coming!
by Jeff Blinder, special contributor

SPAZZ PRESENTS announces SPAZZ FEST 2 in Greenville, NC. This 4-day extravaganza is a combination of 2 very special events, Spazz Fest and Screw Cancer! The Spazz Fest is a yearly event that honors the integrity of Greenville’s live music community. Screw Cancer is a benefit put together to help a friend and fellow Greenville musician in a time of need. This collaboration combines a celebration of the established and continually growing music scene while supporting one of Greenville’s own, Justin Flythe. A portion of the proceeds go directly to Justin Flythe and his family to aid paying the accrued medical expenses related to his battle with cancer. Justin experienced a recent resurfacing of the illness a few months back, but reports that it is now back in remission. Let’s all hope it stays that way.

THURS MARCH 24^TH
VENUE: LIVE 2120 E. Fire Tower Rd.
(intersection of Fire Tower Rd & Charles Blvd)
Future Islands (Baltimore), Thank You (Baltimore), Motor Skills (Raleigh)

FRI MARCH 25^TH
VENUE: TIPSY 409 S. Evans St.
The Love Language (solo set), Lonnie Walker, Veelee (Raleigh), Cassis Orange (Raleigh), Railbird (Brooklyn), Radio Control (Boston), The Rex Complex (Brooklyn), Miking Mihrab (Philly)

SAT MARCH 26^TH
VENUE: TIPSY 409 S. Evans St.
The Charming Youngsters, Creepoid (Philly) The Late Virginia Summers, Far Out Fangtooth, The Spooks, The Sweet Ones, STEMS

SUN MARCH 27^th
PUNK ROCK BRUNCH (To be determined)

The Dadada is proud to support and serve as the web home of SPAZZ FEST 2. Look for updates, specific details, and artist feature pages very soon. Be sure to BOOKMARK THE SPAZZ FEST 2 web page: http://thedadada.com/spazzfest2/

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The Black Rabbits EP

Three chords, a strong rhythm section, and a front man who can balance a growl with occasional croon are the building blocks for many modern rock-n-roll bands. Some fans specialize in promoting this sound, like Richard Taylor of Roots Rock Radio and Steven Van Zandt’s (E-Street Band) Underground Garage on Sirius/XM radio. These influences have helped the Garage sound regain steady popularity, but it’s also unleashed a whole lot of crap–as anyone who can play three chords is wont to give it a try.

The Black Rabbits are not a “Garage” band per se, but their self-titled debut EP from 2010 leaves no doubt about the band’s roots. What separates this band from others in this genre is that the Rabbits make great use of the piano/organ of Kim Drake. Too often, keys are left out of modern garage rock, and that’s just wrong; buy some albums from the 1960’s garage days to see what I mean. The backup vocals by Drake and bassist Rhea Smith provide more strength, as these two complement Jetson Black’s excellent rock vox well on tracks like Hurry, Hurry; For Way Too Long Now; and Hypno Switch. Jetson also plays guitar, while brother Skyler does a great job of providing steady time on the drums. The biggest (and very pleasant) surprise is the sparse, Painter, Poet, Prophet, Priest. Jetson settles down the rock hysteria to show he can sing a quiet ballad as well as anyone.

Lyrics: 16/20
Composition: 16/20
Musicianship: 14/20
Production: 18/20
Originality: 6/10
Intangibles: 8/10

SCORE: 78

Check out
The Black Rabbits – Hypno Switch [mp3]