The dedicated Stolen Sounds duo attended Lisa's Oak street Lounge on Saturday June 10th to see what all the hullabaloo about the Country Teasers was. I'm kidding; we knew what makes England’s finest redneck circus show fantastic. Vonborsig gracefully attended this one as well as recorded three shows in succession. The idea was/is to contact them to get a Stolen Sounds boxed set made of the three shows. All three of them were presented differently on each night, playing off of the Rebel's random madness as it festered new and unique characters each evening.
I strolled in to Lisa's Oak St. Lounge in Louisville's lovely west-side industrial district that is just north enough of Germantown to be desolate dark and shady. When good shows are there the dark street corner comes to life with local rockers looking for a discreet place to spend their evenings at one of the best local independent underground showcases. The bar has a shotgun style with a very long bar leading to a dark smoky room in the back where the bands set up. This room has been put together with duct tape and chewing gum gluing together ancient wood paneling, aluminum beer signs and relatively functional neon beer signs. The locals are rough yet appreciative of the attention paid to their neighborhood stool away from couch. The Teasers sat out front gathering equipment and energy from what was surely an uncomfortable drive from Lexington after solid touring the preceding week or so.
Opening was the local Suspected Terrorists. They are a lot of fun. I had never heard the band before but friends around me said not to miss it so I didn't and I'm glad I didn't. Heather, Chris and Dan roar and scream away in a pool of low-fi grit. Matthew Mason hammers away viciously at his drum set at violent speeds. I especially like the sloppy garage sound they pulled off. Let me tell you that Heather not only wails herself into throat cancer but she's pretty cute and carries a large Ric over her shoulder that made the room even hotter. They are from Louisville and you definitely should check out their webpage at http://www.suspectedterrorists.com
The 2005 U.S. tour must've been a great success because they're back. The Country Teasers have been described by persons as dumb, improvisational noise-rock. Fair enough. What is unfair is that the reviewer also describes the sound as "vaguely political satire to obscure the ineffectiveness of the band." This is a band that must be seen live. I agree that the "N" bombs and consistent references to homosexuality in an unforgiving manner make one wonder what in the world one is doing listening to the albums at all but satire is the perfect word for it. They are far too smart. The music is far too crafted. The vibe is far too mocking for the characters to be real. The show is far too fun to miss. Maybe people disagree with me, because more than a third of the crowd went to the bar during their set. Way to be cordial to the foreigners assholes. http://www.intheredrecords.com/pages/countryteasers.html
Strangely, a local act fronted by crud rocker Brad Bell called The Touched closed the evening. They are very loud and fun in a Birthday Party kind of way. Their friends help make the show exciting by exploding in a raucous ramble of cheap drunken goofy fun. Don't come if you're the kind of guy or gal that gets pissed when a little beer spills on your shoes.
Times New Viking also played in there somewhere, but between bullshitting with friends and groping the bar I honestly can't say I saw 1 second of it. Is that lame, or what. Everyone tells me how great they are and I just blow it off and play the day away. I guess you will have to see and review their show yourself.
