Round up: Four bands, two clubs, one Raleigh block

Last night I started off at The Pour House, where The Loners were playing with The Heavy Pets and Adult Film Makers. AFM have been around for years, and include two members of one of my long-time favorite bands The Bad Checks, and yet I had never seen them. Their bass player was unable to be at the show, so this isn't entirely representative of their sound, but they still managed to rock. Adult Film Makers A couple of doors down at Tir na nOg, Richard Bacchus and the Luckiest Girls were putting on a free show sponsored by WKNC. I swear, I can't figure out how Richard doesn't roast in that buttoned-up jean jacket he always wears. Here's their video. After Richard Bacchus, I headed back to the Pour House and caught The Heavy Pets very last song. My camera memory died at this point, which was too bad because I decided to go around the block to Slim's to see a Charleston, S.C., band called Leslie, rather than stick around for The Loners. These guys were strutting, bombastic blues rock, the type of band that hollers out "ALRIGHT" and "CAN YOU FEEL IT RALEIGH????" after every song. I think they really should be seen to be believed, but unfortunately you'll just have to take my word for it. Finally, I had no idea Uncle Kracker was even in town!

Vetiver and Heavy Pets at Kings

Last night felt like old home week, with so many G-boro folk in town. The only thing that would have made it complete would have been if Mitch McGirt, grabbed the guitar from Andy Cabic and started playing some Duran Duran covers.



The first band was The Heavy Pets, including (pictured) Art from Mercury Birds and Allnight on vocals/guitar. I'd never seen Heavy Pets before, and they really reminded me a whole lot of Allnight, which always reminded me a lot of The Allman Brothers, with maybe a little Blue Oyster Cult thrown in.





Most of Vetiver




The rest of Vetiver: See-through Sanders


However, I was mainly looking forward to see Vetiver (Myspace), who just released a phenomenal new CD, "To Find Me Gone." Andy, who is the soul of Vetiver, used to be in The Raymond Brake (listen to last Sunday's podcast for more from Vetiver and The Raymond Brake), and both Sanders and Brend from the band used to be in another Greensboro band, Rebar. I enjoyed The Raymond Brake -- they were fun, poppy, cute boys who wrote fun, poppy, cute music. But Andy's music, lyrics and vocal presence have grown so far beyond the Raymond Brake that it's hard to believe both bands were fronted by the same guy. I've yet to get "Been so Long" or "Maureen" out of my head. Check out the videos from Wednesday's show.