Post by Forum Lord on Mar 29, 2012 20:04:07 GMT -5
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder / SoundSpike
www.soundspike.com/story/4075/sxsw-review-blitzen-trapper-at-the-red-7-patio/
SXSW Review: Blitzen Trapper at the Red 7 Patio
Story by Rob Evans
SoundSpike Editor
Published March 17, 2012 11:50 AM
A good riff is a good riff, even if it reminds you of a dinosaur rocker.
Blitzen Trapper's Eric Earley knows this, which is why he'll unabashedly and unironically pilfer pieces of Lynyrd Skynyrd here, Blackfoot there, The Allman Brothers over there, and even some Grateful Dead around the edges.
You could mistake Portland OR-based Blitzen Trapper for a bunch of hipsters -- four-fifths of the band members sport various versions of the indie-rock beard -- but they've got wide open ears and a way of processing what they like into their own distinctive sound. It's a unique way of dealing with the rock idiom, where it sometimes feels as if there aren't many areas left to mine.
Up until now, the band's sound has leaned toward alt-country, but on their latest set, "American Goldwing," Earley's attention is mostly turned to the rock of the '70s. Turns out that he's got a soft spot for guitar gods, and he's pretty good at playing the part of the guitar god himself.
Friday's SXSW setlist at Red 7 put the rock tendencies of "American Goldwing" front-and-center, and even the band's older songs like 2008's "Black River Killer" were generally re-worked for maximum rockage.
Throughout the night, the band displayed tight harmonies between Earley, multi-instumentalist Marty Marquis and drummer Brian Adrian Koch -- the result falls somewhere between the Grateful Dead and the Eagles. And Earley and guitarist Eric Menter even played a few Allmans-style double-guitar leads.
The set closed with a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times," with Earley nailing the Jimmy Page guitar riffs perfectly and his bandmates rocking out with unabashed abandon.