Category Archive

By Max Conroy

I’ve been attending rock shows consistently for the past twenty years and have seen a lot of great bands, the Stones a few times, Chuck Berry, the Pixies a few times, Tom Waits, the Ramones, The Stooges; trying to list them or rate all the shows would be futile, but I can safely say that last night’s Dexateens show at the Crofoot Ballroom was one of the best show I’ve ever seen.  I can only imagine what seeing them in Tuscaloosa, headlining, would be like.  They are the closest thing to rock and roll perfection there is: technical proficiency, great songwriting, swinging swagger, shit loads of chemistry, great records, it’s all there in spades.

The Crofoot seems like a decent place to see a show, even if it is way the hell out in Pontiac: decent sound, $3 Pabst, not so surly staff.  The Dexateens opened for the Drive-By Truckers, who are riding high on the acclaim of their most recent record Brighter Than Creation’s Dark.  It’s kind of an iffy thing to go to a show specifically to see the opening act because sometimes it’s obvious that no one there has heard of the band and could care less how well they play or what they sound like and also the opener’s set is usually short.  But the Dexateens have history with the Truckers and played a plentiful set, consisting of songs off of their last three albums.  I don’t typically jock musicians if I see them hanging around by the merch table after shows out of courtesy to them.  They’re people like you and me and probably appreciate adoration, but I don’t want to be ‘that guy’, the annoying fucker looking to suck as much blood from these people as possible to obtain fodder for their blog. 

But for me the Dexateens are different.  Their music blows me away and I respect the situation they’re in, playing music for the sake of the music, not for the pussy, not for the drugs, not for the fame, certainly not for the money but because they have to do this.  So after their blistering set, I raided the merch table, picked up their tour CD, a CD that’s one member, Elliott McPherson’s acoustic take on Kiss’ Destroyer album, a shirt, and Hardwire Healing, their only record I didn’t have on vinyl.  The dude working the table who apparently works at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA, offered to have the band sign it and gave it to their bass player Matt Patton who passed it around to the rest of the band.  I spoke with Patton for awhile, trying not to sound like a teenage girl confronting their favorite teen mag idol.  We did a shot of Jack, which I usually steer clear of because a whiff of it can make me aggressive, bordering on violent, and grooved to the Truckers’ cover of Alice Cooper’s 18.  I must say that he is positively one of the most gracious people I’ve ever met.  I also spoke with their guitarist and vocalist John Smith briefly who seemed real nice and happy to have some fans in the tundra.  Patton said that pretty much the only way they’re able to travel this far north is because of the Truckers letting them open for them and that they all have day jobs.  It’s truly a bummer that they aren’t getting rich off their shows and records, but that’s the way it is, so let’s pray to God that they can keep it up!

Oh yeah, I also snuck my digital camera into the show.  I apologize for the quality of the footage, as I had the camera held at chest level for fear of a roided up bouncer confronting me and smashing it or my face or worse yet kicking me out of the show.  Also, the sound is a bit muddy as it’s a cheap Casio digital camera.

 by Max Conroy:

Following up on the post I did the other day about the Dexateens new album available as a free download, I have some great news.  They are indeed coming to Michigan.  I forwarded the album download site to Uncle Fucker and low and behold two days later he emails me back that he is planning on coming all the way from Grand Rapids to see them in Detroit.  This guy definately doesn’t go out of his way to see live music anymore, so it takes someone like the Stones for him to make the effort.  As a matter of fact in the thirteen years that I’ve known him the only show that I’ve ever seen with him has been the Rolling Stones.  But anyway, they’ll be playing at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac on May 6th, opening for the Drive-By Truckers.  I recommend getting your tickets soon because the Truckers new album is getting a lot of press.

by Max Conroy 

The who? The fucking Dexateens! Arguably the best band trying to make a buck out there now, not that they’re in it for the money at all.  But unfortunately if you don’t live in Tuscaloosa, Athens or the UK you probably won’t have a chance to see them. I’ve actually entertained the idea of driving from the Midwest to either Tuscaloosa or Athens (they’re from Tuscaloosa, AL but play the 40 Watt in Athens, GA somewhat frequently) to see these guys. In my mind their second album Red Dust Rising is one of the best albums to come out in the past few decades.

I was introduced to them by my old time music guru, my best buddy’s uncle, who we’ll refer to as Uncle Fucker from here on out. In the course of a drunken phone conversation I asked him what he was listening to. This can be a mistake because this question usually has the same effect as waiving a red cape in front of a bull, causing him to slur non stop about me being young, stupid and about how I’ll never know anything about rock and roll, etc. But this time he actually had something to contribute, The Dexateens…this was about three years ago or so. I’m surprised I remembered the name of the band after the conversation, as I have to be drinking in order to speak with Uncle Fucker for obvious reasons, but I did and found them on Soulseek and was blown away. I’ve subsequently bought all of their records.

They are the new wave of southern rock. They also have some very cool album covers.  I won’t even try and describe their music in depth here because I don’t want to make this that kind of post. They have four albums and an EP out. The first album is a punk-ish, raunchy delight, self-titled. Their second, Red Dust Rising, is a goddamn masterpiece. Listen to the guitar sound on that album and think that they don’t use fuzz pedals, but the natural sound of the amps and be amazed. Their third album is also great, but they mature here a bit, which is fine but the tempo slows a bit much for my taste. The album was produced by Drive-By Trucker Patterson Hood. Their latest album Lost and Found as far as I know came out today because I got an email from the band (I’m on the mailing list) and is free. It’s a free download, much like Radiohead’s In Rainbows, but you’re not going to have to suffer all the frustration of it taking forever because every hipster in the world is trying to download it too…unfortunately for the Dexateens. That’s why we should donate at least a few bucks to the cause, and they do give you that option. I’m certainly not going to judge you if you don’t pay as you’ve probably never heard them, and the more important thing is that people get turned on to the music.

They write on the site that they’re doing this to try and recoup recording expenses in order to put out the album on record and CD. This makes me very sad. This is an example of what’s become of great rock bands: they have to have day jobs and can’t tour the Midwest! It’s a strange time we live in, so whatever you do don’t drop out of high school to spend more time playing that guitar.

Here’s the link to obtain the new Dexateens album.  Go ahead, don’t cost nothin’.

Here are a couple of tracks from Red Dust Rising

Pine Belt Blues

Red Dust Rising