the Mooney Suzuki, Sean Na Na & Radio 4

If you like rock 'n' roll, especially indie-rock, and you're not going to shows at The Blue Room, you should have your ears cut off. The Blue Room has hosted dozens of amazing shows in the past several years and last Sunday was no exception.

Kicking off the night to a small crowd (mostly made up of guys in the other bands), was New York City's Radio 4. This three-piece played a rather low-key set that was reminiscent of late 70s post-punk. Some of their songs were great. Bassist Anthony Roman and guitarist Tommy Williams split vocal duties, sing-shouting over each other's lyrics. Roman's retro bass lines led songs through Tommy Williams' crunchy one-note leads and began to get the crowd moving as a few more souls trickled in.

Up next was Sean Na Na. Fronted by R. Kelly fanatic Sean Tillmann, they played a set of indie pop balanced with dark lyrics like, "I'm so far above you and your silhouettes look stained," from the song "Unicorns." I read in Spin magazine that Geek Rock is "the next big thing," so this band should go far.

Tillmann, who looks like a pudgy version of Millhouse (minus the blue hair), seemed very pissed off during most of the set. He took shots at keyboardist Jeremy Allen, "Your keyboard's been out of tune this whole time," and the audience, "I'm feeling hate towards everything, including all of you here." He may have been upset because earlier in the night a Tower Records employee refused to let him have an R. Kelly promo CD. Sean Na Na closed with a straight-faced, soulful cover of R. Kelly's "Calling Tyrone" that had an indie-rock crowd throwing their hands in the air.

Next up was the mayhem of New York City's The Mooney Suzuki. They erupted off of the stage, blasting into their kick-ass blues rock. I'm pretty sure lead guitarist Graham Tyler was having sex with his guitar as they played. The Mooney Suzuki recall Led Zeppelin and the Who in both sound and stage presence. They wear their influences on their sleeves, but they pull it off shockingly well. Decked out in all black mod attire, Tyler and frontman Sammy James Jr. roamed into the crowded oozing sexuality and rock- star B.O. onto the women and men in the audience. The band had the audience yelling out words to songs they'd never heard before and hand clapping along to many songs off of their People Get Ready LP. Tyler dropped to his knees, flung his guitar behind his back during solos and headed to the couches at the back of the room during their closing song, "Yeah You Can." This epic R&B closer went on for ten minutes as The Blue Room monitors tumbled off the stage and mic stands were leveled. Rock 'n' roll. Check out their album and do not miss the Mooney Suzuki ever again.

- Brian Brophy

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