The Mooney Suzuki, Sahara Hotnights & The Imps

Chico's The Imps, a last minute and very welcome addition to the bill, gave a night of frenzied music a proper kickoff. Honestly, their stage show isn't spectacular, there isn't a bunch of frantic hopping and running around, but they always play really tight live, with a lot of heart, and their music speaks for itself. Frontman John McCall definitely knows how to put a song together - he has a talent for cramming a lot of catchy hooks and emotive power into simple structures and progressions. I always enjoy seeing The Imps perform and Thursday night was no exception. Despite good-natured heckling from rowdy Synthesis employees, the band managed to play yet another killer set.
Making a considerably longer trip than the opener was The Mooney Suzuki's touring partners and the second band of the evening, Sahara Hotnights. Venturing all the way from Sweden, sporting an all-female line-up and a punk-as-fuck attitude, the four-piece quickly won over the merely curious, pensive audience, a lot of whom hadn't ever heard the band before (me included), with one of the gutsiest performances I've seen at The Brick Works. Drummer Josephine Forsman meted out harsh punishment on her kit and the band's founding sister duo of Jennie (guitar) and Johanna Asplund (bass) put in an equally strong effort, but it was the pushy guitar work and feral vocals of frontwoman Maria Andersson that dominated the performance, especially on songs like "Impressed By Me" and closer "No Big Deal." If you get the chance to check out Sahara Hotnights, do so, but leave your preconceived notions behind and be prepared to get your ass kicked, because these women play dirty.
Finally, The Mooney Suzuki hit the stage, and from the start of their set to the end I don't think they stopped moving around once. Quintessential frontman Sammy James Jr. said that the band was going to try to defy physics by creating energy - I'm not sure if they were entirely successful, but they came pretty damn close. Graham Tyler wailed scathing lead guitar riffs from atop the stage and from down on the floor amongst the audience, and when Augie Wilson wasn't doing his thing behind the drums he emerged from behind his kit to the front of the stage, holding a statue of a cobra above his head. I don't know what that was all about, but it was fun to watch, as was their whole performance. "Oh Sweet Susanna," "Make My Way" and "Half of My Heart" were electric rock 'n' fuckin' roll masterpieces and James' soulful vocals and frenetic presence were top-notch the whole set through.
When all was said and done, three extremely talented bands left it all up on the stage despite a pretty weak turn out, which is commendable in and of itself. I would have liked to have seen more people there, but Thursday night was proof that you can't always judge a show by the size of its crowd.
- James Barone
- Photos by Elias Perez

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