Roustabouts, the Amazombies & Kansas City Stars

Redding’s reigning lords of blues-punk, Kansas City Stars, assumed the opening spot for the night to a dismal crowd. Though the group is sometimes known to incorporate stage props and naked bass players, they opted for a decidedly mellow night, with bassist Shaun donning a Motörhead T-shirt rather than his birthday suit. They have recently added second guitarist Jason Allen to thicken their sound. KCS ripped through a set of rock tunes that left the crowd frothing for more. But we had two more bands to get to.
Next up were the recent record deal recipients from New York’s Go-Kart Records, The Amazombies. Seattle’s newest punk threats bombarded the audience with a style that could be loosely associated to Rancid or The Distillers, the latter of which could only be connected by the fact that the guitarist and bassist were girls. They played a speedy cover of “Rolling on the River” as well as numerous songs off of their debut CD titled Stitches and Bitches. Their raucous set cemented my enjoyment of the evening, and I thought that the peak of the night had passed. Little did I know that I would witness one of the most energetic live bands to come to Chico in recent history, The Roustabouts.
I had never heard mention of this band other than this show, so I was surprised to see a gathering of support around the stage just before the band’s first song. By this time, I had gone into the “my ears are bleeding, I have to go outside” phase that I usually go through during the course of a show at Riff Raff. However, the allure of this band forced me to rethink my routine and join in the debauchery of nodding heads and mouthing unknown lyrics.

– Ryan Prado
– Photo by Jeff Shaner

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