Becky Sagers, The Whip & Bob Howard

Better known as the frontman for Chico’s own Asskickers, this evening’s opening act, Bob Howard, was joined on stage by Robots Hate Cowboys’ drummer Candice Armenta and Asskickers’ bassist Alan Wood. The three laid down a subdued brand of lo-fi music that showcased a softer, less satirical and more straightforward approach to songwriting, as opposed to Howard’s raucous and witty work with the Asskickers. Over a muted drum tone and simple, comfortably laid out bass and guitar lines, Howard played a variety of songs — some of which, in this reviewer’s opinion, could be Asskickers tunes — from cow-punk tinged ditties to much more heartfelt and honest songs with extremely minimal accompaniment. It was certainly the mellowest act of the evening.
The show’s headlining band, The Whip, from Washington State, actually played second and before they even started, the band’s bass player and frontman, Jared Warren (Karp, Tight Bros), warned the crowd about the band’s volume and apologized in advance, explaining that he and guitarist Joe Preston (The Melvins, The Thrones) simply played to the drummer’s volume. After a quick and unceremonious instrument check and some witty mic banter, The Whip launched into the evening’s opening number, “Sheep and Goat Judgment,” the B-side of the band’s recently released 7-inch record, a huge, stomping tune that set off a pack of rabid fans in the front, who were steadily hard-rocking with their fists in the air for the duration of the set. It was pretty loud — in fact, the band was asked to turn down by the house, but denied the request, blasting through a set of inventively constructed, unapologetically voluminous and unrelentingly rhythmic two- and three-chord metal riffs backed by ferociously accurate and intricate drumming courtesy of Scott Jernigan (Karp, The Bronze). Even when presented with the chioce of turning down or not getting paid, guitarist Preston simply replied with a terse and emotionless “Fuck it, man, let’s rock,” and The Whip unleashed another three gloriously brutal songs on the raucous crowd of new fans, closing with “Freelance Liaison,” the title track of the aforementioned 7-inch vinyl release.
The Becky Sagers, one of Chico’s oldest hip-hop acts with roots reaching back to the early 1990s and beyond (and they’re still only in their mid-20s!), capped off the evening with what MC Shecklove kept referring to in little finger-quotations as “underground rap music.” And rap music it was. Shecky and his partner in rhyme, MC Heathakilla, spit rhymes both old and new as a loyal gang of followers in the front row rapped along with the two ghost busters. The beats were handled by Chico’s best rhythm section since Scotty the Imp moved to NYC: Casey Deitz on drums and Trevor Sellers on bass, who flipped through stripped down and impromptu jams with some serious funk in the trunk. Matt Loomis, a.k.a. DJ Goodburger, didn’t have turntables at this show, and instead played his part by beatboxing — making scratch noises and juggling drum sounds with his mouth. The Sagers closed with an ode to their longtime MC cohort, Faydog, with a cover of his classic, “Nuthin’ Nice,” which, as far as show-closers go, was nuthin’ but nice.

– Max Sidman
– Photo by Alyssa Starkey

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