Twin Suns, The Bare Bones and Uintahs @ the Red Room (8/22/12)

This show excited me because it gave me the opportunity to show some support for ORRiginal Promotions, whose shows I haven't gotten to write about in a while, and to see the Bare Bones and Uintahs, whose shows ditto.  The cherry on top was a set by Twin Suns, a Los Angeles band I'd never seen before.

As on Tuesday night, the crowd only built to about twenty or so.  Such is the rotten luck of playing on an off night, I guess.  At least the people who did show up got into the music (though it would've been nice if more people had stuck around to watch the out-of-towners).

Uintahs started off the night.  "Hats off to the best sound guy ever!" Marcus Youngberg proclaimed at the end of their set, and not without good reason: their celestial harmonies, rumbling drums and bass and glittering guitars sounded even better than I remembered.  The band deserved some credit too, of course, especially for their impeccably crafted songs, for their slinky but hard-hitting groove and for Marcus Youngberg, who has gotta be one of the best singers around these parts.

The Bare Bones played next.  Their piercing guitar, liquid basslines and relentless drumming all sounded a touch heavier than before, which was okay by me.  It just added more swagger and punch to their psychedelic/hard rock tunes.  Chris Brock's voice sounded lower and more forthright while his terse, screeching solos called to mind Ron Asheton more than once.  It always does my heart good to hear a good band getting even better.

Twin Suns closed out the night and met the challenge of following the two local acts with flying colors.  Light vocals and pensive, poppy tunes held firm within a maelstrom of thunderous drumming, rubbery bass, soulful sax, spacey synth and raging guitars.  While they did like their jerky stop-start bits, they liked their jazzy, funky grooves even more.  This allowed the handful of people in the audience to cut loose a little (and more than a little, in some cases).  Here's hoping that more folks get to see this group if/when they come around again.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  And for any touring bands out there, you can contact ORRiginal Promotions at info@orriginalpromotions.com.