Live review: Nick Oliveri @ 3 Kings Tavern
By Billy Thieme | February 22nd, 2010 | No Comments »
Singer-guitarist Nick Oliveri, in a less boring incarnation of himself.
Turns out that most music — even hardcore punk, metal and thrash — played acoustically and solo ultimately ends up sounding like folky busking, regardless of the quality of the singer’s scream. Without the volume, the songs fall flat — though that could also be a product of the lack of depth in the songs themselves. Nick Oliveri (a.k.a Rex Everything) played a set last Friday night at the 3 Kings Tavern that exemplified that phenomenon and, despite a small faction of Dwarves-obsessed moshers, left a small crowd less than impressed.
Oliveri’s personal rock history includes stints with Kyuss, the aforementioned Dwarves and Queens of the Stone Age — the band from which he pulls most of his credibility. He was in Denver that night as part of a solo US tour. Due to snow, he didn’t even show up until well past midnight, which probably exacerbated the attitude of the crowd that was still there at that time. His set was based in thrash (over which he bellowed in a healthy scream) that showed an impressive/depressing lack of creativity, and little difference between songs as he progressed.
Much of the crowd stood by and watched, while more sauntered out after the first few tunes. Only a small group in front showed any real enthusiasm, and frankly spent much more drunken energy screaming for Oliveri to play Dwarves songs and sloppily moshing than really getting into the music.
Denver’s SlakJaw — one original purveyor of the “Denver Sound” (that alt-country-gothic-heavy-handed-dark-evangelical sound we seem to be known for) — opened the show, and couldn’t have been more out of place in comparison.
As they usually do, the four piece had set up the stage behind their hobo altar, which featured a candelabra, the bones of a canine, dead flowers and a cello’s bow, all arranged on an acoustic guitar in a stand that was duct-taped to the floor. On the stage were various items from the hobo’s wares: a rough suitcase with a cardboard sign taped inside the top (“Northglenn or BUST! Gob bless you!”) and a can or two of pork and beans with SlakJaw’s “Bum-Core” label on them.
Amid these urban decorations, frontman Floyd Hill, gut-bucket bassist Matthew Hunter, lead guitarist Bobby Genser and drummer Ero Guy played a rocking set of alcoholic laments, hobo blues and dirty heartbreak that nearly had the place square dancing. Hill’s gruff and sincere vocals and his simple bluesy acoustic guitar paired well with Genser’s electric style that smacked of an Angus Young from the early pub rock scene.
Meanwhile, Hunter’s banging and stretching atop the wash bucket of his bass (no more than a stick with a clothesline stretched from the wash tub that he moved back and forth to change tone) kept up with Guy’s washboard and drums. The overall sound brought up visions of train yards and oil-can fires with men around them too dirty and tired to remember the dreams they’d once been chasing that landed them there.
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at DenverThread.com, and his giglist at Gigbot.
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