10-May: Pariah Beat at the Cantab
Last night I dropped in at the Cantab to check out the Killer Abs and Triple Thick — both fun bands. But both were pretty much upstaged by Pariah Beat, late of Vermont, now apparently based in Jamaica Plain.
They play a thick stew of Cajun + honky tonk + rock. I suppose if I had to pick one band that this group is channeling, it would be the Mekons (e.g., “Honky Tonkin’” / “So Good it Hurts” era). Why? Well, they had fiddle and squeezebox; punk guitar; a lovely woman (playing acoustic bass); and what sounded like radical/progressive lyrics. It was a party, maybe with a purpose. The exuberance of the band also recalled Brave Combo, and they had a nice polka in there (though the audience had no idea how to polka). On their web page they mention Django as an influence, and integrating a bit more of those gypsy strings would be killer. Indeed, there is probably a bit of room to turn down the guitar for a song or two, and get additionally a bit of a Stephane Grapelli thing going on the fiddle. Yet another group they recalled was Les Têtes Raides — I would love to see Pariah Beat busking acoustically.
. . . Tunes at the Pariah Beat MySpace page.
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