Pets at Old Ironsides, Photo by Laura Winn
From the protective-hearing, headphone-wearing Mr. Awesome, Charles Albright, (The Pizzas, Rock the Light, The Mega Cools, Baby!) bobbing to the classic rock sounds of The Polymers, to the tall, gawky goth kid spastically dancing to the indie rock sounds of Pets, to the stiletto-heeled girls grooving to the Spanish goth rock of Diciembre Gris, the July 18th show at Old Ironsides was a testament to Sacramento's diverse music scene.
The Polymers claim to be a 21st century Sacramento band, but I think they actually hopped in a time machine and transported from Britain, era 1964. The four guys in The Polymers, Mark Badovinac (guitar, vocals), Alex Bohl (bass, vocals), Tim Pratt (guitar, vocals), and Frank French (drums), opened the show with a classic rock set in the style of The Kinks, The Who and The Rolling Stones, even covering The Stones, "2,000 Man." If a cross-Atlantic traveling time machine is too much for you to swallow, then maybe you'll believe The Polymers, who played songs like "Dirty Little Secret" and "I Hardly Recognize You," have grown up with a steady diet of classic rock, and much like The Smithereens, have teleported those influences into their music.
Pets followed The Polymers with a dance-party worthy set of fuzzy, distorted indie rock in the vein of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Le Tigre (when guitarist Allison Jones sings) and Sonic Youth (when bassist Derek Fieth sings). The first time I saw the duo of Jones and Fieth, they played half their set with a drum machine and half with a drummer. This time a drummer joined the band for the whole set, and the addition gave Pets a more compelling and complete sound. Pets play up the dance-party atmosphere with the use of multi-colored strobe lights and a steady rotation of guitar pedals and electronic effects on songs like, "Be My Friend" and "Give You A Ride." With tunes so infectious, it's nearly impossible not to tap your feet to the Pets' beats.
Before Woodland-based headliners Diciembre Gris played their first note, I knew I was in for something different. As the band set up their massive artillery of instruments and effects on stage and off (as they were too large to all fit on the small Old Ironsides' stage), a swarm of mostly Hispanic hardcore Diciembre Gris fans surrounded the stage with digital cameras and video recorders ready to capture every moment of the band's bilingual set.
Dressed in all black and cloaked in smoke, Diciembre Gris dove into a multi-layered set drawing from Nine Inch Nails, Joy Division and The Cure. With delay and echo effects on high, frontman Daniel Villegas vocals were often overpowered by the two guitars, bass, synthesizers and the cymbal-heavy drums backing him. Lyrics were impossible to distinguish for a first-time listener, but the crowd sang along to songs like "White Lies" and "Ride." As the band transitioned from English to Spanish and from hard-rock head-bangers to industrial dance numbers, Diciembre Gris proved they are anything but ordinary.
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