Friday Night: The Soft White Sixties Bring Their Blooze-Rock to Great American Music Hall, Emo Kids Be Damned
Categories: Over the Weekend
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| The Soft White Sixties' Octavio Genera. Pics by Mike Orme. |
Beta State
January 7, 2011
@ Great American Music Hall
Better than: A fifth of Jack in the dark at home (it's better in the dark at a concert).
"This shit is alright, yeah?"
While not quite a six-word memoir, Soft White Sixties frontman Octavio Genera's offhand, on-stage mumble makes a fitting thesis statement: This San Francisco five-piece has lately run a marathon through Bay Area rock 'n' roll destinations: early in 2010, you might have caught the Sixties in the up-and-coming ranks at the Red Devil Lounge, or by summer topping bills at Bottom of the Hill. Friday night's co-headlining gig with The Trophy Fire at the Great American Music Hall was the band's biggest to date.
Call the guys old-fashioned, but they'd prefer to do their world-beating in another decade. The Sixties appeared onstage out of a music and fashion time warp, beers flying everywhere, hairstyles variously shagged. They expounded musically on the fun-loving, R&B-infused rock 'n' roll of the Rolling Stones, the Faces, and -- well, let's just say the band published on Myspace a pantheon of bygone artists they endeavor to join, and take a guess at the first two bands listed."This shit is alright, yeah?"
While not quite a six-word memoir, Soft White Sixties frontman Octavio Genera's offhand, on-stage mumble makes a fitting thesis statement: This San Francisco five-piece has lately run a marathon through Bay Area rock 'n' roll destinations: early in 2010, you might have caught the Sixties in the up-and-coming ranks at the Red Devil Lounge, or by summer topping bills at Bottom of the Hill. Friday night's co-headlining gig with The Trophy Fire at the Great American Music Hall was the band's biggest to date.
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| The Soft White Sixties' Octavio Genera, crooning and strumming. |
But it's Genera who steers the Sixties, a multitalented vocalist who at times conjures the shimmying shadow of T. Rex's Marc Bolan. His crooning melodies flout the blues-rock model of riffing on the notes of a minor chord, and his harmonies with Cook and bassist Ryan Noble sound like they were delivered by angels, or at least the Roches. Beyond the swamp-rock odes and sunny psychedelic blues, these guys were obviously having fun getting their work done.
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Critic's Notebook
Opening acts: Given that fans of the headliner were expecting throwback garage-rock from the Sixties (the band and the decade), the emo-core slant of the opening acts struck me as kind of odd. An all-ages crowd with asymmetrical haircuts and excessive eyeliner showed up early for Beta State's screamy opening set, as well as for the following Bird by Bird, the solo project of charismatic Bay Area punk rocker Jon Devoto. Even the co-headliner, melodic provocateurs the Trophy Fire, appeals to the type who likes power chords and drawn-out yell-odies. The two stylistic archetypes, as well as their respective fans, came off like musicological ships passing in the night.
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| The Soft White Sixties and The Trophy Fire during Friday's encore |
By the way: The Sixities' Bustos and Noble previously played in the influential Bay Area ska-punk band Link 80.
Location Info
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Great American Music Hall
859 O'Farrell, San Francisco, CA
Category: Music
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