Douglass Brothers
Full Tilt Boogie
GRANDPA DOUGLASS RECORDS
Who are the Douglass Brothers? Based on this new four-song EP and what I've read on the Internets, they seem to be four average dudes (none of whom are named Douglass) who work day jobs in Pittsburgh and Erie while jamming to classic radio tuneage to make the hours go faster. On weekends, they just want to kick back, drive to small bars around the tri-state area and purvey their basement-crafted bar rock.
The Brothers have simple dreams tinged with a healthy, pop-cultural sense of humor. ("I want look like Steven Seagal / Because his hair's still bad / Because the '90s were rad.") Though they sport reasonable hairdos and probably often wear ballcaps, they keep one eye on the long-haired underground, following the strains of stoner rock and European power metal, while injecting ridiculous master-shredder guitar solos where they least belong, for maximum face-scrunching effect.
They even play a self-referential theme song called "Queen's Crown," which relates the blow-by-blow saga of the band's formation, while claiming "this could be the greatest story / in rock and roll history." It's a masterstroke aspiring to the level of Weird Al Yankovic.
This CD -- with its home-pressed appearance, like someone tied up Mondrian in a cellar and force-fed him Iron City -- won't cause the music-industry vultures to descend, searching ravenously for their latest pound of flesh. But it will paste a shit-eating, roller-coaster grin wide across your smug puss for a good 15 minutes. Which is better than sitting in Parkway traffic, listening to KDKA in your crappy Geo Metro.
The Douglass Brothers CD-release show with Chad Sipes Stereo 10 p.m. Sat., Oct. 6 Club Café, 57-59 S. 12th St., South Side. $5. 412-431-4950
