This was one of those weekends that promised to start too early and end way too late. How can you possibly squeeze all that fun into two lousy nights? So we pick the story up on Thursday evening at the Lager House where the Dehocos are headlining their first show. The Dehocos is the official name for the “band that had no name” that had their debut at the Record Graveyard in Hamtramck a while ago. Boasting members and ex-members from the Hysteric Narcotics, Slumber Party, The Buzzards and the Detroit Cobras, the Dehocos have quickly built a great reputation and have attracted quite a following. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Detroit – DEHOCO is the acronym for the Detroit House of Corrections).
Opening up for the Dehocos was Eric Villa and Name Game. Eric is also the bass player for the Murder City Wrecks and this is his other project. The Name Game played a very cool opening set with Eric doing the vocals as well as playing guitar. Look for the Name Game to be playing with the Clone Defects at the Magic Stick on Friday, May 3rd. The Dehocos played a great set and it was well worth the added agony of waking up early on Friday to go to work.
The highlight of the weekend was the highly-anticipated CD release party for the Paybacks. I have never seen the Lager House so packed and this evening lived and exceeded all expectations. Opening up for the Paybacks were the Sights and the Dirty Sticks. Both bands put on a rousing show for all of the people jammed into the Jerome P. Cavanaugh room. At the Lager House, the bands play in a separate room from the rest of the bar. At most shows this room quickly gets very crowded; on this night it was almost impossible to squeeze in, much less get to the front and actually see the bands. Either way, at least I could hear the music and this was just one of those special evenings that people will be talking about for quite a while. The Paybacks played virtually all of their songs from the new CD “Knock Loud” and added some new ones as an extra bonus. The CD just kicks ass; it’s everything and more that you expect from a band from Detroit. Do yourself a big favor and pick up a copy.
In most places the weekend would be over already. But Detroit is not most places. On Sunday evening it was time to head over to the Motor City Brewing Works to catch the Dirtbombs and the Buzzards. The Dirtbombs, who have a bunch of stuff out, will shortly be leaving for a European tour and this was their turn to play on the upcoming Ghettoblaster II compilation. Throughout the spring various bands are playing the Brewing Works on Sundays; these sets are being recorded and will be released as the follow up to the initial Ghettoblaster compilation. The Brewing Works is also tiny, so I could actually only hear and not see the bands, but a plentiful supply of the local beer made up for that problem. The Buzzards are one of Detroit’s hardest working bands and I hope that they too will have some music available soon. Till then, I guess that I will just have to follow them around to every show. I won’t even attempt to describe how I felt on Monday morning, but it was well worth it.