We at the A-List have been engaged in an internal debate for some weeks about what to do on November 4th. Yankee Rose will probably be at some book club somewhere, but regular record reviewer Alex and I have been going round and round about the music for the evening. He insists that we need to give Blind Pilot another chance at the EARL after being a bit underwhelmed by their performance opening for The Decemberists earlier this year at the Tabernacle. He says they will do better in the more intimate East Atlanta setting (we’re quite sure they will). We, on the other hand, have been arguing for King Khan & the BBQ Show at Star Bar.
We’ve been in the mood for some serious/not-so serious garage rock for some time and the possibility of a backyard throwdown just adds to the allure, so we put in our vote to hang in Little Five. We think we already know where those other two are going to end up, but we didn’t make up our mind until last week when we finally grabbed a copy of Those Darlins self-titled debut long player. Y’see, that’s cuz Those Darlins is opening for King Khan at the Star Bar (and we’ve been talkin’ like this since we been listn’n to their great record all week long.)
Those Darlins jump out atcha with the rollicking opener “Red Light Love” followed by the decidedly more country “Wild One.” It doesn’t take long to figure out that Those Darlins are what would have happened if a couple of nice girls from Hendersonville wandered into Music City and hooked up with those puck rock boys who hung at that place under the bridge.
They certainly are not the first girls to grab their country drawls and try on the psychobilly skirts, but they still sound fresh. They keep it country with songs about Mama (“Mama’s Heart” and “Snaggle Tooth Mama”) and skillets (“Keep my Skillet”) but they waited until the second to last track to steal our hearts. That track, “DUI or Die” reveals the dangers of losing your license after a bout with the bottle and trying to make it back home on a bike. Self-realized girls that they are they “blame it all on the booze.” We really can’t wait to see them realize it all at Little Five Point’s Community Bar. Check out this cool animated video for “Red Light Love.”
