New Orleans’ Mutemath kicked off their 2012 Odd Soul tour in Houston this week bringing along a spectacle of lights, keys, reverb, delay and a boatload of new music. In fact, the quartet filled its set list with every song from its latest album, Odd Soul – for better or for worse, according to frontman Paul Meany – as well as fan favorites from its back catalog. The night commenced with the group parading through the crowd in marching band fashion, banging drums and crashing cymbals, until they reached the stage. It would be the first of several band/crowd interactions throughout the night.

Meany leapt to the stage behind his trusty Hammond organ and struck the first chords of the new album’s title track, jolting the crowd into a minor frenzy. For the next two hours, the band delivered their unique brand of cool that’s made up of equal parts of ’60s psychedelia, funk-flavored jazz and modern pop. Some might call it quirky if it wasn’t so powerful. Meany was all over the place – behind the organ, up stage at a synth station, over at guitarist Todd Gummerman’s small keys set-up, huddled behind a sort of Kaoss pad contraption… even strapped to a keytar.

Gummerman played a revolving trio of guitars – including his über-slick Galanti Grand Prix (featured in the video for the song ‘Odd Soul’) – and, at the end of the gig, even picked up his pedal board and played it like an instrument. The rhythm section of Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas and Darren King were rock solid throughout. Mitchell-Cárdenas showing his multi-instrumental talents (and skills with a capo’d fretless bass) while King dominated the drums with frenetic precision.

A bit later in the set, Meany rode a sort of rolling cart out into the floor for an electronica intro to ‘Equals’, while Mitchell-Cárdenas strapped on a six-string for the main riff work. King also rode the cart out later, then outfitted with stripped down drum kit. Meany later stage dove onto what amounted to a lighted air mattress.

Highlights of the show included a raucous version of ‘Allies’ off the new one. The crowd buzzed favorably when the band launched into ‘Control’, the single from the band’s previous album, 2009′s Armistice. Some of the older songs have aged better than others. While the crowd greeted ‘Chaos’ off 2007′s self-titled album with enthusiasm, the song – a more uptempo dance number – felt a touch out of place giving the heavier groove of the band’s current material.

Even though it was their first show, the band was easily in mid-tour form. They brought it… hard – and the Thursday night House of Blues crowd was appreciative. It bodes well for anyone planning to see them as they make their way across the US through March.

Check out some pics from the show, including gear and set list photos, below.

The guitar-slinging half of the Black Crowes’ brothers Robinson (That’d be Rich) brought his solo tour through town earlier this week in support of the recently released Through A Crooked Sun. The Tuesday night crowd at Fitzgerald’s was thin – maybe 40 or so – but nonetheless appreciative of Robinson’s two-hour set that focused on his solo work, both new and old. We’ve always admired Robinson as a hell of a guitar player. He was the somewhat unsung backbone of the Black Crowes sound that was a bit of a moving target throughout the band’s 20-plus year career.

The WTDP? crew started our night early at Cactus Records where Rich and drummer Joe Magistro put on a brief acoustic performance, then was gracious enough to hang out and sign a few autographs. At Fitz, the full band – including bassist Jack Daley and keyboardist Steve Molitz – was electric from the beginning. Robinson walked on stage with his white Gibson SG slung around him and in his quiet tone thanked the crowd for coming out. The set kicked off with ‘Fire Around’, ironically the last tune on Robinson’s new disc. From their, the band steamrolled through Station Man, a Fleetwood Mac cover also off the new one… and ‘Lost And Found’, the lead single off the new release.

Robinson then dipped into a bit more obscure territory with ‘By The Light Of The Sunset Moon’, a cut from the Llama Blues EP that was packaged as a bonus along with some copies of Through A Crooked Sun. ‘Look Through My Window’ was one of the best, full-on jams of the night… with extended solo sections and an overall jammy groove. Other highlights included ‘Standing On The Surface Of The Sun’ – a slow blues jam that was said to include a portion of an abandoned song from the Black Crowes session for its 2001 Lions album. He closed the night with an encore featuring a pair of covers – The Velvet Underground’s ‘What Goes On’ and Clapton’s ‘Bottle of Red Wine’

Gear-wise, Robinson jumped between the SG, a 335, Les Paul gold top and a Gretsch semi-hollow most of the evening. His amp spread was his traditional Reason/Vox dual assault. Beyond the Whammy and DL-4, his pedals were racked and worked off of an Axcess Electronics switcher. For the record, he played an older Martin acoustic at the in-store.

Check out the rest of the set list and photos from the show below!

Even though going to see Wild Flag at Fitzgerald’s on Thursday night cost me the chance to watch one of the best baseball games in history, I have no regrets. It was because I was watching the first seven innings of World Series Game 6 that I got to the venue too late to see opener Drew Grow & the Pastor’s Wives, and even missed the beginning of Wild Flag’s set. Nonetheless, it was blistering from the moment I set foot inside. With Mastodon pounding away upstairs, the four ladies of Wild Flag offered up their own formula for ferocity.

Portland-based Wild Flag is something of a supergroup, with Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of legendary girl-rock trio Sleater-Kinney playing alongside Rebecca Cole from the Minders and Mary Timony of Helium. The pieces come together seamlessly, with the angsty guitars of Brownstein and Timony enveloped by a warm peppiness emanating from Cole’s keyboard, all perched upon the foundation of Weiss’ always transcendent drumming. The sound is punk rock in nature but psychedelic in execution. The shit-hot riffs hit hard, while the crafty interplay between the lead-guitar tandem keep you hooked.

I had seen Wild Flag once before in a tiny theater in Northern California in what was something like their fifth show playing together. Their power was impressive then, but the vibe at that time was more playful and exploratory in what was an early gestation period for the band. A year later, with a new record and dozens more shows under their collective belt, Wild Flag played Fitzgerald’s with a steely confidence borne of the band’s sheer command of the material. The guitarists traded off vocal duties, with Brownstein summoning the silky screech she developed as Sleater-Kinney’s second singer, and Timony complementing it with a more measured croon. Weiss gave her usual clinic on the kit and did nothing to weaken her position as one of the best and most consistent rock drummers working today. They played most of the songs from their self-titled debut — released in September on Merge Records — topped with encore covers of the Ramones’ “Judy is a Punk” and Television’s “See No Evil.”

Despite existing for barely a year, Wild Flag seems to have already accumulated a dedicated fan base. One enthused listener — a very masculine 6’8” woman or a very feminine 6’8” man — stood in the front row, fist-pumping and shouting every word to each song. Brownstein and Weiss’ former glory brought along with it a custom-built set of fans, no doubt, but Wild Flag is not the same band as the one they formerly helmed (something one especially vocal concert-goer couldn’t quite wrap his mind around). They offer something fresh, with only hints of a nostalgic past.

It is a source of encouragement to me to see bands that have 20-plus years under their belts hit the stage with the same members it had on Day One and play with same sense of pride, wonderment and humor. Such is the case with Los Angeles-based Mr. Big – a fairly under-appreciated quartet of highly accomplished musicians serving up a guitar-ladened blues/rock/shred hybrid that plays as well in 2011 as it did in 1989. The band rolled through Houston this week at the tail-end of a US tour in support of their most recent studio effort entitled What If… but make no mistake, the hits from the band’s back catalog were front and center.

Frontman Eric Martin, guitarist Paul Gilbert, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Pat Torpey, unleashed over two hours of ‘Bigness’ for the modest, but appreciative Tuesday night House of Blues crowd. While Martin’s vocals and Torpey’s backbeat are essential parts of the Mr. Big experience, the live show really belongs to Sheehan and Gilbert. Both players are absolute beasts. There is really no other way to describe it. Sheehan has a mastery over the bass that few have ever possessed. And yes, while some of it is showmanship and flash for the fans, the lion’s share is accelerated musicianship from a long-time student, and now master, of the low-end. Gilbert has the showman streak in him as well, which makes for pure enjoyment when the pair interact, but he also has some dangerously good chops. Armed with his signature Ibanez and his trademark headphones, Gilbert ran roughshod up and down the fretboard with savant-style abandon, pumping some serious grind out of a pair of Marshall Vintage Modern half-stacks that supported a small Marshall 20-watt head and a THD Hot Plate. The fretwork drew under-breath expletives from some of the amateur guitarists in the crowd… who likely bought their tickets mainly to see Gilbert’s unique set of skills in person.

The first three songs of the night echoed the first three songs from the band’s most successful album, 1991′s Lean Into It – the electric drill-ladened ‘Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy’, ‘Alive and Kickin’ and ‘Green-Tinted Sixties Mind’. With crowd sufficiently stirred up, the band launched in to its newest material, which it sprinkled throughout the rest of the set. About half-way through the night, Gilbert was left alone on stage for a spotlight solo – about five minutes of ‘mouth agape bad-assery’. Towards the end of the set it was Billy’s turn, with a more abbreviated, but nonetheless inspiring punishment of his light blue Yamaha bass.

The night closed with an extended encore that featured the band’s biggest hit – the acoustic-driven ballad ‘To Be With You’ and the raucous jam of ‘Colorado Bulldog’, the lead track from 1993′s Bump Ahead. The band also pulled the old switcheroo, with Gilbert behind the skins, Martin on guitar, Torpey on bass and Sheehan on vocals, they launched into Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke On The Water’. As the solo approached, Martin handed off the guitar to Sheehan, then took the bass from Torpey… who in turn grabbed the mic for the rest of the song. The evening closed with a cover of David Lee Roth’s ‘Shyboy’ from the Sheehan-era Eat ‘Em And Smile album.

The one thing that stuck with me after the show was each band member looked like they genuinely enjoyed being there… playing… together. The rough patches during the late 90s/early 2000s appeared to be squarely in the rearview mirror. Kudos Mr. Big. Here’s to 20 more years of being addicted to the rock-and-roll rush.

SETLIST: Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy / Alive and Kickin’ / Green-Tinted Sixties Mind / Undertow / American Beauty / Take Cover / Just Take My Heart / Once Upon A Time / A Little Too Loose / Road To Ruin / Temperamental / Paul Gilbert SOLO / Still Ain’t Enough For Me / Price You Gotta Pay / Take A Walk / Round The World / As Far As I Can See / Billy Sheehan SOLO / Addicted To That Rush – ENCORE: To Be With You / Goin’ Where The Wind Blows / Colorado Bulldog / Smoke On The Water / Shyboy

The boys in Dawes offer an interesting dichotomy when it comes to stage presence. Guitarist/vocalist Taylor Goldsmith and brother/drummer Griffin are the energetic pair, bouncing and flailing in unison with the band’s brand of guitar-driven roots jangle. Meanwhile, bassist Wylie Gelber and keys guru Tay Strathairn maintain a laid-back demeanor, subtly smoldering and burning delicate textures into the band’s portfolio of tunes.

That portfolio expanded earlier this summer with the release of their second album, Nothing Is Wrong. The band rolled into Houston this week in support of the record, kicking off a set list weighted with material off the new effort with ‘The Way You Laugh’, a bouncy pop track that showcases Goldsmith’s storyteller-sytle lyrics and delivery.

Goldsmith was decked out in clothes too hot for the Houston weather and wielded a Tele wrapped around him via a leather strap proudly displaying his last name, like one of those belts most ’70s and ’80s-era kids had at one time or another. ‘If I Wanted Someone’, led by a Petty-esque jangle guitar riff, was up next… followed by ‘How Far We’ve Come’, sung by Griffin, and both off the new album. Speaking of Petty, his keys player Benmont Tench is just one of the high-profile musician fans of Dawes. That list also includes Robbie Robertson, Jackson Browne and Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson.

The crowd at Fitzgeralds, pretty generous for a Tuesday night, offered vocal assistance on ‘Fire Away’ and also helped Taylor with encouragement after stumbling twice during ‘Peace In The Valley’ before regaining his vocal footing. It is obvious through the band’s more famous friends and the enthusiasm of the school night crowd that Dawes is in ‘break out’ mode… looking to free itself from the Laurel Canyon regional scene and move swiftly into the great wide open of the rest of the states and beyond. And that’s a good thing.

Gear-wise, Taylor stuck with his Tele all night. Running it through a well-populated pedal board and back to a Fender Super Reverb. The board itself had a Boss tuner, Boss Vibrato, Ibanez AD9 delay, MXR Phase 90, Fulltone Supa-Trem, EHX Holy Grail Plus and a Boss Compression Sustainer. The black pedal with the dial was a bit of an enigma. Taylor used it a lot and functioned as a boost to cut through the mix during solo sections. Turns out it is a boost… custom built for Goldsmith by bassist Gelber. Check out some photos from the show – including a complete set list – below!

Katy Perry and her California Dreams tour descended on Houston this past Friday with all of its sugary sweetness in tow. For those who haven’t heard about the ‘event’ aspect of the pop star’s new tour, it is a dream world where Katy plays a butcher’s assistant (no joke) who is ridiculed by her ornery and oppressive boss, dead broke and desperately looking for a way out of here dreary, meat-filled existence. After we learn of her infatuation with the Baker’s Boy down the street, pursuit of her wayward cat – Kitty Purry (again, no joke) – leads her straight down the proverbial rabbit hole and in to a land of candy and dreams. The land is filled with lollipops and cotton candy, brownie-toting mimes, high-flying acrobats, human slot machines, dancing gingerbread men and a flock of randy peacocks, among other things.

Perry, a fan of Pink’s recent ‘Funhouse’ tour, went out and hired the stage director and executive producer of that production, Baz Halpin and charged him with bringing her ‘Candy Land’ to life. The two-hour set was filled with quick costume changes that likely ranged up into the double digits as Perry ran through songs from both her current Teenage Dream album as well as her major label debut, Just One Of The Boys. The show kicked off with rocking version of ‘Teenage Dream’ and Perry adorned in a glitter-heavy, candy-cane accented mini dress complete with strategic placement of a pair of spinning pinwheels. The show closed with ‘California Gurls’ and Perry in her Hershey’s Kisses get-up that was recent featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

While today’s pop can get fairly un-pure at times, Perry does have a band that goes well beyond synthesizers and loop machines. Her two guitarists kept plenty busy throughout the gig – with friend of WTDP? Pat Matera, toggling between custom Gretsch Billy Bos and a semi-hollow Tele, responsible for most all of the effects work. The other axe man, Casey Hooper, handled most of the lead work through a very nice Gretsch White Falcon. Perry, a guitar player as well, only strapped on once during the show… wielding a candy-cane custom Taylor acoustic (and riding above the crowd on a cotton candy riser) for ‘Thinking Of You’.

The show clipped along at a pretty good pace until she broke away from the Katy In Wonderland story line to sing a few acoustic covers in a ‘Katy-oke’ segment that featured songs from Rihanna, Jay-Z, Willow Smith, and recent video pal and infamous You Tube teen Rebecca Black. Perry was also extra-gregarious with the audience during this already distracting part of the show. The atmosphere that the show worked so hard to build early on really hit a wall here and struggled to recover the rest of the evening.

Despite going off track here, the show is still very entertaining… even if you don’t care for Perry’s music. I suppose that is at least part of the point. Creating the near Broadway-level production element keeps the casual attendant (read: most parents in the crowd) drawn in, while the Perry-obsessed rock out to the hooky, punchy pop that’s being delivered by a respectably tight band.

SETLIST: Teenage Dream / Heavy Metal Heartbeat / Waking Up In Vegas / Peacock / Circle The Drain / ET / Not Like The Movies / Only Girl (In The World) / Big Pimpin’ / Friday / Whip My Hair / Thinking Of You / I Want Candy / Hot N Cold / Last Friday Night / I Wanna Dance With Somebody / Firework / California Gurls

Rick Springfield is a pretty good guitar player. It never really comes through 100% on his studio albums, but it’s fact. Rock and roll has never let Springfield be much more than pop eye candy for swooning women across the globe. Much of that is due to his acting heritage, whether through his days as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital or his brush with the silver screen with movies like Hard To Hold. Springfield was the actor/musician hybrid long before that became an en vogue combination. Today, it has almost become essential – Kevin Bacon, Billy Bob Thornton, Scarlett Johansson, Zooey Deschanel, Jennifer Lopez, and the list goes on…

It was only last week, seeing Rick Springfield live for the first time, did I come to realize what Rick Springfield is… He’s Sammy Hagar minus the beach persona and tequila company plus the acting career. Listening to the set I was struck just how much of his earlier material sounded like early solo Hagar. Then there is the obvious link in the form of ‘I’ve Done Everything For You’, a tune Springfield made famous, but was written – and still performed from time to time – by Hagar. Perhaps it was this cross-pollination of music that solidifies the theory. Springfield tunes like ‘I Get Excited’ and “Don’t Talk To Strangers’ echo Hagar’s ‘Two Sides of Love’ or ‘Baby, It’s You’ in my ears now… but only after seeing the rawer side of Springfield’s live shows.

Springfield’s live show is filled with big chords, driving rhythms… with help from backing band members including George Bernhardt and Matt Bissonette, the guitarist and bassist from WTDP? favorite The Mustard Seeds. It is also filled with a reckless disregard for guitars and roses. To clarify, when Rick is ready for a guitar change, he usually just takes it off and hurls it to the side, whether there is someone there to catch it or not. As to the roses, it seems he has a gimmick where he uses bouquets of flowers to go all ‘Pete Townshend’ on his guitar, via the windmill arm swing trick (This feat is captured in a photo below). The move sent the fairly thin crowd, which was easily three-fourths women over 40, into a frenzy. The one thing that gets them going more? When Springfield leaps into the audience and walks along the chair arm rests while singing ‘Human Touch’. Towards the end of the set, he ventured into the cougar den and was pawed at mercilessly until venue security and the police were able to get him safety back up on stage.

Having never seen Springfield live before I can’t really say how this stacked up to performances earlier in his career, but given the energy on display I can’t believe he’s lost that much of a step. His voice is still in good shape, and while he does use a teleprompter and did start in on one song a bit too early, this is nothing that isn’t common among performers of the current generation.

Springfield turns 62 in August, but his still appears to have a lot left in the tank. And I’d assume as long as the fans are there, he will continue to defile bushels of long-stem roses with insatiable abandon.

SET LIST: See photo below.

The Spin Doctors always struck me as one of those ‘right place at the right time’ bands. Much like Hootie & The Blowfish, their music wasn’t overly ambitious, cutting edge or dexterous… but it was infectious. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Spin Doctor’s break-through album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. With groovy soul mixed with rock and roll, Kryptonite was released in the barren area between the demise of hair metal and the full ascent of grunge. Rock radio needed the Spin Doctors, and the boys were happy to oblige.

The band, with all four original members, rolled into town last week in support of a forth-coming Kryptonite reissue that will be packed with demo cuts, alternate takes and home videos designed to get the faithful to buy the record again. Noticeably older, but no worse for the wear, singer Chris Barron, guitarist Eric Schenkman, drummer Aaron Comess and bassist Mark White rolled through a Kryptonite-heavy set highlighted by a high octane version of ‘Refrigerator Car’ – a deeper cut off the multi-platinum debut.

Barron strutted and jumped around with geeky, sometimes comedic, confidence… tossing in more that one full-on fan kick to the delight of the crowds of 40+ year old women in the audience. It was a triumph of sorts, seeing the Spin Doctors live since I had remembered hearing of Barron’s bout with vocal chord paralysis in the late ‘90s. His voice was in good form here, as was the rest of the band.

Schenkman, flanked by a backline of Marshall JCM800s, stuck with his Gibson SG (w/P90s) almost the entire gig, switching to a Flying V only for the last song, ‘Two Princes’. His pedal line consisted of a tube screamer, wah and a tuner.

Check out a few photos from the show in the gallery below!

SETLIST: Jimmy Olsen’s Blues / What Time Is It? / Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong / How Could You Want Him / Refrigerator Car / Off My Line / Margarita / More Than She Knows / Two Princes

Singer Jay Buchanan strutted and howled with Robert Plant-esque bravado through up tempo numbers like the title track to the upcoming release, but it was the slower numbers like ‘Soul’ off of last year’s 6-song EP and ‘On My Way’ off the debut Before The Fire where his passion and dynamics really broke though. Guitarist Scott Holliday matched Buchanan’s swagger, slinging top-shelf Gibson Thunderbirds and a classic Fender Jaguar across raucous fuzzed-out jams like ‘Radio’ off of the EP and ‘Burn Down Los Angeles’ of the upcoming disc.

Bassist Robin Everhart and drummer Mike Miley were rock solid in keeping the groove squarely in the pocket (with a mighty thump) throughout the raw display of the band’s hard rock and blues repertoire.

While the venue – the House of Blues’ Bronze Peacock room – was only about 1/3 full, the attendees were enthusiastic and grateful for the high-energy set. Buchanan even jokingly, but politely thanked everyone for coming out to see them ‘on a school night’.

Pressure & Time is due out on Earache Records in the US on 26 June. Europe gets it on 20 June.