The Gallow Swings, The Killer Dillers and The Dee Dees at Slims 3-22-13

I went to Slims tonight for an evening of fun. Here is what greeted me in the parking lot. This is an interesting way to market your business! Last chance for something...

Slims is a great place to see music and has a cool clientele. There seems to be more beautiful girls at Slims than other venues. This is a good thing. Here is my friend Marieke Benner with one of her friends.

There were a lot of stars out tonight. I saw Mark Pickerel talking with Kirsten Ballweg and Johnny7 of the Black Crabs.

 
Johnny mugged for the camera, here he is with Cass Frass.

Slims has a great staff, here are two servers dishing out the brew.

This promised to be a night of raucous fun, punk and retro punk. I was looking forward to seeing the Dee Dees. They are an all girl Ramones tribute band. I loved the sign, visual punk attitude. Simple and to the point.

The place was packed. This band has gained a following and has generated a huge buzz. The Dee Dees listed the band members on Facebook: Joanie Ramone - Vocals, Janie Ramone - Guitar, Dou Dou Ramone - Bass and Merky Ramone - Drums.

Joanie was an awesome entertainer, singing vocals with an attitude. In the dark glasses and leather, she was the embodiment of Joey. She was a lot of fun to watch. There were a ton of cameras in the audience, she brought them all out and popping.

Kirsten, er, I mean Janie was killing the 6 string, an instrument I had yet to see her play. I am used to seeing her woman-handle a huge stand up bass. I loved her performance tonight. Tasty licks that brought The Ramones to life. Right here at Slims.

Dou Dou was laying the bottom with her most excellent bass. She also added vocals.

Merky always had a smile on her face. Here she is keeping the band on beat with some great percussion. She captured the raw drums of the genre.

The place was rocking, The Dee Dees had brought out the peeps and now they were killing the Ramones. Joanie was riveting, she knew how to keep our collective attention.

Dou Dou was fun to watch too. The whole band added vocals and harmony to Joanie's lead.

I caught Joanie in the light of someone else's camera, the effect was cool.

They nailed the Ramones in an original and fresh way. You could sing along if you knew the words. The flavor was Ramones, the delivery method was The Dee Dees.

The place was jammed and the Dee Dees were thrilling the crowd. This is as much fun as you can have standing up. Great American music and retro punk, this was old school rock.

You can connect with The Dee Dees here, if you get a chance you should see them live. They are a sweet connection to one of the greatest punk bands of all time. https://www.facebook.com/TheDeeDees

Keep an eye out for more pics online, there were a ton of cameras focused on The Dee Dees tonight. They were very photogenic so it wasn't surprising.

Next up were The Killer Dillers, the proper name is The kILLER-dILLERs. They describe themselves in this way: Straight out of the basement, the kILLER-dILLERs will make your hips shake! They were not kidding.

The band had an interesting chemistry. Two 6 string guitars and a very stripped down percussion. It was great to see more strong and talented women perform tonight. I loved The Killer Dillers from note one.

They list their members on their Facebook page: Sister Tiffany Lee - guitar and vocals, Cid - floor tom and snare and Frankie Stax - guitar and vocals.

Sister Tiffany sang vocals and played both lead and rhythm guitar.

Frankie played a beautiful guitar and sang vocals.

Cid played a tom and an old school snare. I do mean old school, I remember that very snare at my junior high school in the early sixties. She mastered this sparse set.

Cid had this beatific smile on her face while she played. She was clearly in her happy place.

I loved this music, it was original and raw. They list Bo Diddly as one of their influences. That was obvious,  they had a drive and a powerful energy.

Their sound was full despite the sparse instrumentation; heavy rhythm and great guitar. Cid was playing a tribal beat at times.

They were absolutely dynamite. I was up and moving the whole set. They had a grungy punk vibe, a tribal heart with hard rock energy.

 
Find the Killer Dillers here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-kILLER-dILLERs/129483093796665

The Gallow Swings were up next. I caught the lead singer and guitarist checking out the song list before his set. Here is David dotting the i's.

Here is David putting that song list to practical use.

They describe themselves in this way: The Gallow Swings are a heavy swingin' punk blues outfit from Seattle WA. Adam Grendon (ex-Kent III) and Randall Payne (The Bali Girls, ex-Leatherboy) are NW vets from way back. David Bucci led Austin garage rockers Enduro throughout the '90s and moved to Seattle a few years ago from New York.

Here is the list of offenders according to their blog page: David Bucci - gtr|voc, Adam Grendon - bass|voc and Randall Payne - drums|voc. You can find that page and listen to some of their music here: http://thegallowswings.blogspot.com/

I had seen Randall in the crowd before the gig. He seemed like a sweet gent , mixing with his friends a big smile on his face. Then he got behind the drum set.

Killer percussion. Brutal punishment to another fairly sparse drum-set.

They played a sweet mix of blues and punk with a hard rock energy, an energy that was infectious. The crowd was up and close digging the groove.

Adam was playing bass, setting the bottom and pace for the band.

Heavy was the vibe, rock was the way they interpreted it. Bluesy at times, their music was always infused with a moody passion. The vocals were oozed, not blasted. David had the pipes for great blues.

This was great music from some very experienced musicians. The Gallow Swings were super fun and rocking. These guys have done this before and it showed.

Thanks to Slims for putting on a great show. Get out and see some live music soon. It will put a smile on your face. I mean, unless you have a very hip partner, you are not going to see this sitting on your couch at home.

See Slims Here: http://www.slimslastchance.com/index.html