The Guardians and The Rallies at Darrells Tavern 1-4-14

This would not be my normal choice in music. Pop is not necessarily a must-hear genre in my head. It brings back the memories of my nightmares about Michael Jackson during the Thriller days. Bad JuJu.

But here I was at Darrells again because I trust them to present quality live music week after week. I did see one of the bands before and I definitely wanted to see The Guardians again.

There was a decent crowd as the first band mounted up. The Rallies are a fresh new sound from Tacoma Washington. They play Pop-Rock influenced by Crowded House, Tom Petty, The Beatles, The La's, Teenage Fanclub and the Plimsouls.

They played great original music. The Rallies featured sweet vocal harmonies and strong guitar playing. They are: Steve Davis, vocals and acoustic guitar, Dave Hawthorne, vocals and lead guitar, David Winfrey, bass and Lee Brown on percussion and vocals.

Here is Dave rocking his beautiful Fender Telecaster.

Steve had a great style and a beautiful voice.

It was extra dark on stage tonight and I didn't get great pics of the bass player or the man in the back.

The Rallies surprised me with their fresh but vintage, new but classic sound.

You can connect with The Rallies here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRallies

The Guardians were up next. I had seen them before, right here at Darrells. You can read that post here: http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-guardians-and-gum-at-darells-tavern.html

Their first public gig was the last time I saw them. This time they had a bit more experience under their belt. They had just gotten better.

Lee writes great music and sings lead vocals.

The Guardians are (from Lee of The Guardians): Lauren McLaren... is our invaluable keyboard player/vocalist. She also played trumpet on one song. Scott Syltebo is our bassist. It was guitarist Erie Jones (on lead guitar and lyrics).  John (aka "Johnny Vinyl") is our other guitarist. Lee Lumsden is the lead vocalist and main lyricist.

There was a point in their set when I just broke out in a big smile. They were kicking ass and producing some marvelous music.

I mentioned to Scott, the sound tech/booking guy that they reminded me of The Nazz, Todd Rundgren's first band. I made the same observation in my last review of them. I had forgotten that.

I loved them this time as much as when I first saw them. There was a different edge this set, a tighter polish.

You can connect with them here: https://www.facebook.com/TheGuardiansWA

Thanks to Darrells for consistently presenting great live music. You can connect with them here: http://www.darrellstavern.com/

Go see some live music soon.