Who Are These Shadows in My Way?

A quick heads-up for the Alan Moore fans in the house. The Dirtbombs' new album, We Have You Surrounded, features a pounding arrangement of Moore's "Leopardman at C&A," a lighthearted "Lord of the Flies"-ish ditty he originally wrote for Bauhaus. The Dirtbombs are known for their garage-rock covers of soul standards, but this doesn't qualify in any sense; the song was never recorded until now, Bauhaus only counts as "soul" on Bizarro World, and the Dirtbombs brilliantly exploit their two drummers by presenting the song with a primitivist swing that's more reminiscent of Gene Krupa than the Greenhornes.

Another note to comics fans--that's Gary Panter doing the album art.

In a telling sign of comics' growing cachet, "Leopardman at C&A" is the primary talking point for most of the reviews of the new album. It was also the opening number at the Dirtbombs' DC show last Saturday, not that you could tell with the ineptly mixed microphones. I didn't know those were Alan Moore's lyrics until I played the CD the next day.

The show was a blast anyway; if you get a chance to see them, take it. The Dirtbombs are one of the most showmanlike garage acts around, and for all their energy, one of the tightest--at least until the end of the night, when all bets are off. What their DC finale lacked in creativity (nothing will top their show at Nashville's Mercy Lounge back in, oh, 2004 or 2005, which finished with one of the drummers playing his set with one of the bassists--not the bass, the bassist) it more than made up for in general band freakout. I'm sorry to say I left in the middle of the second encore, as the hour-long set was approaching its second hour, when the crazy drummer started ranting about DC go-go and Detroit go-go, but I'm not sorry I stuck around that long. The Dirtbombs are one of the best live acts around, and this show did not disappoint. Just ask the sound manager to check his mikes.

Comments

[GG]

Huh, I had no idea about the Alan Moore connection. I saw these guys (and girl) twice and both were pretty great shows. The second time I saw them (a couple months ago) had one of those crazy encores, it more or less just ended in chaos, with the crazy drummer climbing up to the balcony and audience members playing the drums he'd thrown into the audience.