By Kevin J. Hosey
The Jealous Gods CD release
Nietzsche’s, Buffalo
August 13, 2005
Dave Hill and Jeff Miers (dueling guitars?)
None of the Jealous Gods are strangers to the stage, but I think it would be fair to say that none of them had ever played their first show with a band that doubled as the CD release party, but that is how things went at this hot night at Nietzsche’s. The evening not only featured the veterans in the Jealous Gods, but two nationally known Buffalonians as well as a young, rising band.
The Jealous Gods are led by Dave Hill and Jeff Miers; Hill played bass and sang back up vocals and Miers played lead guitar for The Tails, a popular Buffalo band that often blended Beatlesque pop rock with progressive rock and classic rock. In the Jealous Gods, Hill sings lead and plays rhythm guitar and Miers, the lead rock and pop writer for The Buffalo News, continues his guitar mastery. Among those joining the band this night were former Tails and brothers Nelson and Eric Starr; Nelson, the former lead singer and rhythm guitarist, played keyboards and sang back up and Eric played drums. The talent level, high in the Tails, continued in the Jealous Gods as ex-Joe Jackson Band bassist Graham Mabee sat in.
Their set started with the title song of the band’s CD, “You’ll Wanna Wake Up Now,” a warning and call to arms against complacency as well as a catalog of sorts of the problems created and exacerbated by the Bush Administration and right-wingers. The thick, layered sound, something the Jealous Gods does frequently and well, was highlighted by some fine guitar playing from Miers. Another excellent song, “Sand,” started with piano and cymbal washes before turning into a majestic rocker; Miers contributed a real good, screeching, screaming guitar solo that he somehow topped with another tough solo later. All this illustrated the pain of Hill dragging his girlfriend down into some unnamed problem while she says she is there by her choice. Neil Young’s “Four Strong Winds” got a raw, more rocking treatment that the original that worked pretty good. Hill introduced one of the more memorable songs on the CD, “BushCheney,” like this: “This song is about our two favorite comedic figures. Too bad it turned out so tragically.” As you might imagine, in the song, Dave details in painful but all-too-accurate fashion the mistakes and hell of the last five years of the Bush and Cheney act running the USA in a lower-pitched stream of conscious mode behind Miers’ swirling guitars. Nelson Starr added some really good keyboard, sounding almost dissonant at times.
Nelson and Eric Starr with bass player Graham Mabee
Jeff Miers and guitar - a match made in Heaven...
Opening the show was original and former 10,000 Maniacs singer, guitarist and songwriter John Lombardo (still a Buffalo resident) with drummer Greg Gizzi, playing some very fine acoustic songs with smartly subtle percussion. Ex-Buffalonian singer/songwriter Willie Nile, who introduced the Jealous Gods, was asked to come up and sing a song, and damn, did he do so. With Gizzi backing him, Nile all but joyously exploded into a new song that may be named “Down Here on Bleeker Street,” described as “punk folk” by a friend and actually was one of the few songs to deserve it. He sang of life on New York City, his adopted home, as well as goings on in the country and world with real power.
Closing the show were the Roadhouse Gypsies, playing bluesy hard rock in a manner similar at times to the Faces and, for a Buffalo comparison, Terry and the Headhunters, which should be no surprise because Terry Sullivan will be working with the band in the studio. The Roadhouse Gypsies, while still a bit sloppy at times, sounded more together and punchy and less nervous than at Music Is Art.
As the band neared the end of its set, songs that stood out were “It’s What It Is,” regal, mid-tempo rock with some rough edges, as well as what is probably the most sonically intense song on the CD, “Existential Dreads.” Miers paced the song with a good, simple, rugged guitar riff, Nelson Starr played a short keyboard solo before Miers ripped off a wild solo, and the two them took longer, searing solos, Nelson Starr sounding like he was taking over for Ray Manzarek while Miers toughened his sound even more. On this song and throughout the show, Eric Starr played his usual excellent supporting drums, adding some jazz flourishes and never stealing from the songs. All the while, the large crowd, very thick with musicians, showed its appreciation (I could be cynical and wonder how many were there for “insurance”).
Willie Nile adding some spark