ph7, the brokers, sin-c

the last time pablo and the hemphill 7 played the ridglea theater was three years ago. back then, opening for the wailers, they'd been a band for about four months and played mostly covers. on friday, the current lineup (now expanded to the fullness of seven, including confusatron's matt skates and jonathan irwin on trombone and percussion, respectively) took the big stage to deliver an hour and a half of mainly original toonage. they're _this_ far away from finally releasing their bona fide debut full-length c.d., and they have the satisfaction of knowing they've sparked a mini-wave of reggae-inflected acts here in the fort. at last november's "sound clash '04" show at axis, joe vano and crew shared the bill with darth vato, sally majestic, kulcha far i, and sin-c. on friday's undercard were sin-c and the brokers, a new band fronted by sin-c's drummer. while it's a given that pablo shows are collective ecstasies, akin to sub oslo's new year's eve exorcisms on a more regular basis, in this case, both opening acts were revelations.

here's the backstory on the brokers, from vano his own self: "their singer called me up and asked if they could play the show. i liked the balls of that. this is their first show ever. the drummer drives up from austin to play with them. he's played with them maybe three, four times." visually, the brokers come across like a junior high talent show version of the mighty mighty bosstones, or maybe a failed bluesband (helpful fashion tip: lose the fedoras), but once you get past that, they look and sound a lot more comfortable playing together than their brief history might indicate (i think some of these guys have played together before in other bands). they have a supple skank that newbie reggae outfits usually take more than one gig to master, and the tenor sax solos give their sound some uniqueness. (anybody remember saxa from the english beat? i thought not.) their two-song demo cd, while kinda tentative, has the correct spirit. i'm looking forward to seeing how these guys develop over the next coupla years.

the night's "most improved bowler" trophy definitely belongs to sin-c, however. for a long time, these guys seemed more like a drunk 'n' drugged trainwreck than a real serious band, and it was hard to believe they'd been together as long as pablo (although in fairness, they were probably just learning their instruments around the time they formed, whereas ph7 coalesced from relatively long-in-the-tooth veterans of enoch, slowpoke, the visitors, hillary tipps, root 420, brasco, bindle, etc.). perhaps the sin-c guys have been practicing. perhaps they've realized that it's a more effective performance strategy to avoid getting fuuuuucked up until _after_ the show. perhaps fronting the brokers has given their drummer a different take on the whole process. whatevah. in any event, sin-c rawked the ridglea with real authority, a righteous groove, and actual _dynamics_. having abandoned his edward scissorhands mohawk and metalhead gtr for more of a john frusciante/strat kind of thang, their gtrist has learned to syncopate and use his effects well. their frontguy, who still looks like a hyperactive mini-vano, is projecting some real personality, and most importantly, their jams move the crowd. check 'em out the next time you get a chance.

now that willie nelson is releasing a reggae album and bob dylan is playing at willie's annual 4th of july picnic, it seems like a no-brainer: pablo needs to play the picnic. smith music group, officed in the stockyards, is promoting the show. someone oughtta suggest it to 'em. just a thought.