Vintage Trouble
Final SXSW Live Shots
Reviewed by Dan Oko, Fri., March 22, 2013
Vintage Trouble
Doritos Bold Stage, March 15Snack food savants know the crunch of Doritos has been carefully calibrated by computerized test kitchens to deliver a specific sensation that tricks the mind into wanting more. Los Angeles quartet Vintage Trouble seems engineered to inspire a similar Pavlovian response with its music. Singer Ty Taylor, an obvious and talented student of James Brown and Otis Redding, danced, shimmied, and pirouetted. His passionate proclamations of love – not to mention loyalty to the party people – and the band's tasty mix of R&B, riff rock, and retro soul never let up. That raw, high-energy sound showed why Vintage Trouble's live show has opened up stadium spots supporting Bon Jovi and the Who. Taylor's ability to hold his own vocally amid the layered boogie by guitarist Nalle Colt, bassist Rick Barrio Dill, and drummer Richard Danielson proved powerful. The singer delivered "Run Like the River" with Pentecostal fervor and descended into the audience to press the flesh. The softer, slinky "Nancy Lee" ("I don't just want, I need you") and better-day ballad "Nobody Told Me," crooned à la Marvin Gaye, showed range. Even within the cheesy confines of the Doritos Bold Stage, Vintage Trouble proved meatier than mere snack food.
